ESXi 5.0 - VMware vSphere Essentials Kit 192GB vRam

[kungpow]

http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/pricing.html

"VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Kit for 3 hosts (Max 2 processors per host) and 192 GB vRAM entitlement"

I'm planning to buy a new dell server. Can I allocate 192GB of memory for the single processor server if I'm planning to have just one esxi 5.0 server?

Thanks

[a_p_]

Yes, the vRAM entitlement is pooled by vCenter Server (which needs to be installed) and is based on the licenses you have (6 x 32GB).

André

[kungpow]

If vCenter is down, will esxi 5.0 host will be functional? Can I adjust VM settings when vCenter is down?  I have never used vCenter before. Is there a trial version that I can download to test out?

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=200379...

The recommended memory for vCenter is 4GB. If I install it as a virtual machine and give the VM 4GB of memory, will this 4GB be part of the vRam (192GB – 4GB)? If it is part of the vRam, then is it better to install vCenter on a physical box?

Thanks

[a_p_]

Interesting questions? If vCenter Server is down you will be able to manage the VMs by connecting the vSphere Client directly to the ESXi host. Afaik the VM's which are currently running will remain running. However, what I can't tell you at the moment is whether you will be able to power on additional VMs with the Essentials Editions if the vRAM usage for the host already exceeds the CPU based vRAM limit for the host!? If so it would be interesting to know how to power on the vCenter Server VM again!?

If it is part of the vRam, then is it better to install vCenter on a physical box?

Yes, the vCenter Server's memory usage will count against the vRAM entitlement like every other VM. However, it's still less expensive to allocate 4GB RAM than using an additions host.

Regarding testing the functions, you can download a 60-day evaluation version of vSphere, which includes vCenter Server from https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/

André

[kungpow]

André Pett wrote:

However, what I can't tell you at the moment is whether you will be able to power on additional VMs with the Essentials Editions if the vRAM usage for the host already exceeds the CPU based vRAM limit for the host!? If so it would be interesting to know how to power on the vCenter Server VM again!?

What do you mean by if vRAM usage for the host already exceeds the CPU based vRAM limit? What is CPU based vRAM limit?

If my vCenter VM is gone for good, will I be able to setup a new vCenter VM without re-configuring my esxi 5.0 hosts again?

[a_p_]

What do you mean by if vRAM usage for the host already exceeds the CPU based vRAM limit? What is CPU based vRAM limit?

The Essentials Kits include 6 CPU licenses and each CPU license includes a 32GB vRAM entitlement. So if you assign a single license to a host this would result in a 32 GB vRAM entitlement without vCenter Server pooling the vRAM. However - as I mentioned before - I'm not sure what would happen in case vCenter Server goes down.

If my vCenter VM is gone for good, will I be able to setup a new vCenter VM without re-configuring my esxi 5.0 hosts again?

You can always setup a new vCenter Server without issues for the ESXi hosts. You will just lose any vCenter Server related settings. like cluster configuration, permissions, historical performance data, ...

André