Question on installing ESXi Free on an HP DL-360

Hi,
I am just getting my feet wet here, so please bear with me.
I have an HP DL-360 G5 currently running Windows Server 2003 R2 x86. I have onboard Hardware RAID configured as 1 and 5. The OS is mirrored on drive C and the data drive D, is RAID 5.
I would like to unistall this completely, install ESXi free, then create a vm with Windows Server 2008R2. I have the ISO and license.
My questions are the following:
1. What is the best/easiest way to install ESXi free?
2. Do I need to mess with the current RAID configuration?
3. Can I use a usb flash drive with the ISO image on there to create the vm, or will I need to burn it to a DVD?
In other words can someone give me an idea of the most efficient and best practices method to accomplish the above?
I was originally going to just nuke the W2K3 install and install W2K8 on the hard drive but since I am studying VMware(along with other technology), I thought that this would be a great way to get more hands on experience, not to mention a more efficient system.
Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
P.S. this box is currently only running 2GB RAM but I think it will be okay with the relatively low impact that ESXi provides.
Thanks!
I am just getting my feet wet here, so please bear with me.
I have an HP DL-360 G5 currently running Windows Server 2003 R2 x86. I have onboard Hardware RAID configured as 1 and 5. The OS is mirrored on drive C and the data drive D, is RAID 5.
I would like to unistall this completely, install ESXi free, then create a vm with Windows Server 2008R2. I have the ISO and license.
My questions are the following:
1. What is the best/easiest way to install ESXi free?
2. Do I need to mess with the current RAID configuration?
3. Can I use a usb flash drive with the ISO image on there to create the vm, or will I need to burn it to a DVD?
In other words can someone give me an idea of the most efficient and best practices method to accomplish the above?
I was originally going to just nuke the W2K3 install and install W2K8 on the hard drive but since I am studying VMware(along with other technology), I thought that this would be a great way to get more hands on experience, not to mention a more efficient system.
Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
P.S. this box is currently only running 2GB RAM but I think it will be okay with the relatively low impact that ESXi provides.
Thanks!
I usually hang out on 224.0.0.10 (FF02::A) and 224.0.0.5 (FF02::5) when I'm in a non-proprietary mood.
__________________________________________
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
(Leonardo da Vinci)
__________________________________________
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
(Leonardo da Vinci)
Comments
2. If you'd like to use the RAID5 for a datastore for your 2008 VM - then no. RAID1 for OS and RAID5 for data is fine. Once install, configure things like: IP Address, Hostname, DNS Servers, etc.
3.Using the VI Client you can install the OS to the VM a few ways:
It's pretty straight forward and easy to use.
However, your suggestions are doable too, I guess.
__________________________________________
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
(Leonardo da Vinci)
In regards to uploading images, if you are planning connecting the server to the network you can also upload the iso to the datastore via WinSCP.
I'm not sure if there's a performance difference but I like the idea of seperating the OS from the storage disks.
Going to give it a go over the weekend if I have the time....
__________________________________________
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
(Leonardo da Vinci)
Yes, it will be the Domain Controller.....Thanks
__________________________________________
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
(Leonardo da Vinci)
Did you make sure that your RAID has logical drives defined? I think that's what it is called. Too lazy to go reboot my test server at work. I have both DL360 G3 and G5 with ESXi 3.5 and 5 installed and it works great. I use both of them for testing stuff. The G3 will probably be decommissioned pretty soon since it's only 32-bit.
Future Certifications: CCNP Route Switch, CCNA Datacenter, random vendor training.
As far as I know, the DL360s and DL380s RAID controllers are compatible with ESXi. That's why I want one at home so I can use my current server as my main desktop.