Part 1: Homelab Considerations: Software Licensing for Your Homelab
Part 2: Homelab Considerations: Storage Simulators for Your Homelab
In Part 2 of the Homelab Considerations series, we’ll be talking about storage simulators. Storage simulators will help you familiarize yourself with various enterprise storage offerings that you would typically see attached to a vSphere environment. We’re going to cover each Virtual Storage Appliance (VSA) I’ve been able to find, where and how to download those VSAs, and how to set them up in an environment.
In any virtual environment, you need a few key things:
- Servers, or compute
- Networking, or routers and switching
- Storage, or a centralized box of hard disks to store all of the infrastructure on
If you’re testing an application, OS or the network infrastructure in your environment, you’re probably fine putting the infrastructure on local storage if you have a decently sized hard drive and can thin provision the disk. If you’re in the market to learn how enterprise data centers and cloud technologies work, especially with VMware vSphere, you will need dedicated shared storage for your homelab infrastructure in order to use most of those enterprise features. Not all of us can build out a homelab with a dedicated NAS, let alone an enterprise SAN, so we look to leverage solutions that can simulate enterprise storage in a nested virtual homelab environment.
Even if you’re using a nested virtualized homelab, you have to shell out for the compute and any network infrastructure systems that cannot be built in a virtual environment. If you don’t want to spend a ridiculous amount of money on your storage infrastructures in support of your homelab, keep your costs down by using a Virtual Storage Appliance (VSA). If you have more money than you know what to do with, and want to buy a NAS or SAN solution that will give you the features you need for your virtual environment, feel free to send some of that money my way.
Choosing a VSA
When you choose your VSA, consider what your organization is currently using in production, or what you personally want to focus on going forward. If you’re using Dell EMC Isilon at the office, consider deploying the Dell EMC Isilon VSA to more closely mirror what you see in the production environment at work. If you’re interested in learning about NetApp ONTAP, consider deploying the NetApp ONTAP Simulator to familiarize yourself with NetApp ONTAP. You probably see where I’m going with this. If you want the simplist option that is quick to deploy and use with a hypervisor, take a look at something like FreeNAS or StarWind.
I’ll also be including some GUI demos for those of you who are interested in familiarizing themselves with a specific vendors storage GUI. The GUI demos aren’t going to work in a lab environment, but they might be useful for some people looking for new jobs, or something similar.
Disclaimer: While all of the VSAs and GUI demos listed on this page are free, some of them do require a customer or partner account through a vendor to be able to download.
Storage Simulators and VSAs
| Dell EMC Data Domain Virtual Edition – Community Edition | |
| Download | Documentation |
Note: The trial is limited to 0.5TB of capacity. The paid version allows up to 96TB of capacity. | |
| Dell EMC Isilon Simulator | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
Note: Some advanced features are not available without a license. | |
| Dell EMC ScaleIO | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
| |
| Dell EMC Unity | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
| |
| Dell EMC ViPR Software Defined Storage | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
| |
| Dell EMC VNX | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
Note: The default EMC Unisphere Logon Credentials: Username: admin | |
| Dell EMC VNXe 3200 | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
Note: This requires an EMC Support Portal Login Account. | |
| FreeNAS | |
| Download | Documentation |
| Supports both iSCSI SAN and NAS protocols. System Requirements:
| |
| HDS HCS Simulator | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
Note: This requires an HDS Partner Login Account. | |
| HPE 3PAR StoreServ Simulator | |
| Download | Documentation |
| Configuring the simulator requires deploying three VMs. Two simulate the cluster nodes, and the third simulates the enclosure and private network configuration to enable communication between all of the VMs. System Requirements:
| |
| HPE Nimble Virtual Array | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
Note: This requires a Nimble Employee or Partner Login Account. | |
| HPE StoreVirtual | |
| Download | Documentation |
| StorVirtual deploys as a 3 year, 1TB evaluation. System Requirements:
| |
| NetApp ONTAP Select | |
| Download | Documentation |
| The simulator configuration requires deploying two VMs; the Select Node and the Select Deploy Administration Utility. The evaluation lasts for 90 days, and allows 2TB of capacity. System Requirements:
Note: This requires a NetApp Customer or Partner Login Account. | |
| NetApp ONTAP Simulator | |
| Download | Documentation |
| The simulator configuration requires deploying two VMs; the Select Node and the Select Deploy Administration Utility. System Requirements:
Note: This requires a NetApp Customer or Partner Login Account. | |
| NexentaStor Community Edition | |
| Download | Documentation |
| NexentaStor provides a unified file and block storage solution for NFS, SMB and iSCSI storage. The Community Edition is free, but is limited to 10TB of capacity. A 45 day trial of the full enterprise product is also available. System Requirements:
Note: This requires a free Login Account. | |
| Nutanix Community Edition | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
Note: This requires a Nimble Employee or Partner Login Account. | |
| OpenFiler Unified Storage | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
| |
| Oracle ZFS Storage Simulator | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
Note: This requires a free Login Account. | |
| StarWind Virtual SAN | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
Note: This requires a free Login Account. | |
| Synology DSM XPEnology Simulator | |
| Download | Documentation |
System Requirements:
| |
Storage GUI Demos
| Dell EMC Unity All Flash Simulator | |
| Demo | |
| This demo is web-based. The Dell EMC Unity GUI normally runs from a Windows thick client. Note: This requires a free Login Account. | |
| Dell EMC VNXe | |
| Demo | |
| This demo is flash-based. The Dell EMC VNXe GUI normally runs from a Windows thick client. | |
| IBM StorWize V-Series | |
| V7000 Demo | V5000 Demo |
| This demo is web-based. The IBM StorWize V-Series GUI normally runs from a Windows thick client. Note: This requires a free IBMid Login Account. | |
| NetGear ReadyNAS (NAS) | |
| Demo | |
| This is a web-based demo of the NetGear ReadyNAS GUI. | |
| QNAP QTS (NAS) | |
| Demo | |
| This is a web-based demo of the QNAP QTS GUI. | |
| Synology DSM (NAS) | |
| Demo | |
| This is a web-based demo of the Synology DSM GUI. | |
| Thecus (NAS) | |
| Demo | |
| This is a web-based demo of the TecusOS GUI. | |
And that’s all I’ve found. If you’ve found something that’s missing from this list, feel free to reach out and I’ll add it. Happy storing!
- Accolades
Scott is an experienced professional and recognized leader specializing in the design and implementation of enterprise virtualization, enterprise storage, server infrastructures and operations. A self-starter able to work both independently and in a team-oriented environment, Scott has a proven ability to create and automate solutions to improve productivity, reliability and performance.
Throughout his professional career, Scott has proven successes implementing technology and service improvement initiatives and has a demonstrated ability to think strategically about business, create technical definition around objectives in complex situations, develop solution strategies, motivate and mobilize resources, and deliver end-to-end technology solutions.
Scott has achieved multiple industry recognized certifications in virtualization, networking, cloud, storage, converged infrastructure, hyperconverged infrastructure and other technologies, and is honored to be a VMware vExpert in 2018-2022, and vExpert EUC 2020-2022.
Achievements
VMware vExpert EUC 2020-2022
VMware vExpert 2022
VMware vExpert 2021
VMware vExpert 2020
VMware vExpert 2019
VMware vExpert 2018
Double VCP – Data Center Virtualization & Desktop Mobility
Double VCP – Data Center Virtualization & Cloud Management
Double VCP – Data Center Virtualization & Network Virtualization
Double VCP – Network Virtualization & Desktop Mobility
Double VCP – Network Virtualization & Cloud Management
Double VCP – Cloud Management & Desktop Mobility
Dell Technologies Proven Professional Exam Developer – 2021
Certifications
VMware Certified Associate – Digital Business Transformation 2020
VMware Certified Professional – Desktop and Mobility 2020
VMware Certified Professional – Data Center Virtualization 2020
VMware Certified Professional 6 – Desktop and Mobility
VMware Certified Professional 6 – Cloud Management and Automation
VMware Certified Professional 6 – Network Virtualization
VMware Certified Professional 6 – Data Center Virtualization
VMware vSphere 6 Foundations
Dell Technologies Cloud Platform Administrator 2020
Dell Technologies Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 2019
Dell Technologies Specialist – Infrastructure Security Version 1.0
Dell Technologies Specialist – Systems Administrator, VxRail Appliance Version 2.0
Dell Technologies Specialist – Systems Administrator, VxRail Appliance Version 1.0
Dell Technologies Associate – Converged Systems and Hybrid Cloud Version 2.0
Dell Technologies and VMware Co-Skilled Associate – Converged Systems and Hybrid Cloud
IBM Enterprise Design Thinking Practitioner
IBM Enterprise Design Thinking Co-Creator
SolarWinds Certified Professional
