[ale] What are the minimum requirements for a CentOS server to learn on?

Tue May 4 19:48:02 EDT 2010

I agree that if you want to run multiple VMs you should get lots of
memory.  Based on some advice that I recently took from Aaron, I'd
suggest starting with a configuration like this one:

http://www.magicmicro.com/smoreinfo.asp?iid=1988

Get the cheapest case, 4 GB of memory and 500 GB disk and you can buy
it for under $350 before shipping.

Keep in mind that you'll need to use a 64-bit host OS if you want to
access more than 3.5 GB of memory.

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 6:04 PM, Greg Freemyer <greg.freemyer at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm not sure the RAM overhead of VMs was emphasized.
>
> VMs use require dedicated RAM so it is a major driver.
>
> Lets say you want to have a host and 4 simultaneously running VMs.
>
> I would think 512MB minimum for each, so you need 2.5GB for that.
>
> And if the host is really a desktop machine running
> X/KDE/firefox/etc., I'd go with 2GB for the desktop use, and 512MB for
> each server VM.
>
> So that's 4GB at a minimum.
>
> And each VM will want 50GB or so minimum of disk, so that's 250GB.
>
> Fortunately RAM and disk are cheaper and cheaper every day.
>
> Also, you did not say anything about RAID setups.  You can start
> without it, but a real server should have at least raid1 imho.
>
> You can easily do all of the above for less than $1K.
>
> Greg
>
> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 5:16 PM, Robert Owen <robeowen at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Thanks for all the suggestions. You all have confirmed what I
>> suspected, but I just wanted some support.
>>
>>
>> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 1:32 PM, Damon L. Chesser <damon at damtek.com> wrote:
>>> On Tue, 2010-05-04 at 11:45 -0400, Robert Owen wrote:
>>>> Hi, All, I haven't posted to the list in several years, so please
>>>> forgive my "lurking" most of the time. My son-in-law is studying at
>>>> home for the RHCT exam and wants to know what motherboard and
>>>> processor, and minimum amount of memory he needs to set up a server to
>>>> learn with. Initially, it will be for a home network, but later, maybe
>>>> on . . . ? It must be able to set up virtual servers, too.
>>>
>>> most any box that will load linux will work in general, now when you
>>> talk of virtual machines, then you will need hardware virtualization in
>>> the cpu.  Not all boxes sold support that (mfg turn it off in the bios).
>>> I purchased a Dell low end tower server, a T105
>>> ( http://www.dell.com/us/en/business/servers/pedge_t105/pd.aspx?refid=pedge_t105&s=bsd&cs=04 )
>>> for about $250 on some sale.  It does work for centos/RHEL just fine and
>>> will do virtualization (KVM) flawlessly.  I run Proxmox VE
>>> ( http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Main_Page ) on it.  This allows me to set
>>> up virtual networks and various virtual machines to do what I want
>>> (using KVM) with a minimal of configuration.  Proxmox is based off of
>>> Debian stable and takes 10 min to install.  Keeps the focus on learning
>>> what you want to learn rather then trying to figure out how to run a
>>> virutualization product.  If you prefer you could also run VPSs on it as
>>> well.
>>>
>>> HP would have a similar machine for a similar price, I am just not
>>> familiar with HP.
>>>
>>> In short, you don't NEED a server box to run CentOS or RHEL to learn how
>>> to be a RHCT, any box would work that will install CentOS.  IF you
>>> wanted to run server hardware, the T105 or equivalent would work fine
>>> for most any "home" use.  If you add "virtualization", then you can add
>>> virtual disks at will and learn complex disk management, you can add
>>> NICs and play "network" games at will, etc.  You would not be able to
>>> play "games"on a T105 as the graphics are not designed to do that (if
>>> that matters).
>>>
>>> HTH
>>>
>>>> Thanks for any help given.
>>>>
>>>> Bob
>>>> --
>>>> Bob Owen
>>>> 770-540-4920
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Damon
>>> damon at damtek.com
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Bob Owen
>> 770-540-4920
>>
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> Greg Freemyer
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-- 
Björn Gustafsson