Intel Z68 chipset MSI motherboard custom build ESXi, disk throughput looking good

Posted by Paul Braren on Jun 3 2011 in
  • Motherboard
  • Virtualization

    • I'm building the mother of all VMware ESXi 4.1U1 servers, based on the new Z68 chipset. The goals are reasonable cost, efficiency, and a lot of flexibility and coolness (literally and figuratively).

    A nice bonus is VT-d (VMDirectPath) support, where worry about what components are not on the VMware HCL are greatly lessened, since such devices (like USB 3.0 controller) can be passed through to the Virtual Machine. This could be used for a VM to be allowed to see a Realtek NIC that ESXi itself cannot identify, without tweaking the hypervisor (generally not a good idea). Or it could just be used to allow full speed USB 3.0 support for a VM running Windows, for much faster copying.

    In a nutshell, ASUS P8Z68-V PRO board doesn't yet support VMDirectPath, but apparently, the MSI Z68A-GD80 (B3) does.

    I'm also excited to say I've been getting some excellents results for disk throughput tests underway: stay tuned for many more details on this rig, and screenshots and videos, coming to this site throughout June!

    featured

    EDIT added 7/15/2011:

    You may wish to check out updated info at TinkerTry.com/vmdirectpath

    turns out the ASRock motherboard supports VT-d as well!

    TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here, not my employer's.

    Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2024, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.

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    After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop selling them in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. So far, Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh looking a little better for 2024. More cores, but still just PCIe Gen4 and DDR4. Looking ahead, I'm glad it's Pat Gelsinger at Intel's helm. I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when Pat was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.

    Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi