ESX 4 installation on workstation 6.5

[naveenvm]

Hi,

I am planning to buy a laptop and I need to install workstation 6.5 on it. I want to run ESX 3.5 and ESX 4 on two separate VMs of this workstation. Now, I read on the whitepapers that ESX 3.5 is 32 bit and requires 32 bit processor whereas ESX 4 is 64 bit and requires 64 bit processor.

I am not sure if I go on purchasing 64 bit processor, will 32 bit ESX 3.5 still manages to run on it or not.

Basically, I need a list of all hardware requirements that needs to be fullfilled to be able to give to the vendor. Please help me on this, covering areas i.e VT support, processor being 32 / 64 bit, min CPU MHz, memory, hard disk (SATA / ATA / SCSI).

Regards

[vmroyale]

Hello.

There was a decent discussion about this recently that is worth checking out.

64-bit processing with a 64-bit OS is the way to go. ESX 4 requires 2 GB of memory itself, and if you ever want to run two of them simultaneously on the laptop then a 32-bit OS is going to come up short. I would recommend 8 GB of memory as a minimum and get the fastest drive(s) available for the system you choose.

Good Luck!

[srinivasvivek]

Based on my experience,

You need to have atleast 4GB of memory considering your requirements. Almost all new processors now has 64 bit support. Intel Core 2 Duo will do. Use this link to find out if they are VT enabled http://ark.intel.com/

If you are going for a Mac, any aluminium macbook / pro will do the job if it has 4GB of memory

[naveenvm]

Thanks for both of u !

I am not into hardware anytime, what I really want to know is. I f I go for 64-bit processors (say core 2 duo), will it also support 32 bit applications and OS i.e ESX 3.5 and other 32 bit softwares in my windows OS.

Does this works like this - that these processors support both 32 / 64 bit applications and Operating systems running on them.

Also can you please describe VT support, is it different for 32/ 64 bit i.e 32bit VT support and 64 bit VT support.

A 64 bit VT supported processor will automatically support 32 bit O.S running on VM inside it.

Regards

[srinivasvivek]

In short..a 64bit processor will suffice your needs. Much more shorter answer.. Get a Macbook pro if possible

[vmroyale · Accepted solution]

If I go for 64-bit processors (say core 2 duo), will it also support 32 bit applications and OS i.e ESX 3.5 and other 32 bit softwares in my windows OS.

Yes. Check out these kb articles for more information.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003944

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1912

[DSeaman]

Note, you can NOT run 64-bit VMs inside of ESX when hosted inside Workstation. You are strictly limited to 32-bit guest VMs. That means you can't run server 2008 R2, since it's 64-bit only.

[woisch]

is there no chance to run a 64bit system within a virtual ESX4 server ?

[DSeaman]

Nope..no virtualization product virtualizes the AMD/Intel CPU extensions that would allow that.

[woisch]

damn, that`s a real pity..... want to test the nexus 1000v in virtual vSphere infrastructure on workstation 6.5..... ugh, i tried the whole day to get the nexus 1000v running.... ;(

[DSeaman]

Yes I was bummed too that I couldn't test server 2008 R2 inside a nested VM. So I'm going to do a dual-boot on my machine.