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Russell wrote:

pbwalker wrote:

caldvn wrote:I stuck five of my computers in a closet, routed an a/c duct into it and an exhaust fan wired to a wireless remote receiver. FTW! Much quieter and no heat! Now to move the nas, I just bought and tested.

Let me ask you this...how much are you actually utilizing the resources on those boxes?

Don't get me wrong, I used to be the guy with Wyse terminals and servers all over the house...but I discovered the joy that is VMWare. One box, 5 servers. And I actually use the resources I paid for...instead of having a CPU sitting there @ 2% utilization. As for the NAS piece, load up a VM running FreeNAS. Supports CIFS, FTP, NFS, iSCSI, and a bunch of other proto's.

You'll save cash on your electric bill and minimize the large server count footprint.

Yeah but what's the fun of that?

I have 4 computers going in my closet right now that are only for crunching SETI@Home data

I've run SETI before and I KNOW those procs are getting a workout!!

TexasComputerDude wrote:

pbwalker wrote:

caldvn wrote:I stuck five of my computers in a closet, routed an a/c duct into it and an exhaust fan wired to a wireless remote receiver. FTW! Much quieter and no heat! Now to move the nas, I just bought and tested.

Let me ask you this...how much are you actually utilizing the resources on those boxes?

Don't get me wrong, I used to be the guy with Wyse terminals and servers all over the house...but I discovered the joy that is VMWare. One box, 5 servers. And I actually use the resources I paid for...instead of having a CPU sitting there @ 2% utilization. As for the NAS piece, load up a VM running FreeNAS. Supports CIFS, FTP, NFS, iSCSI, and a bunch of other proto's.

You'll save cash on your electric bill and minimize the large server count footprint.

Care to expound? I'm not sure I get what you're trying to say...

That monitor setup is nuts! Do you have multiple graphics cards running? Can you define each as a separate desktop in windows?

6 Difference PC, running Nvidia to ATI cards depending on the flavor of the month as I was building up the computer systems for gaming.

looks like 6 seperate computers with a kvm switch to me...

I'd like a picture of how the monitors are mounted and how much the mount cost.

6 difference pcs, 6 wireless receivers (from keyboards) and 2 keyboards. KVMs weren't used since I needed to be able to to trigger a key response instantly on the same keyboard to specific screens. It's a different level of multi-tasking to achieve certain goals.

The stand is made from Ergotron. It's actually a single base, one pole that goes up and 2 horizontal bars for the 2 levels of moniters. 20" widescreens. In terms of price, I believe the total for the stand was 270-300, used/refurbished on ebay. They're full adjustible and customizable. Wasn't a need to justify brand new monitor stands.

Pretty much the stand below from ergotron. During my research, I found out that they created "extenders" that mount on the same horizontal bars to expand it to 3 monitors vs 2x2.

Be honest now... that's not a computer room. It's a game room.

LIES!!!

Let me ask you this...how much are you actually utilizing the resources on those boxes?

Don't get me wrong, I used to be the guy with Wyse terminals and servers all over the house...but I discovered the joy that is VMWare. One box, 5 servers. And I actually use the resources I paid for...instead of having a CPU sitting there @ 2% utilization. As for the NAS piece, load up a VM running FreeNAS. Supports CIFS, FTP, NFS, iSCSI, and a bunch of other proto's.

The systems were developed for gaming. VMware and Microsoft Hyper V technology is great for processing certain types of data in a 2-D environment. Not so good in 3-d environment. Otherwise, like you said, vmware would be the way to go.

My nas was pretty much stuff I used for data only, documents, videos, pictures etc. I was plannng on converting the server to ESX server to virtualize 2k8 Server box, and test box for "various" things. Snapshtos ftw! I've been testing Hyper V for limited use at work since I do application testing and deployment. My company uses ESX in conjuction with with 20 unit blade + nas, very l33t technology.

Since the picture was taken, I've since switched to one wireless keyboard for my server, which is the top mid monitor. Picked up a n33t software called "Input Director", which removed all the wireless keyboard receiver needs and 5 mouse, ftw! For anyone using multiple computer enviroment, you must get!

Also the lower 3 monitors can also convert to a single 3 monitor pc set using Matrox Triple2go. Which nets it a 1280x3x1024 something resolution across 3 moniters. Makes for interesting gaming, including Counter Strike and Warcraft. You literally see 2 extra screen lengths worth of stuff that most people wouldn't see, but suggest it's run in SLI. I would like to test a theory of 2 Triple2go, and see if I can do 6 moniter setup in Vertical span... but haven't found the need.

caldvn wrote:

Let me ask you this...how much are you actually utilizing the resources on those boxes?

Don't get me wrong, I used to be the guy with Wyse terminals and servers all over the house...but I discovered the joy that is VMWare. One box, 5 servers. And I actually use the resources I paid for...instead of having a CPU sitting there @ 2% utilization. As for the NAS piece, load up a VM running FreeNAS. Supports CIFS, FTP, NFS, iSCSI, and a bunch of other proto's.

The systems were developed for gaming. VMware and Microsoft Hyper V technology is great for processing certain types of data in a 2-D environment. Not so good in 3-d environment. Otherwise, like you said, vmware would be the way to go.

My nas was pretty much stuff I used for data only, documents, videos, pictures etc. I was plannng on converting the server to ESX server to virtualize 2k8 Server box, and test box for "various" things. Snapshtos ftw! I've been testing Hyper V for limited use at work since I do application testing and deployment. My company uses ESX in conjuction with with 20 unit blade + nas, very l33t technology.

Since the picture was taken, I've since switched to one wireless keyboard for my server, which is the top mid monitor. Picked up a n33t software called "Input Director", which removed all the wireless keyboard receiver needs and 5 mouse, ftw! For anyone using multiple computer enviroment, you must get!

Also the lower 3 monitors can also convert to a single 3 monitor pc set using Matrox Triple2go. Which nets it a 1280x3x1024 something resolution across 3 moniters. Makes for interesting gaming, including Counter Strike and Warcraft. You literally see 2 extra screen lengths worth of stuff that most people wouldn't see, but suggest it's run in SLI. I would like to test a theory of 2 Triple2go, and see if I can do 6 moniter setup in Vertical span... but haven't found the need.

Nice! You'll have to let us know how you like Hyper-V. I've played around with 2k8 very little (some remote app publishing) and Hyper-V looks promising.

pbwalker wrote:
Nice! You'll have to let us know how you like Hyper-V. I've played around with 2k8 very little (some remote app publishing) and Hyper-V looks promising.

My use with Hyper-V has been limited to setting it up, getting it to run in Microsoft AD environment and applying images I built for network deployment and application testing. I would put them into the "beta" testing category vs live work environment.

- I had to research a few work arounds to get it to play nice on my network, which opened up some security vulnerabilities = bad bad.
- I have to copy iso's to the virtual machine in order to access those files as a cd drive, I cannot use unc pathing to access the isos.
- Cannot copy paste from local desktop to virtual.

There's probably more annoyances, but this is off my head. They may have fixed some of these issues, so don't take my issues to heart.

If you used Microsoft Virtual Server 2003, it's pretty much the same. Instead of loading a server o/s and then Virtual Server, it runs stripped during version of Win2k8 or Vista, which reminds me of boot.wim that's loaded in PXE enviroment. I use WDS at work.

In comparison to the VMware and Hyper V, Hyper V has a way to go to compete. I also did a "light" research on pricing and it seems that based on Microsoft's licensing, you're not saving that much on technology that feels more beta, and has had much less experience then Vmware. But heh, no harm trying it out if you have time.

pbwalker wrote:

TexasComputerDude wrote:

pbwalker wrote:

caldvn wrote:I stuck five of my computers in a closet, routed an a/c duct into it and an exhaust fan wired to a wireless remote receiver. FTW! Much quieter and no heat! Now to move the nas, I just bought and tested.

Let me ask you this...how much are you actually utilizing the resources on those boxes?

Don't get me wrong, I used to be the guy with Wyse terminals and servers all over the house...but I discovered the joy that is VMWare. One box, 5 servers. And I actually use the resources I paid for...instead of having a CPU sitting there @ 2% utilization. As for the NAS piece, load up a VM running FreeNAS. Supports CIFS, FTP, NFS, iSCSI, and a bunch of other proto's.

You'll save cash on your electric bill and minimize the large server count footprint.

Care to expound? I'm not sure I get what you're trying to say...

lol wheres the fun in having a bunch of computers without having them all up and running, even if at 2% util. lol

Russell wrote: Yeah but what's the fun of that?

I have 4 computers going in my closet right now that are only for crunching SETI@Home data

Me too, except mine are all scattered about the house. Once I get my ham shack / reloading room / computer room back , I will continue on my quest for inexpensive / free computers to commission for SETI@home. The wife doesn't really care for the Poweredge 1550 I have going in the laundry room right now.

I am currently 3rd in total credit by sign up date if anyone is interested.

http://boincstats.com/stats/user_stats. ... 200&st=0#3