ESXi 5 Question (Newbie)

[sojourner353]

Hi all,

I have only just started playing with VMware products and I have tried a few products so far but cannot figure something out and need some help please.

I have a Server that is currently running Windows Server 2012 GUI and I have a CCTV security system that only supports up to Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 but I need Windows Server 2012 GUI so the plan was to setup a Virtual Machine with Windows Server 2008 R2 on it and passthrough the PCIe CCTV Card to the Virtual Machine.

Now because I have Windows Server 2012 GUI already running on the Server I installed vSphere Server on it then installed the Client to access it which all works great now once logged into the Server for the first time it asked for a Datacentre to be built which I done then it asked for a Host and this is where I'm stuck, it's asking for a ESXi Host which I don't have, the plan was to install vSphere Server and just use it to make a Virtual Machine without a Datacentre or Host and I was hoping I could use Windows Server 2012 GUI as the Host.

I proceeded to install ESXi from Boot on the Server on a different Hard Drive and from what I can see is ESXi is all the Server can display on its Monitor so no Guest can actually be seen once ESXi is installed? I don't know if that correct or not but here is the result I need, obviously I am going to need ESXi as the Host but I want to be able to use the SERVER ESXi is on for other operations, so once ESXi is installed can I install Windows Server GUI as a guest and use it on the ESXi's Servers screen also or is ESXi strictly remote access only.

I hope you can understand what I need to do and sorry if its a bit confusing, will continue reading the Forum and KB for more info, thanks for the help.

Regards

[cdepetro]

If I followed your message correctly, you are dual booting Windows 2012 and ESXi – basically. Although you have learned how to install ESXi, and vCenter, I don’t think these VMware products will accomplish what you want.

If you want to run a Windows 7 / Windows 2008 on top of Windows 2012, you will need VMware Workstation. This product will install on Windows and allow you to create virtual machines using Windows resources; CPU, memory, disk. Unfortunately, I am not sure whether or not it will passthru your CCTV card. But that can be tested and worked out after you get a VM created.

vSphere vCenter / ESXi are for SMB – Enterprise deployments, where ESXi is a bare-metal hypervisor installed directly on a server, then managed by vCenter server which is installed on Windows 2008 and up.

Hope this helps.

Chris DePetro

VCP, OCP, MCSE

Unix/Database Administrator

MedCentral Health System

cdepetro@medcentral.org<mailto:cdepetro@medcentral.org>

419-520-2849 (office)

419-543-0694 (cell)

[weinstein5]

As chris suggested you will need VMware Workstation or VMware Player - as these are hosted virtualization platforms running on top of operating system - ESXi is a bare metal hypervisor and is installed directly on the hardware - I believe what you are calling vSphere Server is VMware vCenter Server - which is management tool to help you manges an environment of multiple ESXi hosts -

[sojourner353]

Thanks for the replies and your answers have helped, I just tried Workstation in Server 2012 and it works well but no PCI Passthrough, also tried Hyper-V in Server and none also, kind of stuck then, might go back to 2008 R2 for the time being, thanks again.

[weinstein5]

Should have read your original post closer - yes specialized cards for the most part do not pass through to the VM-