For those that use Xcp-ng and TrueNAS for their clients, what is your preferred hardware? For over 25 years my rubber stamp install is a Dell PowerEdge server, VMware ESXi, Veeam backup, and a Synology NAS. Veeam backs up to the Synology and also shuttles a copy to Wasabi. Each install is sized according to the client’s needs of course but basically same setup. I am looking at coming up with a new install using Xcp-ng and trueNAS and would like to figure out the hardware setup. Any suggestions?
Supermicro servers. If you have the budget then Dell or HP are also perfectly fine choices for everything, they all offer the pieces needed to get the job done. Only exception might be to buy ixsystems hardware for Truenas.
And all of the about is from a USA buyer, other countries may have difficulty getting Supermicro or ixsystems servers directly. Some other countries will need to add Lenovo to the list to replace one of the other three mentioned, I’ve never owned any so they are fourth on my list.
I have heard a lot of good things about Supermicro. However I do not have the time nor the knowledge to figure out every nut, bolt, case, stick of ram, etc. to purchase. I will specify how much ram or hard drive space but which of the million options to purchase, nope, not me. I prefer to take it out of the box, install OS and deploy.
Supermicro has a sales team, if you tell them what you want, they will quote you on some of their standard configs. But that’s up to you.
As far as I know, none of these companies have builds set up for either Truenas or XCP-NG. The closest you can get is tell ixsystems what you want and they will give you a price on that config and ship the software installed and possibly configured to your needs.
I think I remember reading in a blog post that XCP-NG has partnered with a hardware provider, that might be a simple way to get going.
Greg,
Thank you for the info. Sorry if I sounded a little strong. I have worked with linux since it was invented, not any kind of guru, but familiar. I do not mind installing Xcp-ng or TrueNAS. I only meant I prefer not to build-your-own for my clients. I will give SuperMicro a call. Thanks again!
If you are in a place where these can can sell you stuff, you can also try SHI [dot] com (don’t want to link and seem like a shill), my last 3 Supermicro servers came through them and saved a little money over Supermicro direct. They have a tech team that can help you configure the hardware, but I know my team doesn’t know a lot about Truenas or XCP-NG. At least they had heard of XCP-NG when I mentioned I was running it. Had several meetings with them a couple weeks ago as they have become one of our main supplies for software and hardware.
They can also work with Dell and HP.
I also like making hardware configs, so to me it isn’t really a chore. But everything in my production racks is Supermicro, including several of the Audio/Video devices that we use in the TV studio. With big names like Avid and Ross using Supermicro, who am I to doubt their dependability.
That said, my Tricaster 2 Elite is built on an ASUS server, so maybe a fifth suggestion.
I guess the big question is how many cores do you want for each server? A small system like mine, Xeon Scalable Silver with 10c20t was enough for now, I only NEED 5 Windows servers running at once, so I can fit them all into one host if two more are down (3 host pool). But I put 2x64gb in each leaving a lot of slots for more RAM down the road. Having two Truenas would be good, but you can stay with Synology too, Tom said he runs a few system like this, I just have zero experience with them for storage.
My go to lately has been 8 cores and 16GB of ram for each VM I build, I have a couple 4 core VMs, but most have been moved to 8 cores which gives the level of performance I feel I want. Even my Linux stuff gets these defaults.