New Server Project

NOTICE :: This mirror for the project is open again.

Hello! It's been a minute since I last posted here with my own topic. I now have a dedicated ESXi server in the works, and am planning to start using it 24/7 by the end of this year. Here are the specs for the hardware:

CSE :: HPE ProLiant DL580 G7
CPU :: 4x Intel Xeon E7-8870's (10c/20t each; 40c/80t total)
RAM :: 128GB (32x4GB) DDR3-1333 PC3-10600R ECC
STR :: 1x HP 518216-002 146GB HDD (ESXi, VMware Linux Appliance, System ISOs) +

1x 500GB Seagate Video ST500VT003 HDD (Remote Development VM) +

4x HP 507127-B21 300GB HDDs +

1x Western Digital WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB SSD (Virtual Flash) +

1x Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW600G3 600GB SSD (also Virtual Flash)

1x LSI SAS 9201-16e HBA SAS card (4-HDD DAS) +

1x Mini-SAS SFF-8088 to SATA Forward Breakout x4 cable +

1x Kingwin MKS-435TL (4x 3.5in HDD cage) +

4x IBM Storwize V7000 98Y3241 4TB HDDs

PCIe :: 1x HP 512843-001/591196-001 System I/O board +

1x HP 588137-B21; 591205-001/591204-001 PCIe Riser board
GPU :: 1x nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB +

1x nVIDIA Tesla K10* (may replace with a GRID K520 in about a week)
SFX :: 1x Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Rx

NIC :: 1x SolarFlare SFN5322F

FAN :: 4x Arctic F9 PWM 92mm fa ns *

PSU :: 4x 1200W Server PSU's (HP 441830-001/438203-001)

PRP :: 1x Dell MS819 Wired Mouse

ODD :: 1x Sony Optiarc BluRay drive

Parts marked with * are already in-house, but require further planning/modification before they can be added to the server.

As of now, the fans aren't really required for functionality. They were meant to help quiet the server down a bit, but they require some modification to work. This part can wait.

Here is the current software configuration plan for the server:

VMware Linux Appliance (for managing and monitoring ESXi 6.5)
Temporary/Test VM (for when I want to host a temporary role/application, without impacting mission-critical infrastructure)
Windows Server Datacentre (Active Directory, Technitium^, NTP, Soft Ether⁺, hMailServer⁺, ejabberd⁺, AOMEI PXE Boot^, etc.)
MacOS Server (PleX Server**, DaVinci Resolve, Google Drive/MEGA sync*, Handbrake, SVP4 Pro, iTunes, F@H, etc.)
Artix Linux (Technitium^, OpenSSH, strong Swan⁺, NextCloud⁺, FreePBX+SMS⁺, CUPS^, Server JRE, YaCy, Minecraft servers,etc.)
Windows 10 LTSB (front-end tasks - OBS Studio, Moonlight**, DesignWorks, Co ns ol e Ga me Emu lat ors, modpack dev., etc.)
Remote Development(my build environment - Netbeans, MinGW/64, cmake, GNUWin, CUDA SDK, Mosh, nginx+SQLite+Php, etc.) ^

* Temporary task that will be replaced by a permanent, self-hosted solution

** Can benefit from port forwarding, but will be primarily tunnel-bound

^ Tunnel-bound (VPN/SSH) role - not port forwarded/exposed to the Internet

+ Active Directory enabled - Single Sign On (SSO)

Here is the current resource allocation plan for the server:

VMware NIX Appliance :: 24/7 - true, dedicatedHDD - false, dedicatedGPU - false, 2c/4t + 10GB
Temporary/Testing VM :: 24/7 - false, dedicatedHDD - false, dedicatedGPU - true, 12c/24t + 32GB *
Windows Server 2016 :: 24/7 - true, dedicatedHDD - true, dedicatedGPU - false, 8c/16t + 12-16GB
macOS Server 10.14.X :: 24/7 - true, dedicatedHDD - true, dedicatedGPU - true, 8c/16t + 12-16GB
Artix Linux - Xfce ISO :: 24/7 - true, dedicatedHDD - true, dedicatedGPU - false, 8c/16t + 12GB
Windows 10 Enterprise :: 24/7 - false, dedicatedHDD - true, dedicatedGPU - true, 12c/24t + 32GB *
Remote Development VM :: 24/7 - false, dedicatedHDD - true, dedicatedGPU - true, 12c/24t + 32GB *

VMs marked with an * cannot be run at the same time. Only one of them can ever run at any given moment. MacOS and Linux would have gotten a Radeon/FirePro (ie., Rx Vega 64), for best compatibility and stability, but market forces have prevented this. Windows 10 gets the Creative Audigy Rx. The MacOS and Linux VMs get whatever audio the Tesla K10's provide (either that or a software solution). Windows 10, Remote Development, and the Temp/Testing VM will be put to sleep (or offed) until they are needed (Wake on LAN), since they don't host any essential services.

There are three other mirrors for this project, in case you're interested in following individual conversations from the other sites (in addition to this thread).

P.S. Out of all the sites that I've ever used, this forum has one of the best WYSIWYG editors I've used in a while Kudos to the devs!

Message was edited by: TopHat Productions115, This project mirror is open again