I did a lot of research recently to build a Vmware ESXi whitebox server. I wanted to build an ESXi server to learn about Vmware as well as have all the virtual machines run 24/7. With the File Server, I have to stop the Virtual Machines running because of the Macrium Backup, which is extremely annoying.
My basic requirements are :
- Low power usage, because it will run 24/7.
- Easy administration
- 5 or 6 hard drives
- Run all my virtual machines
The two best ressources I found are :
- Vladan’s blog article
- The dedicated section to Virtualized Computing on HardForum
Update 1/14/15: I bought 32 GB of Ram for the ESXi server to be able to run a lot more virtual machines.
The server has the following parts :
- Computer Case: Lian-Li PC-V358
- Power Supply: Silverstone ST60F-PS
- Motherboard: Asrock H87M-Pro
- Processor: Intel Core i7 4770
- Ram: GSKILL Sniper 32GB
- System Hard Drive : Patriot Supersonic Boost XT 8GB
- SSD Hard Drive: Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
- Storage Hard Drive: will come later
- Video Card : XFX Radeon 7850 1GB
Cost: 945 $
Here are some pictures :
