After many months of planning and discussions, today I am excited to share the Supermicro 2021 Homelab Group Buy with the VMware Community! 🥳
A big thanks to both Supermicro and the Aspen Systems team for supporting this community initiative.
Details
This group buy is for a barebones (includes CPU) Supermicro E300-9D-8CN-8TP, which is a very capable platform for running your VMware Homelab which I have previously written about here and here. As a successor to the popular E200-8D, another benefit of the E300-9D is that it is officially listed on the VMware HCL and is supported with the latest vSphere 7.0 Update 2 release.
Since this is the first time we are partnering up with both Supermicro and Aspen Systems for a group buy, we wanted to keep the program simple and initially focus on US based users. If this group buy is successful, we will work with the team to run a similar group buy for other regions such as EMEA/APJ. For this group buy, we have been able to secure a 20% discount for the VMware Community and does require a minimum quantity of 300 units to be purchased to qualify for the discounted rate. If you are interested in participating in this group buy, please visit the URL below. In addition, I will also periodically update this blog post with the latest numbers, so folks have an idea of the overall progress.
Lastly, please help get the word out by sharing this blog post with your friends, colleagues and social network!
UPDATE 3 (07/07/21) - Unfortunately, we did not meet the minimum requirements based on the final results and this group buy will NOT be proceeding. I have no plans to re-attempt this and/or future group buys as this was a non-trivial amount of work.
I also have no plans to re-attempt this for other regions, this was a non-trivial amount of work on my end and although there was a lot of "interests" from the community, it did not actually translate to folks committing. Sorry to disappoint folks who wanted this to go through, it seems the community has spoken
UPDATE 2 (06/03/21) - Shipping estimates have changed to ~12-14 weeks due to current global shortages. Group buy website has also been updated to reflect units sold, which will happen at the end of each business day.
UPDATE 1 (06/02/21) - Quantity per customer has been increased to 4
| Details | Description |
|---|---|
| Minimum Quantity | 300 |
| Unit Cost | $1350 (includes taxes and fees) |
| Shipping Cost | Calculated based on destination |
| Shipping Time | ~12-14 weeks |
| Start Date | June 2 2021 |
| End Date | July 5 2021 |
| Group Buy URL | http://vmwa.re/supermicro-2021-groupbuy |
will there also be an european initiative?
Please read the blog post …
I feel ignored... US/EMEA/APJ do not make up the whole world 🙁
is this just a sign up or do we purchase from the sight now and get the discount if we hit 300 units? Also is there any way to configure memory and storage or is this just bear bones system? Thank for all the hard work you put into these group buy and sharing all the knowledge that you have.
You'll be able to purchase, the charge just won't go through until we hit the minimum quantity. Right now, the vendor isn't offering any additional customization and most folks prefer to source their own components based on their needs
thank you for the clarification.
William- can these be a basis for a vcf lab? Purchase 4 units and bolt on some optane, 256g ram, satadom, riser etc? Any guidance?
Definitely! I know many folks using the predecessor (E200-8D) to run VCF, both physical or Nested
Personally, I find this form factor from Supermicro to be too noisy for a homelab. I would of preferred a group buy of the NUC11TNHv50L or NUC11TNHv70L.
Agree … changed all oem fans to Noctua units ..worked great
Does Canada fit into this initiative or a future initiative?
I am hoping by US they mean NA. I would love to set up a vsan homelab using this chassis.
William, please clarify for candian folk. thank you
US Only, unfortunately. I was considering contacting a US person to buy it for me, but with boarder closure and everything not sure when I would even get it.
Let's hope they roll it up for Canada in a second phase.
Maybe I'm ignorant; no, okay, I am. I admit it.
What's the use of all those NIC ports for a home lab? What would I realistically connect to all of them in a home lab?
William- any chance a TPM unit can be a part of the build?
Prefer to buy AMD epyc 3 for my homelab, but looks like supermicro is still using epyc 1
Hello I'm from India and I am interested for group buy! Please count me in for AP program.
isn't this a ~3 year old platform now? isn't there an updated hw build? (301? 302?)
The selection of this platform was actually based on feedback from community. There are definitely many options and newer options (see https://williamlam.com/2020/12/supermicro-vmware-homelab-2020-options.html) but can't please everyone 🙂
Sorry, I didn't mean to sound too critical.
I do love these boxes!
If I didn't have a pair, I'd be signing up!
The combination of 1/2TB of ECC ram, nvme, and a pci slot that will take a 40gb nic, in this form factor, make it incredible!
I guess, more than anything else, I'm upset these boxes haven't really gotten any cheaper since they were released.
I do appreciate you doing this! Thanks!
LOL. I just pulled the trigger on 2 x SYS-200-8D. I'm happy.
Did this meet the minimum order quantity? (site shows 9/300) If not, has the offer end date been extended? (I realized I missed it by a couple days)
No. Unfortunately, we did not meet the minimum requirements based on the results and the group buy will NOT be proceeding.
I also have no plans to re-attempt this for other regions, this was a non-trivial amount of work on my end and although there was a lot of "interests" from the community, it did not actually translate to folks committing. Sorry to disappoint folks who wanted this to go through, it seems the community has spoken
Thank you for your effort, I really appreciated that you put that together for the community regardless!
thank you William for all the time and effort to put this in place. Wished it out out to be different.