Making a cheap virtualization server

[Eastman51]

I have enough (compatible) junk lying around to build a tower, and I want to use this machine to do various server things. Primarily I want this server to function as a Pi Hole, but I feel like I can get more out of it. So I'm looking for a good, cheap, and easy Tier 1 hypervisor to run off this machine. Also would like some ideas for other things to do with the server, I was thinking about FreeNAS for a bit of storage. I was also curious about accessing VMs that would be installed on the server; mainly for a potential retro arcade VM or for a generic Linux desktop.

 

Server Specs:

OEM Asus LGA1150 motherboard

Intel Core i3-4170 (dual core w/ hyper-threading, does support virtualization)

8 GB DDR3

3x 2.5inch HDDS (250 GB, 700 GB, 500 GB) all 5400 rpm

350 W PSU

Has wifi and Ethernet

has PCIe x16 (for potential GPU, I have an extra lying around)

also has PCIe x4 (for extra NIC, if its necessary)

 

the motherboard only has 4 SATA ports, and I don't have a extra, SATA, DVD drive. I am buying some Noctua 80mm chassis fans for airflow, and was considering swapping the Intel stock cooler for a slim, low profile Noctua CPU cooler. Also thought about getting 4 GB more of RAM, but I'd almost rather run just the 8 for now and wait for a cheap 8 GB stick to appear. These HDDs will suffice for now, don't need anything crazy, and I'll probably be the only one using the NAS (if I make one).

I know the CPU sucks, and that the motherboard isn't ideal, but I don't need it to do much. My budget is low, as this isn't a super high priority, so don't recommend much for upgrades.

Edit: should clarify that there are only 2 RAM slots and that the extra GPU is a 4 GB 960 with a blower style cooler

[Windows7ge]

There's ESXi which seems to have a limited feature free version or you can check out PROXMOX. I have no extensive experience with either but there's two options you can check out. I don't know what Tier they are.

[Eastman51]

4 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

There's ESXi which seems to have a limited feature free version or you can check out PROXMOX. I have no extensive experience with either but there's two options you can check out. I don't know what Tier they are.

I looked a bit a both. ESXi looks pretty bare bones, and my experience with VMware hasn't been the greatest. Proxmox looked a bit confusing to me, idk why

[BeefyMeats]

Maybe look into the free version of xenserver ?

[Eastman51]

2 minutes ago, BeefyMeats said:

Maybe look into the free version of xenserver ?

I've looked at Xenserver as well, but I haven't seen how you actually manage and use it. We use Windows Hyper-V at work, and its free, but I don't have Windows Pro and don't want to upgrade to it for $100.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Eastman51 said:

I've looked at Xenserver as well, but I haven't seen how you actually manage and use it. We use Windows Hyper-V at work, and its free, but I don't have Windows Pro and don't want to upgrade to it for $100.

Id look at proxmox, it will work well here.

 

Hyper-v server is free, but idk why you would use it here.

 

You probably don't want esxi its picky here.  What do you mean about bare bones, its the most popular and supports basically every features.

[Eastman51]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id look at proxmox, it will work well here.

 

Hyper-v server is free, but idk why you would use it here.

 

You probably don't want esxi its picky here.  What do you mean about bare bones, its the most popular and supports basically every features.

Do you know much about proxmox?

 

I say its bare bones because they don't mention many features on the product page. Not to mention, VMware doesn't like to include things in their free products (in my experience).

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Eastman51 said:

Do you know much about proxmox?

 

I say its bare bones because they don't mention many features on the product page. Not to mention, VMware doesn't like to include things in their free products (in my experience).

Yep I have install proxmox on many systems and use it for my main server now.

 

Yea the free version of esxi is a bit limtied, but it support things like live migration, pcie passthrough, snapshots, nfs, iscsi storage. But really its made for coprate use, Proxmox is much better for home use.

[Eastman51]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Yep I have install proxmox on many systems and use it for my main server now.

 

Yea the free version of esxi is a bit limtied, but it support things like live migration, pcie passthrough, snapshots, nfs, iscsi storage. But really its made for coprate use, Proxmox is much better for home use.

How do you manage Proxmox? is it a web interface or something else?

[KarathKasun]

VMWare vSphere is free to use.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Eastman51 said:

How do you manage Proxmox? is it a web interface or something else?

All normal management is done in a web gui for proxmox. You can also use the terminal if you want. Its running on debian, so all normal debian commands work fine.

[BeefyMeats]

8 minutes ago, Eastman51 said:

I've looked at Xenserver as well, but I haven't seen how you actually manage and use it. We use Windows Hyper-V at work, and its free, but I don't have Windows Pro and don't want to upgrade to it for $100.

Looks like you just install it than browse to its web portal to download xenceter on a remote client to remotely manage it. Should do just about all you need exceptthe free version will not let you pass though GPU so that sucks.

[Eastman51]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

All normal management is done in a web gui for proxmox. You can also use the terminal if you want. Its running on debian, so all normal debian commands work fine.

ok. that sounds good. What are my options for RDP to VMs?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Eastman51 said:

ok. that sounds good. What are my options for RDP to VMs?

You rdp into the vm with windows like with any other system. proxmox or you hypervisor doesn't affect rdp at all. The virtual system just appears as anouther system on the network.

[Eastman51]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You rdp into the vm with windows like with any other system. proxmox or you hypervisor doesn't affect rdp at all. The virtual system just appears as anouther system on the network.

Can you rdp to a non-Windows system? I've never tried as I've only worked with Windows before

[KarathKasun]

With vSphere, at least the last time I used it, you used a web interface and it used Java to pipe the display output to your management PC.

[Eastman51]

1 minute ago, KarathKasun said:

With vSphere, at least the last time I used it, you used a web interface and it used Java to pipe the display output to your management PC.

That sounds terrible. Java doesn't like to work half the time in a browser setting, not to mention Chrome doesn't support it anymore for some reason.

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, Eastman51 said:

Can you rdp to a non-Windows system? I've never tried as I've only worked with Windows before

What OS? 

 

You can use ssh for linux and most *nix systems. You can use vnc if you want a gui, but normally linux servers have no gui.

2 minutes ago, KarathKasun said:

With vSphere, at least the last time I used it, you used a web interface and it used Java to pipe the display output to your management PC.

That works with basically every hypervisor, but thats normally just for first setup, you use rdp or ssh once its installed.

[KarathKasun]

Just now, Eastman51 said:

That sounds terrible. Java doesn't like to work half the time in a browser setting, not to mention Chrome doesn't support it anymore for some reason.

It still works on every browser I have used, pretty much without issue.  Its not like you couldnt install a browser (or use IE) just for management.

[Eastman51]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What OS? 

 

You can use ssh for linux and most *nix systems. You can use vnc if you want a gui, but normally linux servers have no gui.

That works with basically every hypervisor, but thats normally just for first setup, you use rdp or ssh once its installed.

I would likely be using some flavor of Linux and/or Windows XP. Is ssh simple to use? I've never touched it

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Eastman51 said:

I would likely be using some flavor of Linux and/or Windows XP. Is ssh simple to use? I've never touched it

what do you want to use linux for?

 

SSH is easy to use, works just like a terminal over the network.

 

Why are you using xp, stay far far away from that.

[Snipergod87]

vSphere supports HTML5, so when you log into its web interface you can connect to the VM's console via HTML5

[KarathKasun]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

That works with basically every hypervisor, but thats normally just for first setup, you use rdp or ssh once its installed.

RDP/VNC/SSH is basically what you do with any server.  I believe that in vSphere you can set up the hypervisor to use VNC to directly connect to the VM as well, with different ports for each VM.

[Eastman51]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

what do you want to use linux for?

 

SSH is easy to use, works just like a terminal over the network.

 

Why are you using xp, stay far far away from that.

I'd potentially use Linux for a remote arcade box. idk if I'd actually use XP, just a thought as I found some XP x64 Professional disks and keys

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Eastman51 said:

I'd potentially use Linux for a remote arcade box. idk if I'd actually use XP, just a thought as I found some XP x64 Professional disks and keys

yea don't use xp, huge security risk, and missing lots of modern features.

 

VM's like this really aren't made for a arcade box. Get a mini pc or a pi for that.