ESXI Raid Card help

[mason]

Hi

I am after a PCI-E Raid card for my ESXI Office server, anyone know any ones which will work and are cheap ish. I need to run Raid 10.

I have the motherboard GA-H87-HD3 but for some reason ESXI picks them up as single drives on install instead of 2 4tb drives i get 4 2tb drivers on the install screen.

I think it could be down to the software raid if GA-H87-HD3 is software which i think it is.

Thanks for your help.

 

[SAG]

No go on software fakeraid for ESX.
PERC 5/6 cards can be had for cheap on Ebay and they work well, just have to make sure you get good airflow over it in your whitebox as they tend to get hot.
I've always had good luck with the better Adaptec cards in whitebox ESX boxes.

You can always search here though for compatible stuff: http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

 

[mason]

Would this work ok on the motherboard i currently have - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-0XT2...743?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ae6d7365f

Thanks

 

[SAG]

Looks like a desktop mobo, so I don't know.
I'd want to say "doubt it".
Sorry, never looked up the mobo you mentioned until just now.

 

[mason]

Hi

Do you think this is ok?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-8-p...911?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item25a2662837

Thanks
Dave

 

[mason]

nevermind that wont work just answered my own question - that one wont work with raid 10.

 

[mason]

One last thing - will this one work ok?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DELL-Perc...904?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2edec51288

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

The bigger question is, will that RAID card work with a residential/hobbyist motherboard of the month club mobo like that Gigabyte.

You could assume with a good widely used true server grade hardware based RAID controller that any version of ESX will work fine on it.
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=io

I've only installed VMWare on tier-1 server hardware....never residential grade stuff...always a gamble with that.

 

[mason]

I did think of that, but its going to get low usage, its more of a project than anything. I just wanted to see if anyone would give it a try or should i look in to getting a server motherboard?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Well...you can roll the dice and see if that RAID card will get along with your particular motherboard and power supply. Might run OK, or might give hiccups...if not an occasional glitch like it locks up once a month or something like that. Spend a bunch of hours searching forums and find that 2x other people in the world experienced that same compatibility issue.

Or...if on a budget, cruise fleabay or some used server supply house and pickup a nice 3 or 4 year old Dell or HP server with a good RAID card and drives and ready to go, for 150 or 300 bucks or somewhere along those lines...and have fun. And learn good widely used server hardware at the same time. (I don't know if you service businesses...that might be worth it if so).

If you were closer you could swing by my office and I'd gladly give some server hardware...our server room is getting almost full with used servers...have to make a trip to the dump/metal recycle place in a few weeks when warmer weather hits.

 

[Markverhyden]

Realistically you are looking at a minimum of 200-300 USD for a used REAL RAID card. I know money does not grow on trees but given that expense why not just shop around on eBay for a older Dell, etc real server. Personally, I monkeyed around with the retail hardware for a few years. But in the end you end up wasting a lot of time learning things that do not apply in a business world. Consider it an investment in your business.

 

[SAG]

When I first started playing with ESX I used desktop grade crap that I had laying around. I setup an ESX host and then turned another computer into a nas using Linux and a few small drives in a raid.
Shared the datastore out via NFS and went from there.

It was fun and got my feet wet.

Just a thought, if funds are tight and you just want to play around for a bit.

 

[mason]

I may look in to doing that, The main reason i dont want a server is running out of my home office most servers sound like airplanes and would end up keeping me awake hearing it from my office.

I will have a play with what i got at the moment or lookin in to selling my current play machine which is an ok system and use that to get a server

Thanks for your time guys.

YeOldeStonecat: I wish i did live closer i would be around there in a shot i run a few servers online for web hosting but they are all vds so i dont do much hardware stuff with them. the ESXI in my home office was for testing hosted stuff.

Once again thanks and i will see about selling my current set up.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

When I first played with ESX at home...I just had a big old tower with a bunch of mixed SATA and PATA drives in there. If I remember right...it was a dual socket Pentium III mobo....hardware that was a game server in prior life. You don't need to have RAID to learn ESX in a lab setup....just lots of drive storage to play with LUNs.

 

[Moltuae]

Or...if on a budget, cruise fleabay or some used server supply house and pickup a nice 3 or 4 year old Dell or HP server with a good RAID card and drives and ready to go, for 150 or 300 bucks or somewhere along those lines...and have fun.

^^ This, definitely.

Mason, I'd recommend giving these guys a call: http://www.bargainhardware.co.uk

I've had several used G6/G7 Proliant servers from them. They're very helpful and knowledgeable too. They have a huge warehouse full of used servers up in Preston if you prefer to collect, or if you need to exchange anything. All the servers I've had from them arrived in near-new condition and very well packaged.

 

[Moltuae]

I may look in to doing that, The main reason i dont want a server is running out of my home office most servers sound like airplanes and would end up keeping me awake hearing it from my office.

Some of the 2U+ servers are no louder than most tower PCs (once they've booted up and settled down). It's the 1U howlers with their tiny high-speed fans you wanna avoid.

 

[mason]

thanks moltuae i will give them a call. thanks for your ideals guys.