Hello,
today I have finished to build my vSphere Home Lab.
I have started my adventure with ESXi and vSphere last summer almost for play but now I have finally found the time and in a particular way the money to build my vSphere Home Lab.
Still isn't what I really want however, I'm quite happy with my config.
This is my Hardware:
PC1
Asus P6T Deluxe V2
Intel Core i7 920
24GB DDR-3 RAM
ESXi installed on an USB Stick
3x1TB SataII HD
PC2
Asus P8P67-M
Intel Core i5 2500
16GB DDR-3 RAM
ESXi installed on USB Stick
PC3
Asus P7H55-M
Intel Core i3 540
8GB DDR-3
Windows Server 2008 R2
vSphere Client
I have installed FreeNAS on the PC1 and created a Stripe RAID0 array with the 3 1TB HD that I have on the PC1 and then added the NFS Share to ESXi.
Now I'm planning to install vSphere Server as VM on the PC1 and 2 Windows Server 2008 R2 VM for AD and DNS and then I'll play with vMotion etc...
Now what I need is a switch because actually I'm using my DD-WRT Gigabit Rourter but I know that is not the right solution.
However, what do you think of my Home lab?
I know, isn't perfect, is there something that I should do or should correct or avoid?
Thank You So Much!!!
Marco G.
Could be good.
I suggest to buy a swith with VLAN and PVLAN support in order to test also some DVS feature (if you need the lab to prepare for VCAP-DCA or also for the "simple" VCP exam).
Also test both the iSCSI and the NFS solution because they work in different way.
Andre
Not bat at al l
As Andre mentioned a physical switch with VLAN support and Jumbo Frames would be a bonus.
Good luck.
Rgds,
J.
My Company http://www.jmgvirtualconsulting.com
My Blog http://www.josemariagonzalez.es
My Virtualization Web TV Show http://www.virtualizacion.tv
Thanks for your answers, I really appreciate.
Today I decided to buy another PC for NAS so I can have a PC dedicated only to shared storage.
So now I have no HD in my 2 vSphere Whiteboxes, this is the hardware for my NAS:
MB: Asrock H61M-GS
CPU: Pentium G620 (1155) Dual Core
RAM: 4GB DDR-3 Dual Channel
4HD (3x1Tb) and 1x640GB
FreeNAS
I have created a striped RAID0 array with the 3 1TB HD and 1 iSCSI target with the 640GB HD.
I'll use the iSCSI target to store my VM ISOs and the NFS Share for VM Files.
I forgot: I have decided to install vSphere Server on physical hardware on PC3, do you think that this is a good decision?
As long as it boots up and works it would be a good decision
JFYI, Check this out to make sure that whatever you are buying it would work http://ultimatewhitebox.com/systems
Rgds,
J.
My Company http://www.jmgvirtualconsulting.com
My Blog http://www.josemariagonzalez.es
My Virtualization Web TV Show http://www.virtualizacion.tv
Most embedded NICs do not work for ESXi. The vast majority are Realtek and are not supported. Without a supported NIC ESXi will not install. You can use one of the Intel Desktop adapters from the http://vm-help.com whitebox HCL or the VMware HCL http://vmware.com/go/hcl
With a small environment like this I would consider installing the vCenter Server Virtual Appliance and use the free DB2 database. This way you can use vCenter as a VM and not have to provide a Windows license.
http://vmwire.com/2011/07/15/vsphere-vcenter-server-linux-virtual-appliance-quick-start-guide/
Also some realtek chipset networking cards will be usable in ESXi 5.0. So it might be worth waiting for this release in a few weeks. I know the Vendors have a copy already so it won't be long before you can download it from VMware.
Regards,
Paul