--- title: "Homelab Compute Upgrade: SuperMicro BigTwin & vSphere Setup" description: "Quite a few changes have happened in the lab recently. I decided to do a multipart blog on the changes." date: 2022-01-06T11:12:00+00:00 modified: 2026-02-16T16:15:03+00:00 author: James Kilby categories: - Homelab - VMware - Personal - VMware Cloud on AWS - Nutanix - Runecast - vSAN - Mikrotik - Networking tags: - #Homelab - #Supermicro - #VMware url: https://jameskilby.co.uk/2022/01/lab-update-part-1-compute/ image: https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IMG_4536-scaled-1-768x1024.jpg --- ![](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IMG_4536-scaled-1.jpg) [Homelab](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/homelab/) | [VMware](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/) # Homelab Compute Upgrade: SuperMicro BigTwin & vSphere Setup By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) January 6, 2022 · Updated February 16, 2026 • 📖1 min read(223 words) 📅**Published:** January 06, 2022•**Updated:** February 16, 2026 Quite a few changes have happened in the lab recently, so I decided to do a multipart blog on the changes. The refresh was triggered by the purchase of a SuperMicro Server ([2027TR-H71FRF](https://www.supermicro.com/products/system/2U/2027/SYS-2027TR-H71FRF.cfm)) chassis with 4x X9DRT Nodes / Blades. This is known as a BigTwin configuration in SuperMicro parlance. This is something I was very familiar with as most of the Nutanix nodes that we deployed at Zen were of this design. Each node has 2x Intel Xeon CPU E5-2670 @ 2.60GHz. 3 Nodes have 192GB of RAM and 1 has 128GB giving a combined 64c/128t and 704GB of RAM. Quite an amount to be squeezed into 2U. This is a huge uplift in compute resources so is more than welcome. I also decided to put what I could in a proper rack and purchased a Startech 25U rack to mount it. ![Lab Update - Compute](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IMG_4536-scaled-1-768x1024.jpg) One of the Compute nodes was removed from the server… The plan is also to make a serious network investment (to move me away from 1Gb) but I haven’t completely decided what that will look like. This will likely be the final investment for a while. With the additional Supermicro compute available, I have made the Z840 a sort of standalone node. I will keep it around as it’s the only thing capable of running my Nvidia K2. ## 📚 Related Posts * [New Homelab Nodes: SuperMicro BigTwin for VMware & Nutanix](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2024/07/new-nodes/) * [Lab Update – Desired Workloads](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2022/01/lab-update-part-5-desired-workloads/) * [How to Run ZFS on VMware vSphere: Setup Guide and Best Practices](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2024/12/zfs-on-vmware/) ## Similar Posts * [ ![VMware Certified Master Specialist HCI 2020](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/vmware_SP_HCI20.png) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2020/09/vmware-certified-master-specialist-hci-2020/) [Personal](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/personal/) | [VMware](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/) ### [VMware Certified Master Specialist HCI 2020](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2020/09/vmware-certified-master-specialist-hci-2020/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) September 13, 2020 · Updated May 31, 2026 I recently sat (and passed the VMware HCI Master Specialist exam (5V0-21. * [ ![New VMware Cloud on AWS Host: i7i.metal-24xl](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/VMConAWS.png.webp) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2026/04/new-vmc-host-i7i-metal-24xl/) [VMware](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/) | [VMware Cloud on AWS](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/vmware-cloud-on-aws/) ### [New VMware Cloud on AWS Host: i7i.metal-24xl](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2026/04/new-vmc-host-i7i-metal-24xl/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) April 1, 2026 · Updated June 1, 2026 We’ve expanded the VMC fleet with the new i7i (i7i. * [ ![New Homelab Nodes: SuperMicro BigTwin for VMware & Nutanix](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG_6629-768x149.jpeg) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2024/07/new-nodes/) [Homelab](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/homelab/) | [Nutanix](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/nutanix/) | [VMware](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/) ### [New Homelab Nodes: SuperMicro BigTwin for VMware & Nutanix](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2024/07/new-nodes/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) July 2, 2024 · Updated June 5, 2026 I recently decided to update some of my homelab hosts and I managed to do this at very little cost by offloading 2 of my Supermicro e200’s to fellow vExpert Paul . * [ ![Runecast Remediation Scripts: Auto-Fix VMware Storage Issues](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Runecast-Solutions-Ltd.png) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2023/05/runecast-remediation-scripts/) [Runecast](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/runecast/) | [VMware](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/) ### [Runecast Remediation Scripts: Auto-Fix VMware Storage Issues](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2023/05/runecast-remediation-scripts/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) May 16, 2023 · Updated June 1, 2026 I am a huge fan of the Runecast product and luckily as a vExpert they give out NFR licences for my lab. * [ ![vSAN Cluster Shutdown – Orchestration](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/OrigionalPoweredByvSAN-550x324-1.jpg) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2025/12/vsan-cluster-shutdown/) [VMware](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/) | [vSAN](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/vmware/vsan-vmware/) ### [vSAN Cluster Shutdown – Orchestration](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2025/12/vsan-cluster-shutdown/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) December 6, 2025 · Updated June 1, 2026 How to safely shut down a vSAN Environment * [ ![CRS-504](https://jameskilby.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/s-l1600-768x427.jpg) ](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2024/09/home-network-upgrade/) [Mikrotik](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/mikrotik/) | [Networking](https://jameskilby.co.uk/category/networking/) ### [Home Network Upgrade to 25Gb/s with MikroTik Switching](https://jameskilby.co.uk/2024/09/home-network-upgrade/) By[James](https://jameskilby.co.uk) September 9, 2024 · Updated June 5, 2026 My journey to superfast networking in my homelab