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Equipment for home lab

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    Equipment for home lab

    I want to set myself up a home lab to test stuff out. Applications, operating systems, networking stuff.

    What do you think is the best setup? Maybe one powerful machine and run everything else in VMs? What kind of spec would that machine need? Like if I set it up as a DC and have lots of clients?

    Would it be a good idea to get a couple of cheap physical machine to complement it?

    Where are good places to source the equipment from? I'm not home a lot so need someplace that can guarantee to deliver on a particular date.

    Do you have a home lab? What is the setup?

    #2
    Originally posted by DieScum
    Maybe one powerful machine and run everything else in VMs?
    Suppose you want to test someone's VM hosting?

    Comment


      #3
      I tend to use physical machines with HDD caddies and also one powerful PC full of RAM running Virtual PC.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by wendigo100
        Suppose you want to test someone's VM hosting?
        Perhaps you could run VMs within the VMs. Then again, maybe not.

        I've got an el-cheapo Dell server (around £350) with 1GB RAM running three Windows VMs and one Linux VM on VMWare Server on top of 2003. Works a treat as long as you don't work the machines too hard - you can even give them all separate IPs as if they were different physical machines, which seems pretty clever to me.

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          #5
          Where did you buy your server Chicane?

          I was looking at dell.com and pricing a top spec machine there. Intel Core duo whatever processor with 4 gig of RAM.... then I could possibly run everything in VMs under that.

          Obviously it costs lots (1300) through Dell but maybe it is worth it (????). Probably not but don't buy much hardware.

          So set up a DC in a vm and have 4 or 5 client machines in as VMs as well... then play about with deployment stuff.

          Comment


            #6
            Currently at home

            3 PCs - WinXp, 2 x Linux
            Laptop - Linux
            3 x Sun Cobalt RaQ4's heavily modified
            24 port switch

            Cupboard full of spare drives, cables, NICs etc.

            Another cupboard with around 1000 discs full of software.

            Then there's the recording studio kit...
            Me, me, me...

            Comment


              #7
              Just looking around,
              Various PCs,
              Silicon Graphics O2,
              Apple Mac Pro
              DC power supplies,
              20MHz dual channel scope, lots of leads and plugs,
              Multichannel logic analyser,
              Function generator,
              Frequency counter,
              Avometer,
              Korg and other synths,
              various guitars,
              VOX AC120,
              pulse injectors,
              Eprom blower,
              Selection of axes,
              Big hammer.
              Insanity: repeating the same actions, but expecting different results.
              threadeds website, and here's my blog.

              Comment


                #8
                You forgot the Cray.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Flux Capacitor
                  "Being nice costs nothing and sometimes gets you extra bacon" - Pondlife.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by wendigo100
                    You forgot the Cray.
                    I was looking around my lab. The Cray is in another building.
                    Insanity: repeating the same actions, but expecting different results.
                    threadeds website, and here's my blog.

                    Comment

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