ESXi 5.5 - My Experience (and some questions)

[Aergan]

i am happy to leave ESXi on the normal hard drive, if i do get a new SSD for laptop i will make the old one my datastore for VM's

 

Someone mentioned plugging the bt fibre box right into the server for pfsense

 

I have a sky router there so would need to work out how to replace that first lol

 

I replaced my router for a VM back in October '14 and couldn't be happier.

My Openreach Huaweii FTTC VDSL modem plugs straight into a dedicated Intel NIC for WAN.

I'm using Zentyal over pfsense as I wanted a Ubuntu server x64 VM to start with. They provide an apt repository so you can build your VM yourself to better suit your needs / host resources.

[Haggis Veteran]

found a page on one of the SKY forums and some guys says

 

 

 

All works with Pfsense, just add your username and password as with the others to the dhcp hostname field on the WAN connections page

 

 

So i will start to have a look at this

 

My router is upstairs next to the master socket and i wanted to always put the server up there too but the wife was not happy with that

 

so here is my excuse to do it

 

If it means i can get rid of that crap ISP router

[+Fahim S. MVC]

found a page on one of the SKY forums and some guys says

 

 

 

So i will start to have a look at this

 

My router is upstairs next to the master socket and i wanted to always put the server up there too but the wife was not happy with that

 

so here is my excuse to do it

 

If it means i can get rid of that crap ISP router

 

That's exactly what I do with my BT router.  My BT router used to misbehave every couple of days, and require a reset.  My pfSense installation has uptime of months.  The only reason it gets reset is because it gets upgraded to a newer version or I have apply patches to the hypervisor.

 

Just so you know, for Sky, although you can do it - it actually goes against the terms and conditions you signed up for (if you care about that sort of thing).  I hate Sky for this, and is why I didn't sign up with them.

 

My master socket and server are also in completely different rooms.  I use Ethernet over Powerline to get the traffic across to the server.

 

One last piece of advice, if you do go this route, make sure that you set the pfSense VM to start automatically when the hypervisor starts up.  

[Haggis Veteran]

Yep i know about the T and C's

I spoke to a nice tech person on the phone with Sky

He said they obviously wont support 3rd party hardware but if there is issues with lines and such just to plug the sky router back in before calling them

I will wait till i get a dual NIC so i have more than one and then go from there i would love to get rid of the sky router (would still use it on the network as a wifi AP)

I am going to play about with more VM's tonight so will see how that goes

ok so i found this Dual NIC

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SEDNA-Server-Adapter-Intel-chipset/dp/B00LB9EJLA/ref=sr_1_8?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1420807130&sr=1-8&keywords=low+profile+dual+server+nic

should i look for a better brand?

now i do have a graphics card in the server just now and dont really wanna remove it if i can so only leaves the PCI 1x slot free

[Intersect]

Would it not be better to remove the GFX card as you can access the display on the server over a software KVM such as synergy or remote desktop

[n_K]

I'm a bit lost here, I've got ESXi 5.0 running on my server off a 512MB USB, once BIOS is loaded etc. then loading ESXi takes less than 30 seconds.

Why would you reserve 8GB for the ESXi files exactly?

[Praetor]

You guys do understand your talking about 8GB of what?? 256GB -- what would you use for a datastore?  Its 8/256 = 3% if your worried about 3% of your storage space your nuts!!  Putting the hypervisor on usb has really one advantage - ability to have multiple copies for backup/recovery and or boot different OS off different usb easy on the fly, etc..

 

Putting it on usb to save space is beyond pointless..  Now if you were trying to use a 16GB ssd for a datastore - ok..  But when you can pickup a 256GB current model with great speeds for $110 mx100 line for example.. Why would you worry about 8GB??

 

I currently have 14 different vms on my datastore, and have no worries about space.  Now the boot times off usb are clearly going to have factors to how long it might take - for one the n40l only has usb2 -- they SUCK!!!  They are like watching paint dry, even the fast ones..  And why you spend good money on a FAST usb that is just going to boot esxi   Wouldn't that money be better spent on a bigger/faster SSD!!

 

Now if your usb 3, and you have decent stick - maybe its not too bad..  But I can tell you booting a n40l off a usb is HELL for time..  Its not that I watch it, etc..  Its that its down for so long - when you run your router off of it an internet is down because your updating esxi kind extends the down time...

 

Of course booting from a USB2 pendrive is more slow then booting off a SDD or even a HDD; the biggest advantage of using a pen is flexibility (backup the hypervisor, for example) and leaving more space for more disks. Also the N54L has only SATAII so even a SSD is speed capped (i've tested using a SSD for ESXi and the boot speed is a big improvement), not to mentioning that i've found that i almost don't reboot the server at all, so i prefer to use all the 4 bays for storage and the reboots that are needed i do in the night. But this is my setup that works for me, so i understand that for your setup things can be very different (for example i'm not running pfSense in the N54L, so when the ESXi is down i still have internet + LAN).

[+Fahim S. MVC]

Yep i know about the T and C's

I spoke to a nice tech person on the phone with Sky

He said they obviously wont support 3rd party hardware but if there is issues with lines and such just to plug the sky router back in before calling them

I will wait till i get a dual NIC so i have more than one and then go from there i would love to get rid of the sky router (would still use it on the network as a wifi AP)

I am going to play about with more VM's tonight so will see how that goes

ok so i found this Dual NIC

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SEDNA-Server-Adapter-Intel-chipset/dp/B00LB9EJLA/ref=sr_1_8?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1420807130&sr=1-8&keywords=low+profile+dual+server+nic

should i look for a better brand?

now i do have a graphics card in the server just now and dont really wanna remove it if i can so only leaves the PCI 1x slot free

 

The Dual NIC won't work as it is not PCIe.  I've not come across any Dual NICs that are PCIe 1x, typically they tend to be 4x.

Why don't you want to remove the graphics card?  Onboard video should be plenty for the ESXi console.

[Aergan]

Yep i know about the T and C's

I spoke to a nice tech person on the phone with Sky

He said they obviously wont support 3rd party hardware but if there is issues with lines and such just to plug the sky router back in before calling them

I will wait till i get a dual NIC so i have more than one and then go from there i would love to get rid of the sky router (would still use it on the network as a wifi AP)

I am going to play about with more VM's tonight so will see how that goes

ok so i found this Dual NIC

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SEDNA-Server-Adapter-Intel-chipset/dp/B00LB9EJLA/ref=sr_1_8?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1420807130&sr=1-8&keywords=low+profile+dual+server+nic

should i look for a better brand?

now i do have a graphics card in the server just now and dont really wanna remove it if i can so only leaves the PCI 1x slot free

 

I'd still check ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380990730689

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171151948443

[+Fahim S. MVC]

I'd still check ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380990730689

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171151948443

 

Wow bargains!

This seems a better deal as it unopened: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291334798072

 

However, again this is PCIe x4

[+BudMan MVC]

You don't need graphics card for a esxi host...  Remove that..

 

Yes the n40l is 3GBps with modded bios - but its night and day with ssd vs hard disk.. 

[Haggis Veteran]

Would it not be better to remove the GFX card as you can access the display on the server over a software KVM such as synergy or remote desktop

 

 

The Dual NIC won't work as it is not PCIe.  I've not come across any Dual NICs that are PCIe 1x, typically they tend to be 4x.

Why don't you want to remove the graphics card?  Onboard video should be plenty for the ESXi console.

 

 

You don't need graphics card for a esxi host...  Remove that..

 

Yes the n40l is 3GBps with modded bios - but its night and day with ssd vs hard disk.. 

 

 

 

The reason it has a graphics card in there is its plugged via HDMI into my tv so i can use XBMC

[Haggis Veteran]

this may be a stupid question

 

http://www.etb-tech.com/hp-nc360t-dual-port-1gb-nic-412651-001.html?gclid=CPv3sdGKh8MCFcjLtAodLVEApw

 

how do i know if its PCIe 1/2/4/16 etc

[offroadaaron]

You guys do understand your talking about 8GB of what?? 256GB -- what would you use for a datastore? Its 8/256 = 3% if your worried about 3% of your storage space your nuts!! Putting the hypervisor on usb has really one advantage - ability to have multiple copies for backup/recovery and or boot different OS off different usb easy on the fly, etc..

Putting it on usb to save space is beyond pointless.. Now if you were trying to use a 16GB ssd for a datastore - ok.. But when you can pickup a 256GB current model with great speeds for $110 mx100 line for example.. Why would you worry about 8GB??

I currently have 14 different vms on my datastore, and have no worries about space. Now the boot times off usb are clearly going to have factors to how long it might take - for one the n40l only has usb2 -- they SUCK!!! They are like watching paint dry, even the fast ones.. And why you spend good money on a FAST usb that is just going to boot esxi Wouldn't that money be better spent on a bigger/faster SSD!!

Now if your usb 3, and you have decent stick - maybe its not too bad.. But I can tell you booting a n40l off a usb is HELL for time.. Its not that I watch it, etc.. Its that its down for so long - when you run your router off of it an internet is down because your updating esxi kind extends the down time...

No matter what I would still rather have my hypervisor separate to my data store. You basically never need to reboot or update and when you do just take a nice break for 5 minutes, it's not like you need to watch it. If I had to choose I'd take layout over speed any day of the week.

[Aergan]

this may be a stupid question

 

http://www.etb-tech.com/hp-nc360t-dual-port-1gb-nic-412651-001.html?gclid=CPv3sdGKh8MCFcjLtAodLVEApw

 

how do i know if its PCIe 1/2/4/16 etc

 

They're all 4x PCI-E regardless of OEM (Dual Intel Pro/1000 PT based NIC's): http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/servers/networking/nc360t/

[Praetor]

this may be a stupid question

 

http://www.etb-tech.com/hp-nc360t-dual-port-1gb-nic-412651-001.html?gclid=CPv3sdGKh8MCFcjLtAodLVEApw

 

how do i know if its PCIe 1/2/4/16 etc

too bad that they don't ship off to PT

[johnfromjersey]

The whole USB /SD vs Local Disk install of ESXi is not about saving space on HDD /SSD or reboot times. It is about separating the operating system disk from your data disk. Because if this is a home lab /network with ESXi on USB/SD you can troubleshoot, reinstall, and upgrade the OS without effecting the datastore.
The server is a HP Gen7 Microserver with 1 500 gb Hard Drive. The USB/SD lacks the safety net of a RAID but so does the single spindle on the HDD.
 

[+Fahim S. MVC]

this may be a stupid question

 

http://www.etb-tech.com/hp-nc360t-dual-port-1gb-nic-412651-001.html?gclid=CPv3sdGKh8MCFcjLtAodLVEApw

 

how do i know if its PCIe 1/2/4/16 etc

 

The width of the connector x1 is about a centimetre wide, whilst x4 is bigger.

 

 

The reason it has a graphics card in there is its plugged via HDMI into my tv so i can use XBMC

 

Don't understand.  You have XBMC running as a VM and then mapped to the graphics card so it outputs onto the TV? Doesn't the processor need Vi/VT-D for that to work?  I thought the Turion couldn't do passthrough I/O...

[+BudMan MVC]

You sure don't need a raid safety net on a home/lab. And I agree with the esxi on os allowing for using other OS, etc.. See previous post. But in a home/lab setup to me the boot up time is way more important.. I can still boot whatever I wanted to of USB if wanted too. As to keeping the os away for datadisk - they are! Its a different partitions. Not like you see the OS mixed in with the datastore, etc.

Users are welcome to do whatever they want with their box - its tiny amount of space, and the fast boot times is more than worth the loss of 8GB if you ask me.

[Haggis Veteran]

The width of the connector x1 is about a centimetre wide, whilst x4 is bigger.

 

 

 

Don't understand.  You have XBMC running as a VM and then mapped to the graphics card so it outputs onto the TV? Doesn't the processor need Vi/VT-D for that to work?  I thought the Turion couldn't do passthrough I/O...

 

I am just playing about with EXsi just now so when i am done i switch my current local install back in so i can have XMBC and Plex on the network

 

I dont mind removing the GFX if i need to as i can still stream to the tv from Plex on the xbox

[+Fahim S. MVC]

I am just playing about with EXsi just now so when i am done i switch my current local install back in so i can have XMBC and Plex on the network

 

I dont mind removing the GFX if i need to as i can still stream to the tv from Plex on the xbox

 

Ok - makes sense.

 

I found this, which puts two NICs on a PCIe x1.  I won't vouch for its performance, and it is a Realtek chipset (shudder), which may require some driver installation under ESXi.

http://www.ebuyer.com/671889-dual-port-gigabit-pci-express-server-network-adapter-card-pcie-nic-st1000spexd4

[Haggis Veteran]

is this PCIe 1x?

 

http://www.ebuyer.com/263123-tp-link-tg-3468-pcie-gigabit-network-card-tg-3468

[+Fahim S. MVC]

is this PCIe 1x?

 

http://www.ebuyer.com/263123-tp-link-tg-3468-pcie-gigabit-network-card-tg-3468

 

Yes it is (says so in the spec)... but Realtek chipset again - I am just not a fan (have caused me problems in the past, Intel chipsets never have).

It is reported to work well under ESXi.

[+BudMan MVC]

scroll down on your link

Compatible Slots 1 x PCI Express x1

But yeah you can tell by the tiny 2nd connector.. While that card might be fine for a normal pc, I would look to validate it works with esxi before order. Your better off sticking with intel to be honest.

edit: Also you need low profile bracket, there is a comment that it does not come with one. You can always mod full size bracket for use in low, but its easier to just order a nic that comes with low profile or both of them.

[Praetor]

realtek: if it isn't in the HAL, then it's possible to inject the driver into the installation of the ESXi; i've done that a couple of times but it's way more trouble and in a real production environment it's a non supported setup (for home it's OK).