How to build a Quad-Core Xeon VMware ESXi Server for less than an ‘82 Civic!

Not long ago I was in need of a decent Virtual Lab machine and my only budget was whatever I could get from  selling off some old computer / networking equipment that was just taking up shelf space in the laundry room and seriously annoying my wife.  The really tricky part was also meeting the following criteria:

1. 4 Cores, 6-8GB of RAM, 500GB+ Storage
2. Meets the NAZI-like requirements of the ESXi HCL (unofficially if not officially)
3. Has BIOS enabled virtualization support (for Citrix XenServer)
4. 64-bit processor(s)
5. Name brand for easy to find replacement parts (Dell, HP, IBM)
6. Cheap enough not to piss off my wife (ie: not a damn dime over what I got from selling my old equipment!)

I already had two 500GB SATA drives sitting around from an old server pull so I mostly just needed a decent chassis with CPU and RAM.  Sadly, even building a decent desktop for this ranged anywhere from $400 to $800 since I wanted to go Quad-Core with at least 8GB of RAM.  Then I stumbled upon some REALLY cheap PowerEdge 860’s on eBay (yes, I know… eBay…).   So, I did my homework and found that although it was LGA775 it WOULD accept the Quad-Core Xeon models X3210, X3220, and X3230 as well as  8GB of RAM.  Also, since it takes unbuffered ECC RAM it’s a lot cheaper than FB-DIMMs. So for the price of a cheapo desktop I could have a “real” server.  The PE860 was going for $249obo so I told the seller that I didn’t need the two 250GB HDDs and the 2GB of RAM and would offer $200 for just the Chassis with the processor (since I needed the heat sink) and he accepted.  I then purchased an X3220, RAM and Slim IDE DVD-ROM from Newegg.  I ran into an issue with the DVD-ROM where I had purchased a slim IDE drive but didn’t have an IDE to Slim adapter and had to harvest one out of another old server I had lying around.  Because I already had 2 HDDs my total cost was $515 which was only $15 more than selling off the Cisco ASA5505 and two old servers (just don’t tell the wife).  So, if you’re looking for a small (1U) super-low-budget 64bit VMware server that actually performs, here is a detailed list of components:

Additional items of note:

• Don’t let the CD/DVD ROM catch you off guard!  Most of the cheaper 860’s available DON’T come with one so you have 3 options:
  1. Find a PE 860 with a CD-Rom
  2. Use one of the two onboard SATA connectors to install a slim SATA DVD-RO
  3. Buy an IDE slim drive and find a slim to 3.5″ IDE adapter board (I did this and was a PITA since they’re usually slim to 2.5″ adapters
• Try to negotiate with the seller on the PE 860, I was able to get mine for only $200 by telling the seller I didn’t need the RAM and two 250GB HDD’s it came with (original price was $250 with a Pentium D processor)
• I SPECIFICALLY mention the Xeon X3220 because you’re limited to LGA775 at 1066MHZ BUS ONLY!!!  Therefore, the best bang for the buck comes out to be the X3220 since the X3210 is the same price and the X3230 is $299
• The performance bottleneck in this server is definitely the HDD, if you have a slightly higher budget you can find Dell SAS5i/R cards for $50-$100 which will give you RAID 1/0 and let you use faster SAS drives instead of SATA
• The 860 was available with 2 different riser cards (make sure you know which one you’re getting!):
  1. 2 PCIe 8x slots
  2. 1 PCIe 8x slot and 1 PCIx slo

***This is good to know because if you are adding peripherals the PCIx versions are sometimes cheaper***

• Although all the onboard hardware WILL work with both ESXi 4.0 and Citrix XenServer 5.5, the onboard SATA controller is not compatible with ESXi 3.5 or 3.0.
• If anyone wants me to test out ESX (Not ESXi) version 3.0, 3.5, or 4.0 let me know.