Server Labs
The inspiration for this page is thanks to Ian G who suggested an area where readers could share with others their current lab environment setup and if relevant what OS and/or VMs they are running on their kit.
To kick things off below is a template you can cut and paste into the ‘Comments Section’ of this post. Just copy it the number of times you need it to reflect the number of machines in your lab or home environment. Also feel free to make any modifications where needed and add a photo or two.
(This is as clean as my man cave ever gets – hence the need to take a photo 
)
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Server (Make/Model):
CPU:
Memory (Make/Model):
Memory (Amount):
Hard Disk (Make/Model):
No of Hard Disk:
RAID Level (if applicable):
Disk Controller (Make/Model):
Network Card (Make/Model):
Network Speed:
Hypervisor/Operating System:
Number of VMs? (if applicable):
Network Switch (Make/Model):
Other:
My name is Simon Seagrave and I am a London (UK) based Technical Architect. 
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Server (Make/Model): Whitebox
CPU: Intel Core Duo E6550
Memory (Make/Model): Kingston
Memory (Amount): 8GB
Hard Disk (Make/Model): Maxtor
No of Hard Disk: 1
RAID Level (if applicable): NA
Disk Controller (Make/Model):Intel ICH9
Network Card (Make/Model): Intel
Network Speed: 1000
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESX3.5
Number of VMs? (if applicable):10
Network Switch (Make/Model):1Gig Dell 16 port
[Reply]
Maish Reply:
March 19th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Server (Make/Model): IBM x3550 x3650 HS21(Blade) x335 x336 x346 (Basically whatever I have lying around in the lab) and Vmworkstation
CPU: Ranging from old Xeons and UP
Memory (Make/Model): Usually Kingston
Memory (Amount): ~4-6gb / server
Hard Disk (Make/Model): IBM SAS 15k or 10k
No of Hard Disk: 1/2 per server
RAID Level (if applicable):
Disk Controller (Make/Model): IBM serveraid
Network Card (Make/Model): On-board (usually Broadcom
Network Speed: 100/1000
Hypervisor/Operating System:ESX3i ESX3 and a lab of vSphere
Number of VMs? (if applicable):10-20
Network Switch (Make/Model): usually cisco
I have 3 seperate lab environments
1. Current ESX version 3.5 – Test of production
2. ESX 3.5 Lab
3. Vsphere (next Genenration)
Usually use an old PC for cheap storage with openfiler or EMC / Netapp VM’s
[Reply]
Server (Make/Model): 3 x Dell 2600, 2 x Dell 2900
CPU: 2 x 3.0 Ghz (2600’s) 1 x QC 2.5 Ghz (2900’s)
Memory (Make/Model):
Memory (Amount): 8Gb (2600’s) 16 Gb (2900’s)
Hard Disk (Make/Model): Dell
No of Hard Disk: 6 x 72Gb (2600s) 2 x 72Gb (2900s)
RAID Level (if applicable): Raid 5 (2600s) Raid 1 (2900’s)
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Perc
Network Card (Make/Model): Intel
Network Speed: 1Gb
Hypervisor/Operating System: Esx 3.5 (2600’s Esx4 RC (2900’s)
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 20
Network Switch (Make/Model): Cisco
Other:
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Here’s a kit list for my home lab:
SERVER #1:
Server (Make/Model): ML110 G4
CPU: 1.8GHz Dual Core Xeon
Memory (Make/Model): 3GB (2 x 1GB, 2 x 500MB)
Memory (Amount): Unbranded Various
Hard Disk (Make/Model): 160GB Seagate
No of Hard Disk: 1
RAID Level (if applicable): 0
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Onboard
Network Card (Make/Model): Onboard
Network Speed: 1Gb/s
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESXi 3.5.0 U3
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 3
SERVER #2:
Server (Make/Model): ML110 G5
CPU: 2.33GHz Dual Core Xeon
Memory (Make/Model): 8GB
Memory (Amount): OCZ DDR2 6400 (4 x 2GB)
Hard Disk (Make/Model): 250GB Seagate
No of Hard Disk: 4
RAID Level (if applicable): 1+0 (500GB approx total)
Disk Controller (Make/Model): HP e200
Network Card (Make/Model): NetXtreme BCM5722 (Onboard)
Network Speed: 1Gb/s
Network Card (Make/Model): Dual Port Intel 82571EB
Network Speed: 2 x 1Gb/s
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESXi 3.5.0 U3
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 10
SERVER #3:
Server (Make/Model): ML115 G1
CPU: 1.8GHz Dual
Memory (Make/Model): Kingston KHX6400D2LLK2
Memory (Amount): 4GB (2 x 2GB)
Hard Disk (Make/Model): 160GB Seagate
No of Hard Disk: 1
RAID Level (if applicable): 0
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Onboard
Network Card (Make/Model): Onboard
Network Speed: 1Gb/s
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESX 3.5.0 U3
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 0 at present
SERVER #4:
Server (Make/Model): Shuttle XPC
CPU: 3.0GHz AMD64
Memory (Make/Model): Corsair XMS Extreme DDR
Memory (Amount): 1GB (2 x 512MB)
Hard Disk (Make/Model): 160GB Maxtor
No of Hard Disk: 2
RAID Level (if applicable): 0 (Software)
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Onboard
Network Card (Make/Model): Onboard
Network Speed: 1Gb/s
Hypervisor/Operating System: OpenFiler 2.3
Network Switch: Linksys SLM2008
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Server (Make/Model):Whitebox
CPU: 2x AMD Opteron processor 246
Memory (Make/Model): Corsair
Memory (Amount): 8G
Hard Disk (Make/Model): Maxtor
No of Hard Disk: 1
RAID Level (if applicable):NONE
Disk Controller (Make/Model):Sil 3114
Network Card (Make/Model): Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5703 Gigabit Ethernet
Network Speed: 100M
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESX 3.5
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 2
Network Switch (Make/Model): Dell 3224
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Server (Make/Model):HP ML110G5×2
CPU:Xeon
Memory (Make/Model): Crucial DDR2 PC2-6400
Memory (Amount): 8GB per server
Hard Disk (Make/Model):250GB Seagate
No of Hard Disk:1
RAID Level (if applicable):n/a
Disk Controller (Make/Model):Onboard
Network Card (Make/Model):Onboard, Intel Single Port, Intel Dual Port
Network Speed:Gigabit
Hypervisor/Operating System:ESX 3.5 Update 3
Number of VMs? (if applicable):10
Network Switch (Make/Model):HP 1800-8G
Other:Shared Storage using Openfiler, ZFS and Left Hand SAN Appliance
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Server 1
Server (Make/Model): ML115 G5
CPU: Opteron 1352
Memory (Make/Model): HP
Memory (Amount): 2GB
Hard Disk (Make/Model): Samsung F1 750
No of Hard Disk: 2
RAID Level (if applicable):
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Onboard
Network Card (Make/Model): Intel
Network Speed: Gigabit
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESXi LeftHand VSA
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 1
Server 2
Server (Make/Model): ML115 G5
CPU: Opteron 1352
Memory (Make/Model): Crucial
Memory (Amount): 8GB ECC
Hard Disk (Make/Model): Seagate 250gb
No of Hard Disk: 1
RAID Level (if applicable):
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Onboard
Network Card (Make/Model): Intel
Network Speed: Gigabit
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESXi
Number of VMs? (if applicable): Depends
Server 3
Server (Make/Model): ML115 G5
CPU: Opteron 1352
Memory (Make/Model): Crucial
Memory (Amount): 8GB ECC
Hard Disk (Make/Model): Seagate 250gb
No of Hard Disk: 1
RAID Level (if applicable):
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Onboard
Network Card (Make/Model): Intel
Network Speed: Gigabit
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESXi
Number of VMs? (if applicable): Depends
Network Switch (Make/Model): HP1800
Other: LO100c in each, all free due to cash back offer. Thanks HP
[Reply]
what a cheap way for me to learn vmware ,best hi spec pc at low price.please leist full spec .like to buy from ebuyer so quickfind code or url will do .ta johnv
[Reply]
Server1 :HP ML115 G5
CPU: Opteron 1352
Memory (Make/Model): Corsair
Memory (Amount): 8GB
Hard Disk :Western Digital RE
No of Hard Disk:x4 x1 Standard Seagate
RAID Level (if applicable):RAID5
Disk Controller: Adaptec 5405
Network Card : Intel Dual Port
Network Speed: Gigabit
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESX4
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 8
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Server2 :HP ML115 G5
CPU: Opteron 1352
Memory (Make/Model): Corsair
Memory (Amount): 8GB
Hard Disk : Samsung F1 1TB
No of Hard Disk:x4 x1 Standard Seagate
RAID Level (if applicable):RAID5
Disk Controller: 3Ware 9690SA-4i
Network Card : Intel Quad Port
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Network Speed: Gigabit
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESX4
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 8
Network Switch : Linksys SRW224G4
Other: Stormagic SVSan, Openfiler, Vyatta
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This is LAB ONLY configuration (fits in 2 K$).
4 x HP Compaq dx2400 Desktop PCs (2x ESX nodes, 1x vCenter box, 1x iSCSI storage box)
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 @ 2,5GHz
RAM: 8GB DDR-II 800MHz
HDD: 250GB SATA-II
NIC: Embedded RTL-8111C
1 x HP Compaq nx6125 laptop (management station)
CPU: AMD Sempron 3000+ @ 1,8GHz
RAM: 2GB DDR
HDD: 60GB
1 x HP ProCurve 1800-8G Gigabit Switch
Production is still running on VMware Server 2 (and waiting for migration to vSphere).
[Reply]
Kiwi Si Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 6:46 am
Hi Zorg,
Nice set-up. What are you using for your iSCSI storage?
Cheers,
Simon
[Reply]
zaharmd Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 7:01 am
iSCSI = FreeNAS.org
[Reply]
Zorg Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
FreeNAS
[Reply]
Server (Make/Model): HP Proliant DL385
CPU: 1x Dual Core AMD Opteron
Memory (Make/Model):
Memory (Amount): 4GB
Hard Disk (Make/Model): 36GB 15K RPM internal hot pluggable
No of Hard Disk: 2
RAID Level (if applicable): 1 (mirror)
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Embedded RAID array controller
Network Card (Make/Model): 3x 1Gb NICs
Network Speed: 1Gb
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESX 3.5
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 8-16
Server (Make/Model): HP Proliant DL385
CPU: 1x Dual Core AMD Opteron
Memory (Make/Model):
Memory (Amount): 4GB
Hard Disk (Make/Model): 36GB 15K RPM internal hot pluggable
No of Hard Disk: 2
RAID Level (if applicable): 1 (mirror)
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Embedded RAID array controller
Network Card (Make/Model): 3x 1Gb NICs
Network Speed: 1Gb
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESXi 3.5
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 8-16
Server (Make/Model): HP Proliant DL385 G2
CPU: 2x Quad Core AMD Opteron 2218 (Barcelona)
Memory (Make/Model):
Memory (Amount): 16GB
Hard Disk (Make/Model): 72GB 10K RPM internal hot pluggable
No of Hard Disk: 2
RAID Level (if applicable): 1 (mirror)
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Embedded RAID array controller
Network Card (Make/Model): 5x 1Gb NICs
Network Speed: 1Gb
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESX 4
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 20-30
Server (Make/Model): HP Proliant DL385 G2
CPU: 2x Quad Core AMD Opteron 2218 (Barcelona)
Memory (Make/Model):
Memory (Amount): 16GB
Hard Disk (Make/Model): 72GB 10K RPM internal hot pluggable
No of Hard Disk: 2
RAID Level (if applicable): 1 (mirror)
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Embedded RAID array controller
Network Card (Make/Model): 5x 1Gb NICs
Network Speed: 1Gb
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESXi 4
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 20-30
Server (Make/Model): HP Proliant DL380 G3
CPU: 2x Intel XEON
Memory (Make/Model):
Memory (Amount): 6GB
Hard Disk (Make/Model): 2x 72GB 15K RPM, 4x 146GB 10K RPM internal hot pluggable
No of Hard Disk: 6
RAID Level (if applicable): 1 (mirror), and 5
Disk Controller (Make/Model): Embedded RAID array controller
Network Card (Make/Model): 3x NICs
Network Speed: 100Mbps and 1Gb
Hypervisor/Operating System: VMware Server 2.x
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 3
File server, SQL server, vCenter server, Backup server, hosts 3 VMs
Network Switch (Make/Model): Netgear 24 port Gb switch
Network Switch (Make/Model): Cisco 35xx XL 100Mbps switch
Other:
MSA1000 fibre channel SAN, Active/Active controller pair, 3 disk shelves, 42 disks, 5TB raw capacity. Used for VM shared storage and VM backups to disk (Veeam).
4x HP StorageWorks SAN switch
MSL5026 fibre channel tape library
2x HP Proliant DL580 G2, 4x Intel P4 XEON 2.5GHz, 12GB RAM
HP Proliant ML570 G2, 4x Intel P4 XEON, 9GB RAM
2x APC SMART UPS 2200
Compaq 42u rack
[Reply]
Update:
2x EMC Celerra NS-120 Unified Storage
60 FC spindles
16TB FC, iSCSI, NAS, NFS
[Reply]
Server (Make/Model): HP Proliant ML115 G5
CPU: AMD Opteron 1354 QuadCore 2.2Ghz.
Memory (Make/Model): 4×1Gb HP.
Memory (Amount): 4 Gb.
Hard Disk (Make/Model): Westerndigital SATA 250Gb.
No of Hard Disk: 1
RAID Level (if applicable):
Disk Controller (Make/Model):
Network Card (Make/Model): Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5722
Network Speed: 1000
Hypervisor/Operating System: CentOS 5.3 x86_64
Number of VMs? (if applicable):1
Server (Make/Model): iBM eServer 325
CPU: 2x AMD Opteron 246 2.0Ghz
Memory (Make/Model): 2 GB
Memory (Amount): 2 GB
Hard Disk (Make/Model): IDE 120Gbs
No of Hard Disk: 1
RAID Level (if applicable):
Disk Controller (Make/Model):
Network Card (Make/Model): Broadcom 5704
Network Speed:
Hypervisor/Operating System: Debian 5.
Number of VMs? (if applicable): 1
Server (Make/Model): iBM eServer 325
CPU: 2x AMD Opteron 246 2.0Ghz
Memory (Make/Model): 1 GB
Memory (Amount): 1 GB
Hard Disk (Make/Model): IDE 120Gbs
No of Hard Disk: 1
RAID Level (if applicable):
Disk Controller (Make/Model):
Network Card (Make/Model): Broadcom 5704
Network Speed:
Hypervisor/Operating System: Debian CentOS 5 x86_64.
Number of VMs? (if applicable):
Network Switch (Make/Model):Linksys WRT54G
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Server 1: Whitebox
CPU: Intel E8500
Memory (Make/Model): Corsair
Memory (Amount): 4gb
Hard Disk (Make/Model): Seagate
No of Hard Disk: 1tb
Disk Controller (Make/Model): ICH10R – Intel DG45ID mobo
Network Card (Make/Model): Intel 82567LF – Intel DG45ID mobo
Network Speed: 1gbps
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESXi 4U1
Number of VMs? (if applicable): Part of a cluster so it varies. 6 VM’s running in the cluster.
Server 2: Whitebox
CPU: Intel Q8400
Memory (Make/Model): Corsair
Memory (Amount): 4gb
Hard Disk (Make/Model): Western Digital
No of Hard Disk: 40gb
Disk Controller (Make/Model): ICH10 – Gigabyte GA-EP43T-UD3L mobo
Network Card (Make/Model): Realtek 8111 – GA-EP43T-UD3L (Custom ESXi install CD required)
Network Card (Make/Model): Intel Pro 1000 CT
Network Speed: 1gbps
Hypervisor/Operating System: ESX 4U1. Was running ESXi using the onboard Realtek whilst I was waiting for the Intel Pro to arrive.
Number of VMs? (if applicable): Part of a cluster so it varies. 6 VM’s running in the cluster.
Network Switch (Make/Model): Depends on what mood I am in and the level of noise I want to make. I have a choice of a 8 port Dlink gig switch, 2 Cisco 3548XL and a Nortel 5510-24T.
Server 3: Dell Optiplex 620
CPU: Pentium 4 2.8g
Memory (Make/Model): ???
Memory (Amount): 1gb
Hard Disk (Make/Model): @estern Digital
No of Hard Disk: 1tb
Disk Controller (Make/Model): ???
Network Card (Make/Model): Broadcom thing
Network Speed: 1gbps
Hypervisor/Operating System: Openfiler 2.3 providing a NFS target to the ESX cluster
Other:
So a 3 PC lab. ESXi and ESX running using NFS disk and local disk. I have 2 virtual instances of ESX running 1 on each physical cluster. Running 3 Win2k3 EE servers, Ubuntu and Celerra VSA.
My everyday computer is a 20inch iMAC with Fusion.
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