{"id":30,"date":"2024-10-29T03:08:56","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T03:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundinfra.com\/?p=30"},"modified":"2024-10-30T17:54:02","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T17:54:02","slug":"building-a-nutanix-ce-homelab-part-ii-hardware-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundinfra.com\/?p=30","title":{"rendered":"Building a Nutanix CE HomeLab \u2013 Part II \u2013 Hardware Requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Part I<\/a>, we covered the basics of getting started with your Nutanix CE HomeLab. With our Nutanix account now created – we can start talking about hardware requirements. There are two ways to deploy Nutanix CE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Stand Alone Node<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Cluster – 3 Node Minimum <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Let’s quickly cover the ups\/downs of each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Option 1<\/strong> – Stand Alone Node. This is exactly what it sounds like. HCI operates on the premise of redundancy, starting at the cluster level. By selecting a single node, you are limiting yourself and your testing to a single node. Now, for most people starting out, this is the right option. Both from a cost and experience standpoint. With a single node, you will break something and you will spend additional time troubleshooting\/repairing the system. It’s good experience with a minimal level of entry. I would argue that two, stand alone nodes is an ideal starting point for most users. This is cost effective and allows you to demo advanced features like site-to-site replication. Note – single node clusters can-not be expanded and will need to be destroyed if you ever plan to upgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Option 2<\/strong> – 3 or 4 node Cluster. Nutanix only officially supports up-to 4 nodes on CE, but that’s more than enough for us HomeLab’ers. If you can afford to build a 4 node cluster, you’re well down the infrastructure\/sysadmin path or you have a workload to justify it. The upside to this is obviously the redundancy. You’re able to perform advance testing (node failures, expansions, etc). The downside is cost. You need 3 or 4 identical hosts, with appropriate networking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For my specific use case, I am choosing both. A 3-node cluster for my HomeLab in Portland, OR – and a single node for my remote site across the state. We’ll discuss why later, but it will allow us to cover the hardware specifications of both use cases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Hardware and System requirements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The easiest way to answer your specific hardware compatabilty questions is to search the Nutanix Community. That and https:\/\/reddit.com\/r\/nutanix. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I recommend starting with the Documentation here: https:\/\/portal.nutanix.com\/page\/documents\/details?targetId=Nutanix-Community-Edition-Getting-Started-v2_1:top-sysreqs-ce-r.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You need to be logged in to access this documentation. In the spirit of helping those who are not ready or able to register yet, here’s a high level summary. Some of this is based on my experience and is NOT Nutanix’s recommendations. Please check the above resources for any updates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    CPU<\/strong> – The minimum you want is a Quad Core CPU, ideally 6-8 cores. Intel Sandy Bridge or AMD Zen or newer. The CVM uses 2 cores – so keep in mind that more cores = better performance for workloads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Memory<\/strong> – Minimum is 32GB. Let’s be honest- you won’t be doing much with only 32GB. The CVM requires 20GB. Yes you can use 32GB and get a feel for the environment, but you won’t be running more than 2-3 VM’s. I would start with 64GB and choose a system that supports at least 128GB to future proof yourself. Especially if you want to try Prism Central.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    NIC<\/strong> – 1GbE is the minimum. For a stand alone node, this is fine. If you can squeeze a 2nd 1GbE Intel NIC or 2.5GbE Realtek NIC in, I highly recommend it. For a cluster, multiple 1GbE\/2.5GbE or higher are recommended. CE will support Intel 10GbE and I’ve seen some users confirm that Mellanox 25GbE also work – but YMMV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    HBA<\/strong> – For desktop\/small server installs – ACHI\/SATA is supported. For larger chassis, IT mode, IR mode with Passthrough, or IR mode with Raid 0 is supported. I would stick to IT mode, as I have seen performance hits with IR mode. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Storage Devices <\/strong>– Official Support is four SSD or HDD per node, I’ve successfully ran 10 HDD\/2 SSD in a Supermicro X11 chassis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Storage Devices<\/strong>– Cold Tier – You will need a minimum of 500GB. I recommend using 1TB-4TB SSD if possible, but you can use HDD here, up to 6TB. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Storage Devices<\/strong> – Hot-tier Flash – The minimum requirement is a 200GB SSD, remember the CVM lives here, so faster\/larger is better. I prefer NVME here if possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Hypervisor Boot Device<\/strong> – Nutanix recommends a minimum of 32GB. While they support SATA DOM along with the normal flavors of SSD\/HDD – I recommend an inexpensive 128GB NVME M.2 drive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Firmware<\/strong> – Unlike production instances of Nutanix, LCM will not be handling your firmware updates. I recommend updating all devices (bios\/nic\/hdd\/etc) where possible to the latest versions prior to installing CE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Install tools<\/strong> – Imaging software – Rufus works great if you need to create a USB image. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In Part III we’ll discuss hardware options. Thanks for reading!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    – Marc<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In Part I, we covered the basics of getting started with your Nutanix CE HomeLab. With our Nutanix account now created – we can start talking about hardware requirements. There are two ways to deploy Nutanix CE. Let’s quickly cover the ups\/downs of each. Option 1 – Stand Alone Node. This is exactly what it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4,3],"tags":[11,8,12,5,6,9],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-lab","category-hypervisor","category-virtualization","tag-ce","tag-community-edition","tag-guide","tag-home-lab","tag-nutanix","tag-virtualization"],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding a Nutanix CE HomeLab \u2013 Part II \u2013 Hardware Requirements - Found Infra<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In part II of our Nutanix Community edition series we cover the two ways to install CE and the hardware requirements for either option.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/foundinfra.com\/?p=30\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building a Nutanix CE HomeLab \u2013 Part II \u2013 Hardware Requirements - Found Infra\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In part II of our Nutanix Community edition series we cover the two ways to install CE and the hardware requirements for either option.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/foundinfra.com\/?p=30\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Found Infra\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-29T03:08:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-30T17:54:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/foundinfra.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nutanixce_logo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"407\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"213\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marc Heynderickx\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marc Heynderickx\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/foundinfra.com\\\/?p=30#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/foundinfra.com\\\/?p=30\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marc Heynderickx\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/foundinfra.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8f13e948dea602d3ef2d13b38d4a0dee\"},\"headline\":\"Building a Nutanix CE HomeLab \u2013 Part II \u2013 Hardware Requirements\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-29T03:08:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-30T17:54:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/foundinfra.com\\\/?p=30\"},\"wordCount\":815,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/foundinfra.com\\\/?p=30#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/foundinfra.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/nutanixce_logo.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"CE\",\"Community Edition\",\"Guide\",\"Home Lab\",\"Nutanix\",\"Virtualization\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Home Lab\",\"hypervisor\",\"virtualization\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/foundinfra.com\\\/?p=30#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/foundinfra.com\\\/?p=30\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/foundinfra.com\\\/?p=30\",\"name\":\"Building a Nutanix CE HomeLab \u2013 Part II \u2013 Hardware Requirements - 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