Installing nested vSphere 5.1 Essentials on 3 VMs

[BeautyfullDahli]

Hello.

I’d like to do the following:

1)      To install ESXi 5 on the server: 4CPU*8core each (AMD) + 32GB RAM. It’s done (ESXi 5.0 free)

2)      To set up iSCSI NAS on the separate box. It’s done too (FreeNAS, RAIDZ2 about 5TB, multipathing to the HV)

3)      To buy vSphere 5.1 Essentials

4)      To do like this:

Server ->

ESXi 5 32GB+4CPU*8cores  ->

                                                               VM1 32GB+2CPU*8cores each

                                                               VM2 32GB+2CPU*8cores each

                                                               VM3 32GB+2CPU*8cores each

5)    And to install vSphere 5.1 Essentials on these VMs.

The matter is: vSphere 5.1 Essentials has hardware restrictions - not more than 3servers*max2CPUs.

Questions:

1) Is it possible?

2) Should I update my ESXi 5.0 to ESXi 5.1 first?

3) How to split the CPUs for the VMs (must be (1,2) (3,4) (1,4) ?)

4) Is it better to use two VMs, not three?

5) Is it legal enough?

6) I must be need some masks for CPUs – where to dig?

Thanks.

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

from a technical and legal point of view this would probably be possible, but I don't see any sense in this. The physical system is still limited to 32GB RAM and so the VM's have to share this amount of memory. In addition to this, running nested VM's may be something you'd do in a lab/learning environment, but never for production use!

André

[BeautyfullDahli]

Thanks, André.

Why I'm doing this. It is the only way to buy some legal product for my server. Standard version is not very cheap, you know. The Essentials version is suitable for me, but those limitations... not more than 3servers up to 2 sockets.

For my 1server * 4sockets it will be about 10 times more expensive.

Why do you say "never for production" - is it a legal point of VMware?

Then, I think, if you buy some soft, it must be much more reliable... Isn't it

2 questions are answered so - it's possible and legal.

[a_p_]

It may certainly be legal to use the Essentials licenses on virtualized ESXi host, but you will have no support for this configuration and the performance of the nested VMs will be poor. (see Running Nested VMs for further details) IMO you'd get a better performance if you'd remove two of the CPUs from the physical system and run ESXi with the Essentials license natively, even with only the two remaining CPUs! Running ESXi natively with the Essentials license also has the advantage that you could add more that 32GB physical RAM if required.

André

[BeautyfullDahli]

I see...

But I'm strongly motivated to do that pervert stuff. Just for test and comparing a productivity at least

Thanks.

But I still need answers on questions 2,3,4,6.

2 - it's better to upgrade ESXi to v. 5.1, sure.

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

1) Is it possible?  -> Yes (see above comments)

2) Should I update my ESXi 5.0 to ESXi 5.1 first? --> That's up to you, I'd probably start with the latest version.

3) How to split the CPUs for the VMs (must be (1,2) (3,4) (1,4) ?) --> Don't do anything manually, VMware's scheduler works great!

4) Is it better to use two VMs, not three? --> That will probable no make a big difference in this case.

5) Is it legal enough? --> Yes I think so.

6) I must be need some masks for CPUs – where to dig? --> see link to Nested Virtualization.

André

[BeautyfullDahli]

Thanks a lot, André.

You are very helpful.

Bye.