The blog..

So.. i finally got started on my XenServer Home Lab. I decided to base it off an HP ML110 Server which can be purchased for less than 3000 kr(which is about 600 USD). I found it a great way to get started without having to slave through buying memory at one vendor, disks from another and so on.

So whats in the ML110

• Intel Xeon 2.33GHz Dual Core
• 1 Gb memory, i upgraded to 6 Gb
• Memory has to be upgraded in pairs so i upgraded using 1 Gb, and 2 2Gb modules
• 1 Sata 250Gb disk, i put in an extra for redundancy

My setup with extra disk and extra memory costs about 5000 kr(1000 USD).

More info can be found at: http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12867_na/12867_na.HTML#Overview

To get started all i had to do was to enter the BIOS and enable VT on the CPU. Found easily under advanced processor settings.

Threw in the CD and installed XenServer. And now in the old versions, 4.x it used to be called 10-minutes to Xen, but i have to agree with my colleague Eigil Ørnfelt, in the new 5.0 it is actually more like 15-20 minutes to Xen there are a few more options to be configured but its still pretty much, enter ip, done.

The plan for my XenServer home lab is going to be:

• 1 Domain Controller
• 2 XenApp Servers
• 1 Provisioning Server
• 1 XenDesktop Server
• 1 Ressource Server
• Licence Server
• Webinterface
• Edgesight
• etc

More to come..

/Rene Vester