Spec'ing a new workstation rig for my office

Dashrender

@alexntg said:

In that case, someone's prior suggestion of a basic workstation and an ESXi host would be the way to go. Don't use Hyper-V.

HyperV has an option for a VM with direct access with a local console.

That makes it a much better solution for a small home lab than ESXi

alexntg

@scottalanmiller said:

@alexntg said:

@scottalanmiller said:

SSD are okay in RAID 5 too.

RAID5 SSDs seem a bit overkill for a system drive.

So does RAID 1

The OP expressed concern about their SSD failing. RAID1 would alleviate that. I don't see the justification of the third drive's cost.

scottalanmiller

@Dashrender said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@alexntg said:

In that case, someone's prior suggestion of a basic workstation and an ESXi host would be the way to go. Don't use Hyper-V.

HyperV has an option for a VM with direct access with a local console.

That makes it a much better solution for a small home lab than ESXi

If on a desktop, yes.

scottalanmiller

@alexntg said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@alexntg said:

@scottalanmiller said:

SSD are okay in RAID 5 too.

RAID5 SSDs seem a bit overkill for a system drive.

So does RAID 1

The OP expressed concern about their SSD failing. RAID1 would alleviate that. I don't see the justification of the third drive's cost.

Potentially smaller, cheaper drives.

alexntg

@scottalanmiller said:

@alexntg said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@alexntg said:

@scottalanmiller said:

SSD are okay in RAID 5 too.

RAID5 SSDs seem a bit overkill for a system drive.

So does RAID 1

The OP expressed concern about their SSD failing. RAID1 would alleviate that. I don't see the justification of the third drive's cost.

Potentially smaller, cheaper drives.

It's the system drive, not a data drive. A basic 120GB drive would work just fine.

Edit: Besides, by the time you get a RAID5 card installed, it'd overshoot the cost of the drive.

scottalanmiller

For a lab those are often one and the same.

technobabble

Thanks guys for all the input.

technobabble

VM's would run on the data drive, correct?

scottalanmiller

Depends on what you are doing. Honestly though. Desktop VM systems aren't very good. Get a cheap, headless server. Works better and teaches you more.

alexntg

@technobabble said:

VM's would run on the data drive, correct?

Correct.