virtualife
  • Startseite
  • Datenschutzerklärung
  • Impressum
  • Contact
  • Search Icon

virtualife

all about virtual life

HCI in a Box – mobile Datacentre

HCI in a Box – mobile Datacentre

24. June 2019 Stefan Comments 3 comments

I built a mobile HCI system for my on-site presentations at the customers. You can read the hardware/software construction steps here:

Setup Nutanix CE All-Flash NVMe – Part 1
Setup Nutanix CE All-Flash NVMe – Part 2

So you could call this article Part 3

First of all, let’s look at the requirements for this HCI System in a Box. The most important thing for me was that it is portable and quickly operational.

The customer and me simply don’t have the time to set up a functional showcase in 15-20 minutes. Also I did not want to check every time whether all cables are there. So I thought, that it is a good idea, to built a portable system.

The 2nd important factor for me was to present a system, which not only works technically perfect, but also looks optically professional. after all, the customer also buys the visual experience 🙂

The 3rd important key-Feature: a connection as simple as possible!

The “Showcase” provides a WiFi for the Customer or presenting System Engineer to connect to the hole HCI in a Box System. You can also connect over a Cable Link (RJ45) at 1GBit Speed. Thus there is also the possibility to transfer a test workload from the customer network!

The HCI in a Box also provides a WIFi uplink to a guest WiFi/Network. Thus the Showcase can be operated at any Internet connection (mobile phone tethering, WiFi Guest Network …)
The yellow and white device is responsible for this.

Yellow: GL.iNet GL-MT300N-V2 Mini Travel Router
White: TP-Link TL-WR902AC AC750 WLAN Nano Router

As you can read in the article the following Hardware is in this small case:

  • 4x Intel NUC NUC8i7HVK Hades Canyon
  • 4x Kingston HyperX Impact HX424S14IBK2/32 32GB (2 x 16GB) RAM Kit
  • 8x Samsung MZ-V7P512BW 970 PRO Interne SSD 512GB NVMe M.2
  • 4x SanDisk Ultra Fit 32 GB USB 3.1
  • 1x TP-Link TL-WR902AC AC750 WLAN Nano Router
  • 1x GL.iNet GL-MT300N-V2 Mini Travel Router
  • 1x Netgear 16 Port Switch

What were the biggest challenges?

The biggest challenge was the Intel NUC power supplies!

The power supplies of the Intel NUC Sky Canyon were much smaller. That means the new ones simply took up twice the space. The power supply is almost as big as the Intel NUC Hades Canyon itself now!

Power Supply Intel NUC Hades Canyon

The Intel NUC Hades Canyons themselves are at least twice as thick as the Intel NUC Skull Canyons. I would have known, if I had read the manual before (RTFM).

Pro Tipp: Read the Specs befor buying 😉

Construction

For the construction I used Aluminum Extrusion and a 3D printer.
You can get the Aluminum Extrusion for example at motedis.com, it’s an CNC Online Shop.
I’ve been recommending it for years!

From the aluminium profiles I built a construction for the NUCS and power supplies. Furthermore I used a FAN Duct which I printed with the help of a 3D printer to ensure the fresh air supply to the NUCs.

Finally I had a nice Plexiglas cover made by an CNC Service (I provided the DFX Files).

All right, let’s cut to the chase, let’s show some pictures!

HCI in a Box System. 4x Intel NUC Hades Canyon Power!
HCI in a Box System without Plexiglas cover.
You see the both WiFi devices, the Netgear Switch and the 4 Intel NUCs.
Close-up of an Intel NUC Hades Canyon with FAN Duct (Orange) and the aluminium bracket.

The Intel Hades Canyon sucks the cold air from the lower part of the NUC Case, so a selfmade fanduct is needed.

Close-up of the power supply bracket. Here I worked with cable ties.

Unfortunately I didn’t photograph everything during the building process.

With this short post I wanted to share my experience with building an own professional showcase. So let me know your opinion and improvement suggestions using the commentary function 🙂

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Allgemein, Nutanix CE
Hades Canyon, HCI in a Box, Intel, NUC, Showcase

Post navigation

NEXT
Can i backup a Nutanix AHV with Cohesity?
PREVIOUS
Global Tech Summit Nutanix 2019 (GTSX19)

3 thoughts on “HCI in a Box – mobile Datacentre”

  1. Gregor Oliver Kolb says:
    1. July 2019 at 8:57

    Very Cool Project!!

    Reply
    1. Stefan says:
      2. July 2019 at 17:26

      Thanks Gregor! It was great fun!

      Reply
  2. Roman says:
    26. September 2019 at 22:11

    That’s amazing!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Categories

  • Allgemein
  • Linux
  • Nutanix
    • NTC
    • Nutanix CE
    • Nutanix Release
  • VMware
Nutanix Technology Champion 2019

Latest Tweets

My Tweets

Top Article

  • Export an Nutanix AHV VM
  • Setup Nutanix CE All-Flash NVMe - Part 1
  • Nutanix - Decreasing CVM Memory (post-install)
  • Setup Nutanix CE All-Flash NVMe - Part 2
  • HCI in a Box - mobile Datacentre

Archive

  • September 2019
  • June 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018

other Blogs

virtualhome Blog

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
© 2021   All Rights Reserved.
To change your privacy setting, e.g. granting or withdrawing consent, click here: Settings