Home VMware lab?

[Insomniator]

Hey everyone, not sure if there is a correct forum for this --

I want to create a VMware lab at home to play with. Just for learning about it, I've only used Hyper V at work and my new job is a VMware shop.

We're talking basic stuff here -- I've never used VMware at all. Can I just install ESXi host on a spare machine and manage it from my main desktop? I see some people install the host itself on a virtual machine... which is confusing because that suggests I already have a VMware environment running.

The laptop I'm planning on using is a Dell m6600 workstation with an i7 and 8GB memory (I can add more if/when I need it). Should be powerful enough right?

For storage:

180GB SSD
120GB SSD
750GB hdd

Should I install the host on the 120 and use the 180 for a couple of VM's?

Any input is appreciated!

 

[DesiPower]

ibtm

 

[Kadarin]

It's been a while since I've done it but if I recall correctly the answer is absolutely yes you can do it. More memory would be good, too.

 

[ultimatebob]

It's worth a shot, but your hardware isn't on the ESXi certified list:

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

It other words, don't ask VMWare for help if you get stuck. You could ask the General Hardware or *nix Software forum, though.

I have an older PowerEdge T110 II that I use for ESXi testing. It's cheap, somewhat expandable, and supported.

 

[SunnyD]

We're talking basic stuff here -- I've never used VMware at all. Can I just install ESXi host on a spare machine and manage it from my main desktop? I see some people install the host itself on a virtual machine... which is confusing because that suggests I already have a VMware environment running.

Yes, yes you can.

My entire home "network" (firewall, router, VOIP server, storage, media) is hosted on an ESXi box in my closet, and managed from my desktop. The only real caveats are the more RAM the merrier. The free version of ESXi will use the vSphere desktop client to manage it rather than the web client (there is no web client for the free version - yet).

You'll be able to run the host off a 32gb USB flash drive if you so desire - ESXi allows you to install and run of a USB drive. I have the host plus all of my guests on a single 120gb SSD currently (all linux/BSD guests). The only drawback I find is that in order to install a guest you first need to copy the ISO directly to the host datastore - you can't install from a remote network share like you can with Hyper-V. It's a waste of space and time, but hey, whatever.

Enjoy.

 

[tfinch2]

Sign up for VMware hands on labs. You won't get very far learning much just installing ESXi on a laptop and running some VMs on it.

 

[child of wonder]

Yes, yes you can.

My entire home "network" (firewall, router, VOIP server, storage, media) is hosted on an ESXi box in my closet, and managed from my desktop. The only real caveats are the more RAM the merrier. The free version of ESXi will use the vSphere desktop client to manage it rather than the web client (there is no web client for the free version - yet).

You'll be able to run the host off a 32gb USB flash drive if you so desire - ESXi allows you to install and run of a USB drive. I have the host plus all of my guests on a single 120gb SSD currently (all linux/BSD guests). The only drawback I find is that in order to install a guest you first need to copy the ISO directly to the host datastore - you can't install from a remote network share like you can with Hyper-V. It's a waste of space and time, but hey, whatever.

Enjoy.

You can go as small as a 2GB USB flash drive if you want, but bear in mind the host is running in RAM so if there's a problem and it goes down, you lose all the logs, no matter how big the USB drive is. Think of it as ROM and ESXi just gets loaded into RAM. But you can point ESXi at a syslog server and tell it to send crash dumps to a collector.

You don't need to put the ISO on the datastore, simply open a Console to the VM and select "connect to ISO on local disk" to mount one from your workstation.

OP, you can install VMware ESXi inside VMware Workstation very easily if you have the latest version. I'd highly recommend getting your laptop up to 16GB of memory and then you can go hog wild. You could even install two virtual ESXi hosts, the vCenter appliance to manage them and advanced VMware features, and a small virtual storage appliance for some virtualized shared storage for your virtual hosts to use. Performance will suck, but it works if you just want to learn.

Virtual inception.

If you want to put ESXi on physical hardware, any modern AMD motherboard will do. Just set the local disks to AHCI mode for them to be recognized. Your network adapter may not be seen out of the box so you either need to install a driver yourself or put a support NIC in the box, like an Intel or Broadcom adapter.

 

[SunnyD]

You can go as small as a 2GB USB flash drive if you want, but bear in mind the host is running in RAM so if there's a problem and it goes down, you lose all the logs, no matter how big the USB drive is. Think of it as ROM and ESXi just gets loaded into RAM. But you can point ESXi at a syslog server and tell it to send crash dumps to a collector.

You don't need to put the ISO on the datastore, simply open a Console to the VM and select "connect to ISO on local disk" to mount one from your workstation.

Hmm, I don't think I've ever seen the option to connect to a local disk. I'll have to check that out. Or maybe I did, but I got the impression that it still copied the ISO locally (temporarily) first or something stupid like that.

Also good point on the USB/log thing. :thumbsup:

I'm admittedly not an expert at all with ESXi - I use it as a consumer, not as an expert. I only figured out enough of it on how to get by for my own needs, so take any advice from me with a grain (or entire shaker full) of salt.

 

[child of wonder]

Hmm, I don't think I've ever seen the option to connect to a local disk. I'll have to check that out. Or maybe I did, but I got the impression that it still copied the ISO locally (temporarily) first or something stupid like that.

Also good point on the USB/log thing. :thumbsup:

I'm admittedly not an expert at all with ESXi - I use it as a consumer, not as an expert. I only figured out enough of it on how to get by for my own needs, so take any advice from me with a grain (or entire shaker full) of salt.

I work with VMware professionally as a consultant and deal with it all the time. If there was a virtualization subforum here I would hang out in there and answer questions people have.

 

[holden j caufield]

yes I run it on a laptop with 32gb of ram, passthrough the sata controller for a virtualized freenas server, utm is also vm. Makes no noise and pull almost no electricity. You can even run esxi nested inside of vmware workstation. I'd just max out the ram.

 

[Cruisin1]

Sign up for VMware hands on labs. You won't get very far learning much just installing ESXi on a laptop and running some VMs on it.

What this guy said. I'm pretty well versed in VMware (VCAP-CID) and I have done tons of deployments and cloud stuff (vCAC and vCloud). The hands on lab are absolutely great playground and learning jump start for simple to very advanced features.

 

[Scarpozzi]

VMware is OK, but without virtual center and all the extras, you can't test vmotion.

What's most important about VMware is understanding the network and San connections. The virtual hardware side is pretty straightforward thanks to the operating system profiles and generic hardware profiles.

 

[Red Squirrel]

For VMs I would really use some kind of raid. Build a SAN/NAS then use SSD on the hosts for the OS only. You could do a raid 0 with SSDs too on the NAS if you get a case that has 2.5" trays. Though a raid 10 with decent drives will give you plenty of performance for a home environment.

Look at the supermicro cases. I have one with 24 bays, it's pretty nice. I'm still saving up to build a VM server though. Debating on doing two lower end whitebox servers or one very powerful one. Two would be kind of nice as I can do live migrations and stuff.

Also make sure that whatever CPU you go with has VT.

 

[holden j caufield]

also get a cpu/mobo that supports vt-d or iommu so you can directly passthrough hardware to a vm.

 

[mvbighead]

If you're used to HyperV, I think you'll find VMWare to be a bit more straightforward.

As for RAID, if you were running production, that'd be a great idea. As you're testing, just load it onto whatever disk you feel like wiping. You can use the extra space to build VMs.

Vmotion won't be possible without two hosts and licensing (I suppose you can do it in eval mode). You likely won't have shared storage, but when you get the point you do, it is not much different than using local disks once they're configured.

You won't be able to configure things like HA/DRS, so you'll likely get your feet wet with those at your new job.

As for the rest, home labs typically need the following:

1) A supported NIC (Intel and Broadcom are easy, Realtek and others will require a customized installer with vib driver for your particular NIC)
2) AHCI disk support for single disk configurations, or a supported RAID controller (LSI are usually quick, easy, and cheap.)
3) memory
4) CPU

Memory is great to have lots of, but if you're testing VMs and not running production workloads, just build a few servers with 2GB each and monkey around.

I've used VMWare and HyperV, and each have strong points. However, as it pertains to networking, I prefer VMWare. You attach a NIC to switch and you have your connectivity. HyperV, time and again, has a host that appears to be a windows box that your NIC is shared to the hypervisor. I've configured an IP on the NIC, then associated to the switch port, and then lost my config. With VMWare, it's simply too easy.

 

[XavierMace]

As with the others have said, without vCenter you are going to be limiting how much you can learn as the HA/DRS features require vCenter, Shared Storage, and multiple hosts. You pretty much have to weigh your priorities and determine what you want out of it.

My setup I've got right now (3 hosts + SAN) is complete overkill for a lab and my power bill is obscene. But I've learned more from 2 months of messing with my lab than 2 years of working with it professionally. Quite simply you can break things just to see what happens. I've come up with situations that I've asked VMware certified instructors "what would happen if this happened" and they weren't sure.

If you are just looking to get your feet wet, yeah, you don't need much. If you are looking to get to the point were you could get a job doing it, you'll want more. If heat/noise/electricity are lesser concerns, I can help you build an enterprise level setup on the cheap.

 

[Insomniator]

I don't care about power, but seeing as how I live in a tiny apartment my space is limited to a couple of laptops.

For now just getting my feet wet... I dont even know if this will be useful for my current job but it can't hurt. I know a little about a lot of things in IT but I'd like to be able to present myself to a company as KNOWING something and this seems like something in demand.

 

[Red Squirrel]

If you don't have a server rack you wont need rackmount, so you could also look at Intel NUCs. They are very cheap and still decently capable boxes. You could get like 4 of them for the price of a single server. If this is strictly going to be a lab and not for some production stuff then you wont need that much ram either.