“vZilla” Z68 virtualization and backup system is completely alive!

Posted by Paul Braren on Jan 10 2012 (updated on Jan 24 2013) in
  • HomeServer
  • Motherboard
  • Virtualization

    • At last, the parts list is finalized, the USB 2.0 ports on the Fractal Design case are upgraded to USB 3.0, the RAID is configured, and VMware ESXi 5.0 is humming along nicely with many VMs.

    It's good to finally have the entire physical layout completed, the cables managed, and the basic settings all configured.  vZilla is now no longer in the extended proof of concept phase, she's very much alive!

    Minor hardware enhancements that are planned for 1Q2012 include an upgrade to a SATA3 SSD for read/write caching of the LSI 9265's RAID5 array, and a boost from 16GB to 32GB of RAM.

    Below you'll find a little fun with cable dressing time-lapse:

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    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