New Guy – Question about platform

[jwils0n0x]

Howdy!  I am new here - yay 1st post….

So, here is my question for you guys...

I just recently inherited a quite old Dell Poweredge SC 1420 ...

Vital Statistics:

1.)  1 x 3.0GHZ Dual Core Xeon (could add a 2nd CPU to the board to double its specs)
2.)  1GB DDR2-400 RAM (Looking to upgrade to at least 2GB - 4 out of 6 memory bays are empty, so I might go to 3)
3.)  1 x On-Board NIC  (looking to install 2 x PCI/PCI-E NICs from Hardware Compatability List)
4.)  1 x 75GB SATA-I Hard Disk

My Environment:

1.) 1 x Nintendo Wii
2.) 1 x XBOX 360
3.) 3 x Laptops
4.) 3 x Servers/Desktops
------->  All of them are typically provisioning out or running numerous VM's for security research - so the bandwith consumption over the internal network can get a bit stupid but necessary
5.) 2 x Always on iPhone 4's
6.) 2 x Barnes and Noble Nooks
7.) 1 x Apple TV
------->  Always streaming something at some point during the day, whether it be Phineas and Ferb or a full movie.  Netflix/iTunes AirPlay is common in our house with the little ones.

My ISP Connection:

1.) 1 WAN Link (50/50 Bandwidth) (not 50/50 yet, upgrading in the next 30-60 days)

My new implementations:
1.) I want to implement ESXi 4.1 into my environment - for the vMotion after I get done building my new rack cluster for the home office
2.) I am possibly going to configure some sort of desktop provisioning so my wife can get a clean image every time she boots up, thus decreasing my need to constantly clean up and perform maintenance on her laptop - so images going over the network is a concern on top of the vMotion aspect.
3.) I want to utilize OpenVPN as I do travel on occasion and need a secure means to browse that is not the internet at a hotel nor airport in the clear.
4.) I would also like to setup Squid/Squidguard in order to proxy/cache
5.) I am also wanting to incorporate a wireless AP into this build in some fashion

Possibility to purchase new hardware:
1.) I do have a desire to purchase some cisco rack gear to accompany this, i.e. a switch - possibly the classic 2900 series, unless someone has a better option/cash idea?  I want gigabit inside the network for obvious reasons - so any solution is great
2.) Dumb AP's: I have a 3 story home - so I will / may need to purchase some sort of repeater solution within the house.

OK --  now that the intro is over...

1.) Will the Poweredge suit my needs ?  Would I need to perform the upgrades mentioned to it in order for it to handle the load being given to it on the internal network/external network without upgrade?

2.) Is a CISCO 2900~ switch the right type for the job?

3.) What is the best NIC you have personally used (PCI) that you would recommend for gigabit connectivity - while being compatible with pfSense

4.) Should I just hold off until my rack cluster is built, then incorporate 2 smaller-capability racks in order to configure fail-over -- or has everyone seen a lack of utility in that for a SOHO environment?

5.)  What is the best Wireless NIC for the job?  Again, I like quality - not quantity or garbage, so I'm ok with a more pricey NIC to function as an AP.

6.)  Is there a way to QoS / Throttle vMotion traffic utilizing pfSense?  VMware didnt see it necessary to incorporate a throttle into vMotion, and I have seen it absorb an entire pipe before - so if I can - that would be nice.  I would guess possibly not - or maybe so, depending on topology - as it would have to filter/QoS the internal/internal traffic, vice internal/external.

7.)  would this poweredge (upgraded or not) handle the load of potentially 4 more racks worth of network saturation on top of the above architecture?

Thanks for the help -- sorry for the length of the post but I try and be thorough when I ask for assistance of other people.

Cheers!

-J

[stephenw10]

One thing you haven't mentioned is how/if you intend to divide up your network using pfSense.
The Dell will easily handle a 50/50 WAN connection even with packages and running a VPN. The limit is likely to be filtering between different internal interfaces.
If you want the best get Intel server NICs.

Steve

[jwils0n0x]

I would ideally like to segment them into 2 subnets –  1 for media center stuff/home use and 1 for SOHO purposes, but was thinking a VLAN for that implementation off the cisco switch