Virtual LAB

Supermiguel

So i want to make a Virtualized lab for my MCSE/ and MCITP studies... I have a dual core 16gb of ram..this machine wont be running a monitor so what ever i install needs to be managed/viewed in another system.. ESX/ESXI wont load on my system whats my next best option?

JDMurray

Make sure the CPU supports virtualization and that virtualization is enabled in the BIOS. Some vendors have the virtualization setting disabled by default. Also know that ESX/i 4 requires a 64-bit CPU. If yours is only 32-bit then you'll be running ESX/i 3.5.

You will need to plug a keyboard/monitor into your ESX/i server to initially provision the IP address, domain name, etc., and make other changes when you need to.

You might need to do some tweaking occasionally in the unsupported console (like resetting the 60-day eval counter), and for that you'll need a keyboard/monitor too.

Unless your network topology changes, or you need to run some network diagnostics from the server, it's usually a set-it-and-forget-it situation and the server can remain headless. All the other provisioning will be performed using vClient from a PC on the same network. You download and install vClient from your ESX/i server's built-in Web sever.

Supermiguel

JDMurray wrote: »

Make sure the CPU supports virtualization and that virtualization is enabled in the BIOS. Some vendors have the virtualization setting disabled by default. Also know that ESX/i 4 requires a 64-bit CPU. If yours is only 32-bit then you'll be running ESX/i 3.5.

You will need to plug a keyboard/monitor into your ESX/i server to initially provision the IP address, domain name, etc., and make other changes when you need to.

You might need to do some tweaking occasionally in the unsupported console (like resetting the 60-day eval counter), and for that you'll need a keyboard/monitor too.

Unless your network topology changes, or you need to run some network diagnostics from the server, it's usually a set-it-and-forget-it situation and the server can remain headless. All the other provisioning will be performed using vClient from a PC on the same network. You download and install vClient from your ESX/i server's built-in Web sever.

that sounds good but i cant install it because of hardware compatibility *sad*

dynamik

What are the incompatibilities? They may affect other virtualization packages as well.

If nothing else, you could do something like run VMware Server on Linux.

Supermiguel

dynamik wrote: »

What are the incompatibilities? They may affect other virtualization packages as well.

If nothing else, you could do something like run VMware Server on Linux.

seems like a problem with the controller... ESXI is kinda picky hardware wise.. With the Server version of vmware ill be able to access a console from another machine and i can start and view my virtual machines?

like when you use the esxi client, you can manage and view the machines within the client i want to do that .. server version does that?

HeroPsycho

Supermiguel wrote: »

seems like a problem with the controller... ESXI is kinda picky hardware wise.. With the Server version of vmware ill be able to access a console from another machine and i can start and view my virtual machines?

like when you use the esxi client, you can manage and view the machines within the client i want to do that .. server version does that?

Make sure you disable RAID functionality on your disk controller. Most onboard disk controllers if they are compatible need RAID functionality disabled.

Reason we're trying to help you get ESXi to run is it's far superior to VMware Server.

And yes, VMware Server you access the VM's and control the VMware product through a web GUI.

Supermiguel

HeroPsycho wrote: »

Make sure you disable RAID functionality on your disk controller. Most onboard disk controllers if they are compatible need RAID functionality disabled.

Reason we're trying to help you get ESXi to run is it's far superior to VMware Server.

And yes, VMware Server you access the VM's and control the VMware product through a web GUI.

so you guys recommend ESXI for LABs?

JDMurray

Supermiguel wrote: »

so you guys recommend ESXI for LABs?

Yes, but only if it runs on the hardware that you've got. If not, try running VMware Server instead.

earweed

JDMurray wrote: »

Yes, but only if it runs on the hardware that you've got. If not, try running VMware Server instead.

Anybody got a link where I can see if my hardware is compatible for VMWare server standard?

MentholMoose

Supermiguel wrote: »

seems like a problem with the controller... ESXI is kinda picky hardware wise..

ESXi should work with most on-board drive controllers, just not in RAID mode, so disable RAID unless you need it. Some motherboards have two on-board drive controllers, so try both. Post the exact hardware specs so we help determine the problem.

Supermiguel wrote: »

With the Server version of vmware ill be able to access a console from another machine and i can start and view my virtual machines?

like when you use the esxi client, you can manage and view the machines within the client i want to do that .. server version does that?

VMware Server is built for remote management. It has a web-based GUI.

earweed wrote: »

Anybody got a link where I can see if my hardware is compatible for VMWare server standard?

VMware Server FAQs, Free Virtualization Server Consolidation

dynamik

earweed wrote: »

Anybody got a link where I can see if my hardware is compatible for VMWare server standard?

Ultimate VMWare ESX Whitebox is a great resource if you're building your own.

earweed

Thanks for the replies.
I am actually looking into building my own dedicated box for ESXi (My system wont support it). I've already checked out the whitebox site, good info.

Supermiguel

umm i have this board.. seems like it is supported: Ultimate VMWare ESX Whitebox | Motherboard: ASUS Asus P5QL/EPU i guess i need to buy a new nic

Supermiguel

also on that whitepage website.. when they say 3.5i that means that its the esxi version right? like on my board it only says 4.0 does that means that it it only works with esx 4.0/?

as today there is no way to manage esxi machines from osx right?

earweed

Supermiguel wrote: »

umm i have this board.. seems like it is supported: Ultimate VMWare ESX Whitebox | Motherboard: ASUS Asus P5QL/EPU i guess i need to buy a new nic

I've been checking on what board to get and the onboard NIC seems to be quite an issue with esxi.
Mine's gonna take a few months to build since I'm starting from scratch and the co$t. If I have to build from scratch I'm gonna try to build one that'll support what I may throw at it in the future.
As for your other questions, don't know about backward compatibility but I believe 4 needs 64 bit processor while 3.5 is 32 bit so 3.5 should (not sure) work with your board. Notice that the whitebox site is kind of like a user built site taking feedback from people who found a way for their boards/systems/cpu to work so it may not be definitive advice on if your board will work. If your board's compatible and your CPU is too then it should work.

JDMurray

Also realize that the Whitebox site is not a complete listing. If a component or system is not listed that doesn't mean it wont work with ESXi, such as the Dell PowerEdge 1950 servers and Dell Precision T3400 workstations I use to run ESXi 3.5 and 4.