Setup
I decided to go with a Supermicro build as I wanted something power efficient, yet expandable, and this motherboard supports up to 128GB of ECC RDIMM DDR4 2133MHz server grade memory. Now with this setup, when I feel the need to expand out my lab, I can build two more nodes, and I’ll have a rather nice VSAN cluster. However I’m hoping the cost of DDR4 memory will have come down by then…
I did look at the Supermicro SYS-E300-8D and SYS-E200-8D style micro servers, but like most, I was concerned about the fan noise, and thus decided to go with a slightly larger chassis to get the larger fan. Honestly the fan in the unit I bought makes no more noise then a regular desktop computer.
Here’s my hardware:
Motherboard
SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SDV-TLN4F-O Mini ITX Server Motherboard Xeon processor D-1541 FCBGA 1667
Memory
Black Diamond Memory 64GB (2 x 32GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Server Memory Model BD32GX22133MQR26
M.2 SSD
WD Blue M.2 250GB Internal SSD Solid State Drive – SATA 6Gb/s – WDS250G1B0B
SSD
(x 2) SAMSUNG 850 PRO 2.5″ 512GB SATA III 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7KE512BW
Case
SUPERMICRO CSE-721TQ-250B Black Mini-Tower Server Case 250W Flex ATX Multi-output Bronze Power Supply
Who doesn’t love some internal shots after the lab-box has been put together? 🙂
In the coming blog posts, I’ll be building out my lab. Stay tuned….
