Server rebuild

I have an old HP xw8200 machine that I use as a server at home. It runs the two Oracle DB VMs I use for work and our cache of TV we can watch via Mezzmo (a DNLA server).

Unfortunately the stupid thing is starting to get flaky. I bought it before ESX was free and so I ran XP on it with VMWare Server (which was free) to run the VMs. This worked Ok as some software I wanted to run on it was only available in XP (the TV card software) but it still ran some servers to support my work needs.

It really needs more RAM and a while back I bought 8GBs to upgrade it and planned to rebuild it using ESX. Well unfortunately ESX won't run on it! While the machine is 64 bit it is only sort-of 64 bit and doesn't support the VT-X instruction. I tried 2008R2 and even 64 bit XP but nothing worked. Even worse was that when I put 8GB of RAM in the machine XP thinks there is just 2GBs and consequently all the VMs run quite badly.

So what to do? Well while the processors in the machine are not quite what I need, the hardware is very robust. My office is not air-conditioned and can get pretty hot in summer (40C on a bad day). The HP survived all that.

My plan was to get another 'tower' server. First of all I was alarmed to discover *none* of the HP tower servers are listed as compatible with ESXi. Also the cost is nearly double a desktop equivalent. For example an i3 based server like a Proliant ML110 G7 is around $AUD900-$1000 with a pitiful amount of RAM. A basic Xeon one is more like $AUD1500 and over $2000 with a decent amount of RAM.

BTW I found this site enormously useful when working out the relative performance of different processors as well as comparing the performance of server/desktop line processors.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

I looked at Dell servers as they do appear to be ESX compatible but again a E3-1220 based unit (which is roughly equivalent to a i3)  with 16GB of RAM is around $AUD1400.


Ok do I really want an off the shelf server? I have an old Antec case around the house that has a dead P4 motherboard etc in it. What about if I build a server inside that box? Hmm.


I could buy a server Mobo, Xeon chip ECC RAM right and build one. I looked at the ASUS P8B WS motherboard http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8B_WS/ and looked at a few Xeons (like a E3-1280) and while this would work and give me a server with reasonable specs the cost ends up being well over $AUD1200.

I was talking to a friend about this and he asked if  I really need a server machine? Ok so non ECC RAM may not be as reliable when running for hours but my desktop runs for many hours a day and I shutdown the server over night anyway. Maybe a custom built desktop would do the job.

So then I dive into the world of desktop chipsets, Ivy bridge vs Sandy Bridge and so on. Turns out that as Ivy Bridge integrate GPU functionality into the chip, most Mobo include graphics output which is nice for a server as I don't have to waste money/power on a Gfx card.

Also I can get a pretty fast processor (i7-3770) for the cost of the Xeon and a Z77 motherboard plus fast ram for 3/4 the cost of the server stuff.

Then I do more hunting... Apparently many Z77 motherboards don't work with ESXi. Sigh... The problem appears to be the LAN card. The ones with a Realtek based LAN card apparently work but with others either you need to hack the install or they simply don't work at all.

Thankfully I found this spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjymuQhfM0vYdHZtNThGSllMeU1SMU9ldVltUmp4NWc#gid=0) which lays this out. In the last three builds or so I have tended to go with ASUS motherboards but it turns out the ASRock unit is the best one as it has a Realtek card. The ASRock one is also quite a cheap unit at a little over $110 too.

By this point my head was positively spinning with compatibility matrices, motherboard chipsets, processor chip lineups etc.

I don't understand why it has to be so hard? Anyway I've ordered the desktop stuff based on an ASRock z77 motherboard and the intel processor. I bought some fast G.Skill RAM as when I did this in the past I found the performance boost worthwhile.

Should be here in the next couple of days and I'll post more then.