- \r\n\t
- 1 x ASUS Maximus Gene V<\/a> motherboard w\/ Intel 82579 LOM NIC<\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Intel Core i5-3570K<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x ADATA SP600 32GB SSD<\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Samsung Evo 840 1TB<\/a> SSD<\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Seagate 1TB HDD<\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Intel 82574 (single-port) NIC<\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Intel 82576 (dual-port) NIC<\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Corsair HX650 PSU<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
And even though it runs great, I simply felt it wasn\u2019t enough as I basically wanted to replicate a mini-datacenter for my lab which would help tremendously with my VMware studies and overall VMware knowledge.<\/p>\r\n
So I quickly got to work and embarked on the adventure of creating my new lab. \u00a0I started off by opening a Feedly<\/a> account and subscribing to numerous other user and community blogs, reading what others did to create and build\/setup their homelabs, and also checked out some youtube channels.<\/p>\r\n
Lot\u2019s of good reads out there…<\/p>\r\n
TinkerTry<\/a><\/p>\r\n
Wahl Network<\/a><\/p>\r\n
VMware Front Experience<\/a><\/p>\r\n
VirtualJad<\/a><\/p>\r\n
virtuallyGhetto<\/a><\/p>\r\n
Just to name a few…<\/p>\r\n
I also spent the last year+ researching, planning, designing, and purchasing the equipment for my new lab. \u00a0And since I wanted somewhat of a low power solution (as to not incur outrageous electric bill charges) I settled on SuperMicro\u2019s A1SAi-2750 ATOM SOC (System-on-a-chip) Mini-ITX motherboards. \u00a0Boy, do these things boast a boatload of features (not getting into specifics as you guys know how to use Google I\u2019m sure\u2026)! \u00a0Since I also wanted to have them in a rack to replicate a mini-datacenter, I went with a Navepoint 9U rack enclosure. \u00a0I bought some Sandisk USB\u2019s, some SSD\u2019s & HDD\u2019s (for eventual VSAN setup), and extra NIC\u2019s (for redundancy and best practices), 1U cases, and some Synology NAS devices. \u00a0Here\u2019s my entire part\u2019s list…<\/p>\r\n
- \r\n\t
- 1 x Navepoint 9U Rack Enclosure<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x ICC 48-port feed-thru Cat6 Patch Panel<\/a> – 1U<\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Cyberpower PR1000LCDRT2U UPS<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Cyberpower PDU15SW10ATNET ATS\/PDU<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 4 x SuperMicro A1SAi-2750<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 4 X SuperMicro 504-203B 1U rackmount cases<\/a> (contains a 200W PSU in each case)<\/li>\r\n\t
- 4 x Sandisk UltraFit 16GB USB 3.0<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 4 x Kingston 120GB SSD<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 4 x HGST 500GB 7200RPM 2.5\u201d HDD<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 4 x SuperMicro 1×3.5\u201d to 2×2.5\u201d Converter Brackets<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 4 x SuperMicro PCI-E x8 L-shape riser cards<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 4 x Intel I350-T4 (quad-port) NIC<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 16 x 16GB Micron 1600MHz DDR3 204-pin SO-DIMM RAM<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
And for NAS storage\u2026..<\/p>\r\n
- \r\n\t
- 1 x Synology DS415+<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Synology DX213 Expansion Unit<\/li>\r\n\t
- 2 x Micron M500DC 800GB SSD<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 2 x Micron M500 480GB SSD<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 4 x Sabrent 2.5\u201d to 3.5\u201d Bay Converter<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 2 x HGST 6TB 7200RPM 3.5\u201d HDD<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
The Networking components…<\/p>\r\n
- \r\n\t
- 1 x Ubiquiti EdgeRouter ERLite-3<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x ASUS RT-AC68U wifi router<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Cisco SG300-10 SMB L2\/L3 switch<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Cisco SG300-52 SMB L2\/L3 switch<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
And last, but definitely not least\u2026. a slew of Monoprice Cat6 24AWG Flexboot cables (various lengths)<\/p>\r\n
Phew!\u2026what a list! \u00a0Wait!\u2026am I missing anything??<\/p>\r\n
The end result\u2026my new mini-datacenter homelab 2016!! (with previous Dev \u201cwhite box\u201d system to the side)<\/p>\r\n
- 1 x ASUS RT-AC68U wifi router<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x ICC 48-port feed-thru Cat6 Patch Panel<\/a> – 1U<\/li>\r\n\t
- 1 x Intel Core i5-3570K<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ithinkvirtual.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/img_1719.jpg?w=640\")
<\/a><\/p>\r\n