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Dell PowerEdge R710 for VMware 6.7

Jon_CiscoJon_Cisco Member Posts: 1,772 ■■■■■■■■□□
I currently have one Dell PowerEdge R710 which has Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016 installed on it for my MCSA lab. I am considering buying a second one to install VMware 6.7 on because I want to start setting up a VMWare lab.

Before I get ahead of myself with buying older equipment I wanted to check in and see if anyone has this installed in there home lab and also if there is a newer machine in a similar price point I could look at.

Right now the plans are simple. Buy another server and sign up for the VMUG advantage so I can set up the enterprise software in my home lab. I don't plan on starting a certification yet I just want to get my hands dirty with some new toys.

Thanks for any suggestions!
Jon


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    JoJoCal19JoJoCal19 Mod Posts: 2,835 Mod
    edited February 2019
    I would just go with the most power/storage for the least amount of money, with a proc that is on VMware’s list. If the 710 is the best ratio of power/cost stick with that. 
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    Jon_CiscoJon_Cisco Member Posts: 1,772 ■■■■■■■■□□
    I'm pretty sure it's not on VMware supported list but Dell has produced an image for it. At least that's what I gather from watching a couple installs on youtube.

    But home labs get to evolve and I imagine some people have probably moved on from the 710s. Just figured since I respect this communities experience I would throw it out there and see what others are having success with.
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    Jon_CiscoJon_Cisco Member Posts: 1,772 ■■■■■■■■□□
    I decided on a Dell R620 SFF. I plan to try and install esxi 6.7 in anticipation of taking the Stanley CC vmware course sometime this summer.
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    Jon_CiscoJon_Cisco Member Posts: 1,772 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Dell R620 arrived yesturday.
    I installed VMware ESXi 6.7 on the internal USB today.
    I want to play around with the settings some before I add a datastore.
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    Jon_CiscoJon_Cisco Member Posts: 1,772 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Not the most exciting updates but I was able to install a datastore and set up the vCenter Server Applicance to run successfully today.
    I don't have enough hardware experience to say what servers work best but so far the R620 has not given me any issues with ESXi 6.7

    The network card did have trouble with Cat5e cable and I has to switch to Cat6 cable to get the Gigibit speeds.
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