1Physical CPU w/ 2~4 independent VM's (1Monitor each)

[dkarakasa]

Good Day to All,

The Title may not be the right thing [can you suggest a better title?] but anyways,

I'm planning to build a cheap 'whitebox' ESXi 5 with the ff:

● an Intel H61 mobo [or any H61 mobo with realtek 8111e LAN]

● a lower end Sandy Proc [pentium or celeron]

● 2x 4Gb RAM

● 1x Video Card [either ati 5570 or nvidia gt430 or any dual display capable VC]

Question #1:

Can I use the above setup (host ESXi) and plug in 2monitors (connected to 1VC), 2keyboards, 2mice, 2usb soundcards and Run 2VM's that is independent of each other?

[i.e. 1vm that will exclusively use 1monitor, 1keyboard, 1mouse, 1usb soundcard]

if Question #1 is 'doable'

Question #2: Can I do it with 4monitors (2monitors connected to 1VC each), 2VC, 4keyboards, 4mice, 4usb soundcards and run 4VM's that is independent of each other? [note: proc will be upgraded to i5 and mobo will be upgraded also to support dual pci-e slots]

Question #3: do I need VT-d for Questions #1 and/or Question #2?

bytheway..., each VM Guest will be either Windows XP or Windows 7

My plan is to provide this kind of setup for a local school here in our place [for doing some basic office works, surfing and facebook/facebook gaming].

Recommendations and/or suggestions is highly appreciated.

thanks and best regards,

dkarakasa

[SCMHenry]

The short answer to your "Question 1" is NO.

VMware ESXi does not provide access to any of the VMs via local console devices.

[sparrowangelste]

agree with scmhenry

the only output the esxi host gives on a console is the ability to configure basic setup and troubleshooting options for the host itself.

any work on a vm needs to be done from a seperate machine connecting to this machine from ethernet via the vmware client software

[dkarakasa]

ok thanks, I really thought that it is possible...

I'll just use VMWare Player for this.

Thanks to all.