Test Lab to prep for VCP5-DV

[2Tall2]

Hi to all. I completed course 'VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage' back in May and would like to prepare for the exam by creating a test lab. We didn't actually get around to installing ESXi from scratch and I understand the free version offers limited functionality.

I have 3 HP DL380 G5 servers with localy attached storage I could use in any test lab. I can probaly get a loan of a layer 3 switch.

I am looking for advice to get it all up and running, install ESXi, create cluster, configure networking (VLAN's), HA, test vMotion etc.

Where to start?

Kind Regards,

Phil.

[chriswahl]

Sounds like you already have the hard part done - acquiring hardware for the lab. I'd snag some evaluation copies of vSphere so that you can play with all of the features offered for 60 days and build a full environment in an isolated domain.

[JoshuaAndrewsVM · Accepted solution]

VMware.com for eval licenses and binaries for ESXi and vCenter

If you have access to Windows 2008 R2 install you can use it for AD/DNS/NTP/NFS and iSCSI for 30 days and get access to shared storage

Then use the ICM lab book to build a similar environment to play with and run through the labs.  Check online for blog posts that go through the VCP5 blueprint and test all the components. 

A $25 BestBuy switch is all you really need - to test VLAN/PVLAN just make sure the VMs are on the same host.

[aravinds3107]

You can download the evulation copy of the vSphere components and start building a test lab. Take a look at Building the ultimate vSphere lab

VMware has also released some online videos related to vSphere 5.0 which you can use as refernce when building a lab

[2Tall2]

Thanks for all your responses, all good advice. I have never worked with iSCSI. Our solution provided by a third party is fiber. I have hardware + 2008 R2. I will need to reserach iSCSI.

Thnaks to all.

Phil.

[2Tall2]

Hello again. As its only a test lab I planned to configure as follows:

1) Install ESXI on disk 1 of host A

2) Install ESXI on disk 1 of host B

3) Install vCenter Server on 2008 R2 on disk 2 of Host A

This would leave me with 4 * 146GB sas drives in host A & 5 * 146GB drives in Host B. I do not however have iscsi hba's in either server.

Just to note all answers were correct and helpful so thanks. I have watched a couple of demo videos. Link Building the ultimate vSphere lab did not appear to work however.

Thanks,

Phil.

[aravinds3107]

Check this link

http://boerlowie.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/building-the-ultimate-vsphere-lab-part-1-the-story/

[2Tall2]

Thanks.

I have one further question regards the vCenter Server Appliance. Starting from a blank canvas if I have a host with 4 drives and install ESXi on drive 1, how do I add the vCenter virtual appliance?

I only have experiance of installing vCenter Server on Windows 2008 R2 on a physical box.

Thanks,

Phil.

[JoshuaAndrewsVM]

I have not tried with Workstation 9, but with Workstation 8 I installed the appliance to a nested ESXi server and then copied it out - I could not get the OVF/EULA agreement to complete directly under WS8.  I beleive 9 has fixed that tho i still doesn't handle OVA/OVF the same way (try the vCD appliance)

[2Tall2]

Quick response, thanks once again to all that have taken time to respond.

Phil.

[Boloo]

Hi:

For my lab I´m using Starwind software, that emulates an ISCSI drive. I have a SAAS raid of 150 Gb and it´s shared as a ISCSI drive, and atached to all my ESXi So I can do everything that I want to try.

Regards,

[2Tall2]

Starwind, thanks for the tip.

Phil.