Hypervisor Server Spec Change

So, plans have changed somewhat. I have decided to go from an AMD based virtual machine host to an Intel based one. I have actually began ordering parts. So far, specifications are:

ASUS RS500-E6/EPS4 1U Rackmount Server
        +LGA1366 Socket
        +192GB RDIMM (Max, 12x 240 Pin Slots)
        +2x 10/100/1000 Intel 82574L LAN Connections
        +1x ASMB4-iKVM (Management) RJ45
        +4x Hot-swap bays
        +2x PCI Riser Cards (for 1U servers)
        +2x Heatsinks
        +CD/DVD Optical Drives
2x Intel Xeon E5620 Westmere LGA1366 (2.4GHz, Hyperthread, VT-x, Turbo Boost)
        + 16 Total Cores with Hyperthreading
2x Crucial 16GB 240-Pin DDR3 1066 SDRAM (Registered)
        + 32GB Total 

Above is what has been decided on. Due to my desired RAID configuration, I am still deciding on storage factors for both OS and Datastore. I initially considered SSDs in a mirrored configuration for the OS but I have read conflicting reports about the usage of SSDs in relation to drive lifetime related to read/write and (affordable) SSDs performance suffering from RAID configuration. 

The server was bought from Newegg (http://newegg.com) and the processors were purchased from Directron (http://directron.com), which is my first buy from Directron. I'm still awaiting arrival of the CPUs. Newegg is simply the best place to buy PC/Server parts for builders. I am, however, interested to try Directron. 

Check out the pictures below. 

The first thing all of my lab equipment touches is my counter.

Nice quality 1U server. Hopefully it performs just as good.

Hot-swap bays give an enterprise feel to my lab server.

I like to build but there is nothing wrong with pre-built.

Everything is in order including unexpected riser cards.

CPU, Memory, Storage, and other parts are not included.

3 RJ45 connections. The isolated NIC is for mangagement.

Open 3.5" Hot-swap bays.

My wife's cat, Ramsay, makes her debut on my blog.

I racked it to keep it out of the way until the build is complete

I spaced it from the other servers to keep air-flow sufficient.

ESXi Server Realized

So, my tentative plans to build an ESXi server have become more concrete. My wife's Christmas present to me consists of letting me budget to build an ESXi (most likely) host. So far, I have gotten the hardware lined up and the total cost is looking to be around $2,500. 

Below are the specifications I have lined up.

•  ASUS RS500A-E6/PS4 1U Rackmount Barebone Server 
• Dual G34 Socket (Opteron 6300/6200/6100)
• 256GB RDIMM 1600/1333/1066/800 DDR3
• Dual Intel 82574L 10/100/1000 NIC
• 1x MGMT LAN
• 4x 3.5 Hotswap Bays

• 2x AMD Opteron 6320 Abu Dhabi 2.8GHZ 8-Core
• Wintec 32GB (4x8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 Registered
• 2x Kingston 120GB SSDNow (OS)
• 2x Western Digital 1TB WD AV-GP (VM/Datastore)
• 1x Intel EXPI9301CT 10/100/1000 NIC

Those are just the essentials. I hope to have everything assembled before or during the week of Christmas. You might ask why an aspiring CCNP wants to experiment with virtualization. Besides virtualization being another of my interests, it has also become a fact of life in most datacenters as well as becoming increasingly prevalent in networking with the advent of virtualized network elements. If nothing else, it adds more variety to my growing lab.