VMware Host

I've set up my own VMware ESXi host based on regular desktop hardware, it gives me a cheap and easy solution of deploying new servers without the need to buy more hardware and easy management. The only downside of using these components are the lack of firmware/support for VMware, you will not be able to read temperatures and other data from the motherboard.

I wanted to keep my hardware gathered so I bought a chassi and motherboard that had room for at least 10 HDD's, focusing on having lots of CPU and memory and a storage setup that could be configured for RAID if needed.

VMware host

• Chassi: Fractal Design Node 804
• Motherboard: ASUS Z170M-Plus
• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700k (6th Generation Skylake)
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance Black LPX 64GB (4x16GB) / 3200MHz / DDR4 / CL16 / CMK32GX4M2B3200C16
• PSU: EVGA PowerSupply (PSU) SuperNOVA 650 G2 650W
• CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydra H60 V2 CPU, with 2 noctua fans on each side of the radiator.

HDD's

• 1 x Intel 600p Series M.2 2280 SSD 512GB
• 1 x Samsung 850 EVO Series MZ-75E250B 250GB
• 1 x WD Red WD80EFZX 128MB 8TB
• 1 x Seagate Archive V2 ST8000AS0002 128MB 8TB
• 2 x 3TB WD Red WD30EFRX 64MB 3T

The Intel M.2 Sata drive is the main storage for virtual machines, the Samsung 850 serves as extra storage for VM's. The 4 mechanical drives are serving as a NAS.

VM's running

• NAS: Windows Server 2016 with a spanned volume between the mechanical disk (no valuable data that needs backup)
• PLEX: Ubuntu 16.10
• HomeAssistant
• HomeAssistantDev
• Eventghost
• Everything: Jumphost