Help on Creating VMWare ESX 3 Infrastructure for Learning

[Dipak]

I want to learn VMWare and for that i am going to build the system and create a VMWare ESX Infrastructure on top of that. I have the following things

1. The Workstation (meets the ESX server HW requirement)

a. Dualcore Opteron 2.4 GHz CPU

b. 4x1 GBs of RAM

c. 2 SATA HDDs (160 GB) connected to a SAS controller with RAID 0

d. 1 IDE internal HDD 320 GB

e. 2 Broadcom NICs

2. A 5 port gigabit switch

3. A Laptop with Vista Ultimate

So can somebody help me designing what component to be installed on what system.

What I can think of is ESX on the Worksation with core files on the IDE HDD and keep SATA/SAS HDD for VMFS partition.

Virtual Center on my laptop, anything else you guys can help me with.

Dipak

[esiebert7625]

You can also run ESX on Workstation 6, you can install ESX on IDE drives but you will need to use SATA drives for VMFS. Here's some helpful links...

Hardware recommendations to build a cheap ESX server - http://www.vmweekly.com/articles/hardware_recommendations_to_build_cheap_esx_server/1/

White box/Home ESX system - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=620124&#620124

ESX on non-supported hardware to learn with - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=77560

Community supported hardware/software for Vmware Infrastructure - http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/resources/communitysupport/

Unofficial list of SATA controllers that will work with ESX - http://vmprofessional.com/index.php?content=sata_faq

Running Vmware ESX on SATA disks - http://www.virtualization.info/2006/02/tech-running-vmware-esx-server-on-sata.html

Install ESX on SATA - http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=554936&#554936

Running ESX as a Workstation guest - http://vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=67254&start=0&tstart=1

Fyi…if you find this post helpful, please award points using the Helpful/Correct buttons…thanks

[Dave_Mishchenko]

If you want to be able to learn about some of the more advanced features in ESX like vmotion / HA / DRS then I would suggest getting 2 older servers (I have an IBM x335/x336 that I got off of ebay) and then adding a 3rd server that would provide iSCSI disk storage to your ESX hosts.

You could then also run VirtualCenter within a VM and just need the VI client on your laptop.

[Dipak]

thanks esiebert & Dave,

Dave, i have a question, can you test DRS with two servers? you don't need a shared storage for both the ESX boxes ?

[Dave_Mishchenko]

DRS uses vmotion so you would need 2 servers, similar processors and shared storage. See page 21 and following here: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_drs_wp.pdf