Calling on all experts with the right advice :) Okay. I recently bought a server and would like to USE it, meaning that I don't want to run just a single OS on it that uses like 2% of the resources avail... I'v tried Vmware's ESXi/vSphere/vCenter suite on it however this server is no longer supported anymore. It ran okay but some stuff was funky. Plus I would have to reinstall every 60 days because I'm not rich and don't want to spend that kind of money for a homelab. I now have Ubuntu 17.04 running on it but before I get to doing anything with it I wanted to see what options I have and hear whatever anyone may have to offer. Okay, now on to what I would like to do.
Basically I got this server for one purpose. To run a Media Server (PMS). But running the server with ubuntu and PMS didn't hardly tax the hardware at all. So I want to set up a VM Host (Bare metal). The server fully supports virtualization. I will be running 2 permanent VM's, PMS and a Router/Firewall. Of course I plan on playing with other temporary VM's to learn different variants of linux or what have you.
Server Specs
I would like to run this as a headless server stuffed away in a closet somewhere. It is silent as hell, that is until you add the 2 video cards. With that said, I want to be able to have 3d acceleration and sound passed through to the VM's. Server does not have a sound card of its own but after installing the NVS 300's I see (lshw) shows the nvidia sound. But virtual soundcard will be fine too.
I guess that is all I got for questions atm.
Extra note on my plans. The Firewall VM is not only going to wall off the VM's but my entire home network. I tried passing through some of my NIC's when I first tried qemu/kvm however they were only running at 100Mbits. (Maybe it was pfSense that didn't have right driver or set the speed wrong?)
Basically I got this server for one purpose. To run a Media Server (PMS). But running the server with ubuntu and PMS didn't hardly tax the hardware at all. So I want to set up a VM Host (Bare metal). The server fully supports virtualization. I will be running 2 permanent VM's, PMS and a Router/Firewall. Of course I plan on playing with other temporary VM's to learn different variants of linux or what have you.
Server Specs
- 2x Intel Xeon 5645's (12 cores/24 threads total)
- 36GB RAM
- GFX: Onboard ES1000
- GFX Addon: 2x Nvidia NVS 300's (These are mainly for being able to run half-way decent desktop envirs - If they don't work very well I will probably grab a couple Quadro 2000's)
- 4 Network Interfaces: NetXtreme II BCM5709 Gigabit Ethernet
- If you want to know some more detailed specs you can google it! (Proliant DL380 G6) <<<< Yeah, I know! But hey, $50 bucks and free shipping.
I would like to run this as a headless server stuffed away in a closet somewhere. It is silent as hell, that is until you add the 2 video cards. With that said, I want to be able to have 3d acceleration and sound passed through to the VM's. Server does not have a sound card of its own but after installing the NVS 300's I see (lshw) shows the nvidia sound. But virtual soundcard will be fine too.
- What OS? Why? I like ubuntu because for the most part its easy to work with.
- What virtualization Visor? Why?
- What management software?
- Something like VMwares vSphere client or vCenter would be nice.
- Something with decent Network mgmt?
- What management software?
- What software to use to run/use the VM's? (Remember, looking to have 3d acc. something like vm workstation's 3d acc.)
- What Firewall distro to use? It'll probably come down to pfSense or OPNsense, which do you prefer? Why?
I guess that is all I got for questions atm.
Extra note on my plans. The Firewall VM is not only going to wall off the VM's but my entire home network. I tried passing through some of my NIC's when I first tried qemu/kvm however they were only running at 100Mbits. (Maybe it was pfSense that didn't have right driver or set the speed wrong?)
