Supermicro VMware Homelab 2020 Options

There are a number hardware options these days when it comes to building a new or upgrading your VMware Homelab. For instance, take a look at the 100+ VMware Community Homelab submissions which can range from $500 up to a whopping $50K. There are many factors that go into deciding what type of system to use and whether you use off the shelf hardware like an Intel NUC or a Supermicro kit or simply build your own.

From my experience, I have found that most folks prefer something that "just works" and for those needing more than 64GB memory, a Supermicro kit is generally preferred. For my personal homelab, I have an E200-8D and is by far it is one of the most popular Supermicro kits for running a VMware Homelab.

One question that I often receive is whether the E200-8D is still a recommended platform and whether there are other updated options? After answering several inquiries, I realize I probably should also do a quick blog post on this topic.

E200-8D

I have been using the E200-8D platform since 2017, they were also used in the first VMworld Hackathon and has been a rock solid system. Another nice benefit of this system is that it is on the VMware HCL and many folks have also been using these in Production, especially for Edge and ROBO location. One thing I had not really internalize is the longevity of support from Supermicro on these and many of their kits. The original release date was in 2016 and they will be supported up to 2023, which is pretty amazing.

With that said, you will notice that on the VMware HCL, we only support up to vSphere 6.7 Update 3 officially but I and many other have been running the latest 7.0 Update 1 release without any issues. If this is a concern or you prefer to have a more recent platform, continue reading on.

• SYS-E200-8D
  • Release Date: Aug 2016 (EOL: Q1 2023)
  • CPU: Intel Xeon D-1528 (6c/12t)
  • Memory: 128GB
  • Storage: 1 x M.2 (Additional 1 x M.2 possible with PCIe Add-in-Card), 1 x SATA3
    • Max Devices: 2
  • Network: 2 x 10GbE, 2 x 1GbE, 1 x 1GbE (IPMI)
  • VMware HCL: Yes (Officially supports up to 6.7 Update 3 but works with vSphere 7. 0 Update 1)

E300-9D

The E300-9D is the bigger sibling to the E200-8D and also works great as a VMware Homelab that can run vSphere, vSAN and NSX which I have written about here and here. The 8-Core Model is also listed on the VMware HCL and supports the latest vSphere 7.0 Update 1 release. The other really nice thing about the E300-9D is the maximum memory has been increased by 3x, which makes this a very nice kit to run your entire VMware SDDC stack including the vRealize suite which I know a few folks are doing.

• SYS-E300-9D-4CN8TP
  • Release Date: Nov 2018 (EOL: Q1 2025)
  • CPU: Intel Xeon D-2123IT (4c/8t)
  • Memory: 512GB
  • Storage: 1 x M.2 (Additional 1 x M.2 possible with PCIe Add-in-Card or 2 x M.2 possible with AOC-SLG3-2M2)
    • Max Devices: 3
  • Network: 2 x 10GbE, 2 x 10GbE (SFP+), 4 x 1GbE, 1 x 1GbE (IPMI)
  • VMware HCL: No (should also work with vSphere 7.0 Update 1)
• SYS-E300-9D-8CN8TP
  • Release Date: Nov 2018 (EOL: Q1 2025)
  • CPU: Intel Xeon D-2146NT (8c/16t)
  • Memory: 512GB
  • Storage: 1 x M.2 (Additional 1 x M.2 possible with PCIe Add-in-Card or 2 x M.2 possible with AOC-SLG3-2M2)
    • Max Devices: 3
  • Network: 2 x 10GbE, 2 x 10GbE (SFP+), 4 x 1GbE,  1 x 1GbE (IPMI)
  • VMware HCL: Yes (supports up to vSphere 7.0 Update 1)

E301-9D

If you need more storage capacity, the E301-9D is the answer. It uses the exact same 8-Core CPU as the E300-9D but you will also notice that the chassis is sightly taller by a half-U and that is because this model can comfortably fit two additional 2.5" drives. With the E300-9D, you have to rely on the Supermicro add-on-card which only supports M.2 NVMe and for homelab purpose, this is probably not an issue. However, if you need larger capacity drives (SATA3) or use larger Intel Optane devices which has U.2 interfaces, this will fit nicely. Although this system is not on the VMware HCL, it does work with the latest vSphere 7.0 Update 1 release which was reviewed by Charles Chow back in October of this year. This model also includes an AMD EPYC SKU, for those interested.

• SYS-E301-9D-8CN8TP
  • Release Date: Oct 2019 (EOL: Q1 2025)
  • CPU: Intel Xeon D-2146NT (8c/16t)
  • Memory: 512GB
  • Storage: 1 x M.2 (Additional 1 x M.2 possible with PCIe Add-in-Card or 2 x M.2 possible with AOC-SLG3-2M2), 2 x NVMe or U.2 or SATA3
    • Max Devices: 5
  • Network: 2 x 10GbE, 2 x 10GbE (SFP+), 4 x 1GbE + 1 x 1GbE (IPMI)
  • VMware HCL: No (works with vSphere 7.0 Update 1)
• SYS-E301-9D-8CN4
  • Release Date: Oct 2019 (EOL: Q1 2025)
  • CPU: AMD EPYC 3251 (8c/16t)
  • Memory: 512GB
  • Storage: 1 x M.2 (Additional 1 x M.2 possible with PCIe Add-in-Card or 2 x M.2 possible with AOC-SLG3-2M2), 2 x NVMe or U.2 or SATA3
    • Max Devices: 5
  • Network: 4 x 1GbE, 1 x 1GbE (IPMI)
  • VMware HCL: No (works with vSphere 7.0 Update 1)

E302-9D

The E302-9D is another interesting platform which was just released this summer. It is similar to the E300-9D (4-Core) model and the key difference is that this is a fanless system. If I had one critique for Supermicro kits, I think most would agree it is the noise. This is usually the first shock for most, including myself when I first heard the jet engine, err I mean fan spin up during power on or during CPU intensive tasks. Some folks have gotten used to it but it certainly can be distracting in an office setting (when that used to be a thing). Having a fanless option is really nice and something to consider if you are in the market for a new system.

• SYS-E302-9D
  • Release Date: July 2020 (EOL: Q1 2025)
  • CPU: Intel Xeon D-2123IT (4c/8t)
  • Memory: 256GB
  • Storage: 1 x M.2 (Additional 1 x M.2 possible with PCIe Add-in-Card or 2 x M.2 possible with AOC-SLG3-2M2), 2 x SATA3
    • Max Devices: 3
  • Network: 2 x 10GbE, 2 x 10GbE (SFP+), 4 x 1GbE, 1 x 1GbE (IPMI)
  • VMware HCL: No (similar to E300-9D and should also support up to vSphere 7.0 Update 1)

E100-9W

Here is another fanless kit that was just released in Spring of 2020 focused on Edge/IoT use cases and is targeting the NUC market. Please see this blog post for a detailed write-up.

• E100-9W-H (i7)
  • Release Date: March 2020 (EOL: Q1 2026)
• E100-9W-E (i5) and E100-9W-L (i3)
  • Release Date: March 2020 (EOL: Q1 2029)
  • CPU: Intel i7-8665UE, i5-8365UE or i3-8145UE (4c/8t)
  • Memory: 64GB
  • Storage: 1 x M.2 (2242/2280), PCIe NVME/SATA3 and 1 x M.2 (2242/2280), SATA3
    • Max Devices: 2
  • Network: 2 x 1GbE
  • VMware HCL: No (works with vSphere 7.0 Update 1)