VMWare Workstation Lab for VCP, online options

[arptro]

Hi,

Has anyone setup a ESX or ESXi VCP study lab in VMWare Workstation? I want to setup a couple of ESX?ESXi hosts to practice vmotion, DRS, etc. but I have received contradictory information from vmware as to whether this is possible. I don't expect it to be supported.

I'd appreciate any how-to's. If it isn't possible I'd like any recommendations for affordable online labs.

Thank you,

Robert

[vmroyale]

Hello.

Its actually a very simple process in Workstation 8. You just need to understand that it will be slower and you will need a lot of RAM in the host to pull it off. It works great and is a very cost-effective lab.

Good Luck!

[a_p_]

A lot of people do this (including me). There are a couple of good guides on how this can be done. One of them is Building the Ultimate vSphere Lab

André

[AndreTheGiant]

IMHO I prefer have a good physical host (a certified server or a whitbox) with ESXi and a lot of RAM (at least 16GB)

And work with virtual instance of other ESXi.

Workstation could also be good, but you really need several RAM to make a complete lab (at least 2 GB for each ESXi, at least 3-4 GB for vCenter, ...)

[maccajuk · Accepted solution]

Hi....

I followed what Sean Duffy suggested here:

http://www.simple-talk.com/sysadmin/virtualization/vmware-lab-setup---a-virtualized-lab-for-testing-...

Worked a treat.

I currently run the following under Workstation 8.

• 2 * Windows 2008 servers (AD & VC Server)
  
• A NAS Appliance
  
• 2 * ESXi hosts
  

I then nest my VMs under the ESXi hosts and can test all the functionality I need.

My PC spec is:

CPU - I7 2600K

RAM - 16GB

Storage - 120GB SSD for the VMDKs. I was running these on my NetGear readyNAS but found the performance was a bit painful, especially when powering on or (un)suspending VMs.

My only annoyance is that my trial license of VMWare Workstation expired and currently waiting for my license after passing my VCP. (although that's another story/thread)

For my Windows servers I have a technet subscription.

For ESXi, I will have to re-install, but that's no biggie.

I would like to see VMTN subscriptions available, but again that's another thread.

[rajeshkongu]

Hi,

i am also using the same vmware workstation lab for my studies.

my pc spec is

2 pcs

intel i7

8 gb ram

120 gb ssd --(openfiler )

but perfomance is little bit slow.

regards

karthick V

[arptro]

The Building the Ultimate VSphere Lab post has been great so far. The others may be useful soon, too.

Thanks for all the replies. It really helped.

[kevinjohn72]

I am trying to install esxi 5 onto vmware workstation 8 on a hp pavilion g6 laptop. However im am getting a strange error during the installation phase. Precisely right after i hit f11 to accept the EULA agreement.

My physical macine has 4gb ram and its using a i5 processor.

I hve followed the documentation accordingly just like this link - > http://boerlowie.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/building-the-ultimate-vsphere-lab-part-3-vmware-workstatio...

Could not get further than this.

Any suggestions would greatly help.

cheers

Pls see attachment.

[maccajuk]

This question would be better served in it's own discussion.

However, have you checked your disk config for the ESXi VM in VMWare Wokstation? What is the disk mode set to?

[kevinjohn72]

In VM settings under Hardware tab- Harddisk - the following settings are defined.

     - current size 6.3MB

     - System free: 349.3GB

     -\Maximum size : 40GB

     -disk information

          -     Disk space is not proallocated for this hard disk

          -     Hard disk contents are stored in multiple files.

     In Advanced option

          -virtual device node = SCSI 0:0 Hard disk (SCSI)

          - Mode - independent

                         - Non-persistent

Note: I've tried to switch to persistent and still got the error.

[kevinjohn72]

I've noted something in the logs.

Logs reporting - "Virtuaized intel vt-x/ept is disabled for thie esc vm.

You will only be able to run 32-bit nested VMs."

I've turned on INTEL VT on the bios level of the physical machine.

Also in VM settings - Processor - Virtualization Engine - Preferred set to automatic.

[AnthonyChow]

Interesting.  I thought with Workstation 8, we are able to nest 64-bit VMs?

I myself is planning to build a home lab with Workstation 8.  I will follow this thread closely.

This article is helpful to me:

http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2011/07/how-to-enable-support-for-nested-64bit.html

Creating vESXi 5.0 Instance using Hardware Version 4/7:
1. To create a virtual ESXi 5.0 instance, start off by just creating a standard RHEL5/6 64bit VM using the vSphere Client

2. Now you will need to add the following advanced .vmx parameter:  monitor.virtual_exec = "hardware" which can be done through the vSphere Client and/or editing the .vmx parameter manually.

3. Next you will need to add some cpuid bits, depending if you  are running an Intel or AMD CPU, the respective entries are required:

Intel Hosts:

cpuid.1.ecx = "----:----:----:----:----:----:--h-:----"

AMD Hosts:

cpuid.80000001.ecx.amd = "----:----:----:----:----:----:----:-h--"
cpuid.8000000a.eax.amd = "hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh"
cpuid.8000000a.ebx.amd = "hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh"
cpuid.8000000a.edx.amd = "hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh"

4. You are now ready to install ESXi 5.0 in this new vESXi host and then   you can create and power on nested 64bit guestOS within that vESXi   instance

By using a VM that is hardware version 8, you can easily automate the  creation of vESXi 5.0 instance by changing the guestOS string in the  .vmx parameter to "

vmkernel" and the above configurations other than "vhv" string needed for either an Intel or AMD system are automatically configured.

[mtabor]

André Pett wrote:

A lot of people do this (including me). There are a couple of good guides on how this can be done. One of them is Building the Ultimate vSphere Lab

André

I was going to recommend this same gude. I just built a new home computer using an i7 3770 ivy bridge CPU and 32GB DDR3 RAM and it works perfectly!