Completely New to Virtualization. Will take all the help I can get.

[NosliwKram]

I am basically completely new to virtualization.  I have VMWare Workstation installed on my computer and have created a couple VMs for staging areas, but that is about it.  I am now being asked to create a fresh new virtualized environment for a relative, and would love to be pointed in the right direction.  The general setup will be the following:

2 hosts/servers

1 SAN for additional storage

Need to create a handful of VMs or so.  Not very many.  Definitely less than 10.

I need to setup all sorts of failover stuff and what not which can be dealt with later after I get started.

Some initial questions are:

1. Can I install ESXi on the two hosts without installing vCenter Server anywhere beforehand.

2. Can I create the VMs simply through ESXi after it is installed

3. Can vCenter Server be installed on one of the VMs that I create (seems like a chicken and the egg situation to me but maybe I am wrong)

4. Just a general idea since I am not to that point yet, but is it difficult for a beginner to setup failover, load balancing, extra storage with a SAN, iSCSI stuff, etc.?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark

[admin]

Hello Mark,

Hope this clarifies the questions.

1. Can I install ESXi on the two hosts without installing vCenter Server anywhere beforehand.

A : Yes you can Install ESXi on Hosts - ESXi is bare metal Hypervisor.

2. Can I create the VMs simply through ESXi after it is installed

yes you can create a VM on any of the two Hosts and even Install a Vcenter Server on that.

3. Can vCenter Server be installed on one of the VMs that I create (seems like a chicken and the egg situation to me but maybe I am wrong)

A : . Guess I already answered this on the 2 question. once again yes it can be installed. and that is how I have my vcenter server

4. Just a general idea since I am not to that point yet, but is it difficult for a beginner to setup failover, load balancing, extra storage with a SAN, iSCSI stuff, etc.?

A : iSCSI and SAN are not as complex as you think. it pretty basic. let us know if you require any specific help once your trying to set up.

Thanks,
Avinash

[weinstein5]

Welcome to the Community -

1) Yes you can install ESxi without installing vCenter - you will just have to manage each host independently

2) Yes

3) Yes vCenter is fully supported running in a VM

4) Uf you are familiar with IT infrastructure technology you should be able to set it up - VMware's documentation is quite good and their are number of how to videos on the web including one from VMware - http://vmwarelearning.com/esxi/

[san123san]

1. Can I install ESXi on the two hosts without installing vCenter Server anywhere beforehand.

Yes

2. Can I create the VMs simply through ESXi after it is installed

Yes

3. Can vCenter Server be installed on one of the VMs that I create (seems like a chicken and the egg situation to me but maybe I am wrong)

Funny Chicken and Egg.. Yes you can.

4. Just a general idea since I am not to that point yet, but is it difficult for a beginner to setup failover, load balancing, extra storage with a SAN, iSCSI stuff, etc.?

Go thorough VMware Doc. It is best to start ..

[wwan]

As for 3). You can try deploy vcsa to workstation or one of the hosts. It is simpler to deploy than the windows version vcenter.

[NosliwKram]

In regards to questions 2 and 3, I think I might still be just a little confused.  Most of VMWare's help says to install vCenter Server, and then manage all VMs that way.  I obviously don't want to do that because I want to create a VM first, and then install vCenter Server on that.  So you have all said that I can create VMs simply through ESXi, but am I really creating VMs through the vSphere Web Client or some other client?  The management console of ESXi is very limited at first glance, unless I am missing something.

Thanks for all your help.

[admin]

Hello,

You need to use the vsphere client to create a VM.

Install the ESXi on host -- Then install the vsphere client not the web client -- log -in to host using the vsphere client and then you should be able to create a VM.

You can install the client from the CD /ISO you use to install the vcenter server

Please find the screenshot of the client below.

Thanks,

Avinash

[wwan]

Avinash is right. The only way to create your first VM is connecting to a host via vsphere client. Web client is only available with vcenter. Most of the features are provided by vcenter, which is why when you can only see limited options when connecting to host. As soon as you have your vcenter, you can connect to vcenter via vpshere client or web client to create more VMs and use advanced features.

[NosliwKram]

OK, so now I have a new problem.  I am currently building this system locally, so all IP addresses right now 192.168.x.x type IP addresses.  Eventually, when this goes onsite, those IP addresses will change.  In order to simulate this, I changed the IP address of the VM that has vCenter Server installed on it.  Now, nothing is working correctly.  The Single Sign-On is still using the old IP address, which no longer exists.  I tried following the directions in this article http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=203362..., but I keep getting different errors at each step, usually taking the form of "Can't connect to..." because it is presumably using the old IP address.  Is the link above the right thing that I should be doing, or is there something else that I should try?

Thanks,

Mark

[admin]

you are following the right KB, But that is useful only when your re-installing any of the components like the VC. But you are correct the Old IP is what is causing the problem.

Have you tried this Kb : http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100149...

Thanks,
Avinash

[NosliwKram]

Thanks everybody for all of your help.  I think I have just about everything setup correctly.  I am still messing around with some things, but so far so good.  One more quick question, though.  Is there an easy way to simulate something that will cause vSphere High Availability to failover a VM from one host to the other.  Should unplugging one of the NICs cause a failover, or do I need to do something more seriously?  Thanks

[wwan]

You may try shutting down one of the hosts (push&hold the power bottom or via iLO or drac) and see if VMs get restarted on another host. I am not sure whether shutting down in esxi console will trigger HA restart VMs. You need to check all your HA settings before you simulate a host failure as there might be admission control that would prevent VM from restarting.