CONFIG FOR VMWARE ESXi 5.1 HOME LAB

[Mukz9]

Hi,

Is the below configuration good enough to set up the VMware ESXi 5.1 home lab?

CPU - Intel® Core™ i7-4770 Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz)

Mother board - Intel DQ87PG

Hard drive SAS - SEAGATE BARRACUDor

Hard drive - SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200.14   1 TB

Hard drive SSD - Samsung 840 Evo 120 GB

Memory (16 GB) - Kingston DDR3 1600 MHz 8 GB * 2

Monitor - SAMSUNG S19A003N

Cabinet - Cooler Master HAF 912 Combact

OS - Windows 7 64 bit Professional

I am planning to refer one of the below links to set up the LAB and I hope the above configuration supports this.

http://boerlowie.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/building-the-ultimate-vsphere-lab-part-1-the-story/

or

http://popravak.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/vmware-vsphere-5-1-lab-on-our-laptops/

Thank you

[hareshn]

yes its sufficient.

Install Vmware Workstation on the Windows 7 machine ..

you will required minimum 3 ESXI host  to play. and 2 Share storage ( use open filer - easy to use.. and configure)

[a_p_]

I have my lab running on a similar configuration with an I7-2600 CPU, and from what I see the only limiting factor is the memory. If you have an option to add more RAM, then do it.

André

[Mukz9]

Hi Andre, Haresh,

Thank you very much for confirming on the configuration.

Further, would you know the appropriate source/links for downloading the trial/free version of the software listed below?

VMware Work station 9

ESXi 5.1 ISO image file

vSphere client 5.1

vCentre server ISO

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bit)

Also, I guess the VMware Certified Professionals (VCP 5) get access to free version of Work Station 9? So, where can I find this free/trial version for VMware work station 9?

Thanks,

Mukz

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

You can find all VMwre downloads at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads. What you may want to look for are the "Download Trial" links for "VMware Workstation" and "VMware vSphere". Btw. is there a reason you are asking for older versions?

For Windows Server, see Download Windows Server 2008 R2 Evaluation (180 days) from Official Microsoft Download Center

André

PS: In the past VMware provided a free VMware Workstation license after completing the requirements to become a VCP-DCV (i.e. required training, plus passing the exam). I'm pretty sure they will continue doing this.

[Mukz9]

Thanks, Andre..The CPU and Mother board listed in the above configuration supports up to 32 GB of RAM, so if required I can later extend the RAM capacity to 32 GB. However, I hope 16 GB should be sufficient for the initial set up. Thanks, Muks

[a_p_]

>>> I hope 16 GB should be sufficient

Yes that will do for most scenarios. Only if you want/need to run additional VM's (e.g. for testing Operations Manager, VADP, VSAN, ...) you will need to watch memory usage.

André

[Mukz9]

Andre, Thank you very much for sharing the link.  As I am planning to set up the home lab based on the steps given in one of the links below, I thought of using the software version referred by these links so that trouble shooting any issues during the set up becomes relatively easier. However, I am open to suggestions and can go for a higher version of Work station and ESXi, if any of these offers any additional features that I can play around with in a home lab set up. Thanks, Muks

[Mukz9]

Oh ! I missed to copy the links that I was referring to in my post above. Here are the links. I am planning to set up the lab based on the steps referred by one the links below. http://boerlowie.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/building-the-ultimate-vsphere-lab-part-1-the-story/ or http://popravak.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/vmware-vsphere-5-1-lab-on-our-laptops/

[Mukz9]

Thank you once again for your kind confirmation on the memory requirement. Yes, I agree, with additional VM's to test more advanced features like VSAN, VADP etc, I will need more memory. Also, I guess VSAN is only available from ESXi 5.5 onwards, so for configuring VSAN, I will either need to upgrade ESXi 5.1 to 5.5 or configure one more nested VM with ESXi 5.5.

[a_p_]

The Ultimate vSphere lab is an excellent site to learn how to do things. The steps for vSphere 5.5 are similar, and since you are going to learn this, you should be able to master the differences There are lots of great blog posts availably and the documentation is also very good. And in case something is unclear, you are welcome to ask here in the forums. I'd definitely recommend you go for vSphere 5.5.

André

[Mukz9]

Thanks, Andre. I will consider ESXi 5.5. Also, I must say that I have always found this community/forum very helpful and it is all thanks to experts/gurus like you.. Thanks, Muks

[Mukz9]

Hi,

For setting up the VMware Lab, I would be downloading the trial/free version of the relevant softwares from the links below.

VMware work station - http://www.vmware.com/products/workstation/workstation-evaluation

ESXi 5.5 Hypervisor - https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi5&lp=default

vCentre Server - https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=vcops

Can someone please confirm if the above links are the right sources to download the relevant trial version? Also, can someone please help with the link for downloading the trial version/free version for vSphere client?

Thanks,

Muks

[a_p_]

The link for VMware Workstation it correct. For vSphere 5 (includes vCenter Server, ESXi, vSphere Clinet, ...) register for the free 60-day evaluation at http://www.vmware.com/go/evaluate-vsphere-en

André

[Mukz9]

Thank you very much, Andre. This is useful..