I’m currently using no Cluster in my Home Lab, because my current approach is to use the minimum of electricity which is possible.
The MicroServer N40L is running 2 HP VSA with 1.67 TB each. CPU and Memory is for this Config not the constraint. Before the VSA I was running all the infrastructure VMs (DC, SQL, vCenter, Remote VM) on this little box and you noticed a performance decrease when 2 servers were demanding CPU power.
In my previous configuration the VSAs were running on an old HP ML115 G5 with Quadcore AMD Opteron and 8GB memory. The VSAs doesn’t need a lot of CPU power but the 115 was drawing approx. 140 Watts incl. the 4x 1TB disks for the VSAs. After moving the VSAs and disks to the MicroServer, the power consumption of the MicroServer is approx. 85 Watts.
The ML110 G6 is running the current infrastructure components like DC, SQL, vCenter1, vCenter2, vC Ops and other testing servers.
The x3650 M2 is used for lab/testing/certification purpose and because he draws 170 Watts per power supply it is only powered on when needed. Currently he holds my VCAP-CIA lab.
Currently my whole configuration uses 250W excl. the x3650 M2.
Current Configuration
Server (ESXi)
- HP ML110 G6, Xeon X3430, 32GB RAM, Dual-Port NIC, Boot from USB Stick
- HP MicroServer N40L, Turion II, 8GB RAM, Quad-Port NIC, Boot from USB-Stick
- IBM x3650 M2, 2x Xeon E5530, 64GB RAM, Quad-Port NIC, Boot from USB-Stick
Storage
- QNAP 239Pro, 2x 4TB WD Red WD40EFRX, RAID 1
- QNAP 110, 1x 750GB WD Green WD7500AACS
- ReadyNAS Pro 2, 2x 2TB Seagate Green ST2000DL003, RAID 1
- HP Virtual Storage Appliance (VSA) running on HP MicroServer N40L
Networking
- Cisco SG-200-26 26-Port Gigabit Switch, Layer 2 managed
- Cisco SLM2008 8-Port Gigabit Switch, managed
- Astaro UTM110/120 9.2, 100 User Home License