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jgovernale
Contributor
Contributor

Wanting to build a Vmware home lab

I'm considering building a home Vmware lab, and i have a server in which to use:
Dell Server

6- 900GB SAS Drives (5.4TB)

192GB of memory

Unsure of the processor right now.

I'm wondering what the best/easiest way to build the lab, should i load ESXi on the server and go from there, or should i load a window's OS in it, and then build a nested lab with workstation?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

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ChrisFD2
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Make sure the server is on the HCL for whatever version of vCenter you want to install on it.

Personally I would install 6.7 U3 and then deploy several nested hosts which you can download from https://www.virtuallyghetto.com/nested-virtualization/nested-esxi-virtual-appliance

Regards,
Chris
VCIX-DCV 2023 | VCIX-NV 2023 | vExpert *** | CCNA R&S
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sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

"I'm wondering what the best/easiest way to build the lab, should i load ESXi on the server and go from there, or should i load a window's OS in it, and then build a nested lab with workstation?

I do this, and I haven't seen a reason to do it another way. It depends on what your trying i do most things a workstation vms, like nsx manager, and then just do test vms in the nested esxi components. I think this give you better flexibility if your not too interested in the actual hardware.

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sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

I mean I do the workstation route.

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jgovernale
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you for taking the time to reply, are you saying load ESXi on the server, and build from there? Rather than load a windows server OS on the box, and then build a nested lab?
I know the server is on the HCL as it was previously an ESXi server.

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jgovernale
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you for taking the time to reply, but i am a bit confused as to your answer.  My goal is to utilize the server to build a test/learning lab for at home.  Id like something where i can play around with vmware, continue my learning but also have a lab where i can test learn other things, for example if i wanted to dive deeper into Exchange, I can build an exchange server.

So ESXi on the server, and build out from there?

Or

Windows Server OS on the server, and then build a nested lab on the server?  I feel i have plenty of resources to do either, just wondering which would be the best and most practical.

Thank you

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sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

Its depends on your needs, but I like working out of VMware workstation on a windows os(may change to Linux). I have a 2 node cluster installed pfsense for a router and freenas for storage. That way I can shut these down and then use the machine for other things as well.

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jgovernale
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you, i like that option

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NathanosBlightc
Commander
Commander

Install ESXi in the physical server in evaluation mode. Then build your required lab inside the VMs. For example install 2 VMs for the ESXi hosts to create a cluster (if you need to do) and also setup your vCenter upon the physical ESXi host. However choosing the VMware ESXi or VMware Workstation highly depends on your performance and load requirements

Please mark my comment as the Correct Answer if this solution resolved your problem
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