esxi 5.1 nested configuration.

[ypaul123]

Hello guys,

I'm planning on buying the following server for self home lab : HP 380 G6 with 72 gb of ram x2 X5570 and a P410i 512MB controller.

1) Will I be able to run multiple nested virtual ESXi's within a Physical ESXI ?

2) According to articles that I have read, the CPUs support VT-x and EPT so as far as hardware goes, the server should support 64bit guests so What will the performance of the 64bit virtual machines be if they'll be windows 2008/2012 ones with SCCM. exchange 2010, 2007, 2013 , sql 2008/2012 ?

note: the load levels will not be really high since these will be lab machines

3) will the nested esxi's be able to provide all the ESXI services such as vmotion/storage vmotion, HA, DRS and SRM ?

3) How many nested windows 2008/2012 R2 hyper-v will the physical ESXi will be able to run ? will they also be able to run 64bit VM's ? will all the hyper-v functionality and services be able to make use of ?

Thanks a lot for your help guys,

Yossi.

[a_p_]

Discussion moved from VMware ESXi 5 to Nested Virtualization

[ypaul123]

Hey,

can someone please assist me ?

[TomHowarth]

You should be able to run Nested ESXi on this host, but as regards to performance that will very much depend upon what you are attempting to do.

[ypaul123]

Thanks for replying.

I'm just trying to create a Lab environment with 3 vESXi's so I could play around with them and VC and complete all of the objectives of the VCP and VCAP exams (my courses is 2 months from now) the VM's will be 64bit windows R2 with exchange 2007-2013, SQL 2008-2012, SCCM and such and as i said the pESXi will be the following server : HP 380 G6 with 72 gb of ram x2 X5570 and a P410i 512MB controller.

[TomHowarth]

if you keep your expectation low you will be fine.  remember this environment is to test things out, it is not meant to be blisteringly fast.

and good luck on your VCP exam

[ypaul123]

This isn't a production environment, but If i spend so much money (in my eyes) on this server, I don't want the whole lab to be sluggish either.

Also, Will I be able to test and fiddle with all of vSphere's features ?

[TomHowarth]

you should be able to do so yes, obvious exceptions will be HBA's for FC SAN connectivity, unless you have a 2nd hand Clariion in your Garage