Loading ...So I got to play around with VMWare ESXi 4.0 at Shmoocon this month and had a lot of fun learning about it. Anyways I got to thinking about building an ESXi server for using at home to test a variety of things I do that could also be very small and portable. Ideally I wanted to be able to take the server with me on an airplane in carryon luggage if possible. The server should also have multiple Ethernet NIC ports on it so I could also turn it into a pfSense router on the fly in a separate VM if needed. After rummaging through Intel’s channel website and doing a whole shedload of Googling I think I may have finally pieced together something that meets all those needs. Check out the parts list and costs below and a photo or two of the case this will all fit into:
Morex 6600 - Front
Mini-
ITX ESXi Server
Mini-ITX ESXi Server
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http://www.orbitmicro.com/global/ms-9820-010-p-8895.html?ref=base
MSI IM-Q35 Mini-ITX LGA 775 Motherbaord
$235
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
WD 640GB 7200RPM SATA HD
(2x) $74.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129045
Pioneer DVR-218LBK CD/DVD Burner SATA
$27.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134864
Kingston Value-RAM 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR2 800 Kit
$310
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115131
Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 CPU
$189.99
http://www.mitxpc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=6600
Morex 6600 Mini-ITX Storage Enclosure w/250W
$69.95
http://www.provantage.com/intel-e1g44etblk~7ITEN0EK.htm
Intel Gb Eth Quad-Server 4 PCI-E NIC
$387.27
http://www.logicsupply.com/products/pelx16_c11
PCI-Express x16 Flexible Riser Card
$39.00
Total Cost: ~ $1410
Curious to see what people think of this. Am I crazy? Let me know.
get rich on the internet make money at home.
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Do you know if the IM-Q35 will support 8GB RAM? The specs I found said it only support up to 4GB max.
Just to confirm the 8GB question. I just upgraded yesterday with this:
OCZ Platinum XTC PC2-6400 8GB 2X4GB DDR2-800 CL5-4-4-18 DDR2 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=52009&promoid=1097
Works a peach. I’m running the unit with Centos 5.4 64bit and Xen 3.4.2 and it’s a great little box. I’ve housed it in the Chenbro ES34069.
Only problem with the IM-Q35 is, even though it’s a bearlake chipset VT-d is not enabled. Would be nice if there was a way to get this going. Perhaps a hacked bios?