VMware Communities
robmlsl
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

VMWare Pro 16 production use

I have a small office with 4 users, as two or three of them choose to work from home I am thinking of creating a VM environment so they can use a client to access their office VM.

The idea is to use Vmware to host the 2016 server as a VM, and then each user also as a VM, now all they need to access their machine is to open some remote software like Radmin or Teamviewer to directly access their OfficePC VM. There will be nothing graphical as just standard graphics for accounting software.

I am looking to use a HP Z440 with 10 cores and 64GB RAM, and 4xSAS in RAID10, this way I can have this VM server machine in my home office which has a leased line (300/300)

Question is , can VMWare Pro do this ?  Is it safe enough for a live working environment, and finally, Is Windows the best platform or should I look at Ubuntu as the host ?

Thanks for any help on this.

Labels (1)
  • i

Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
continuum
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

You can buy a second hand machine ready for ESXi for 200 - 300 bugs on Ebay. The license for ESXi is free.
If you use eagerzeroed thick vmdks exclusively on ESXi your VMs will be long term stable.
The really deciding question here is: do you need to run Win10 or Win11 VMs ?
If not - go for ESXi - if possible with 5.5 or 6.7u3 - both are no longer supported or will drop out of support soon.
But for a standalone ESXi free version there will be no matter which version you use.

Please tell us about the guestOS versions you must use - that is the deciding factor.

Ulli


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
11 Replies
continuum
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

I would highly recommend to use ESXi instead of Workstation no matter if it is running on Linux or Windows.
IMHO Ubuntu is a bad choice for a long term stable setup - it changes like the weather and and any Linux update might interrupt your production.
If you really must use Workstation pick Debian 10 or another slower moving distribution as the host. Stay away from Windows 10 or 11.

I used to recommend Workstation for production use years ago - but nowadays I would not use anything but ESXi.

 


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

Reply
0 Kudos
Quickdraw
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

I'd agree ESXi is the better way to go. If you are only going to deploy one host, you can get the license for free. You don't get vCenter with that but for one host it's very manageable. There is also an 8 core per vm limit, but it dosen't sound like that would be an issue for you. 

Reply
0 Kudos
robmlsl
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Hi, thank you for  your reply.

What are the limitation or problems of Vmware Pro caused you to ditch ?  

I can try the ESXi but this is a really simple office setup where users still run on 10 year old Dell PCs, but the lack of support is tricky, but at the same time buying the full ESXi is uncomical for us for now.

Reply
0 Kudos
continuum
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

You can buy a second hand machine ready for ESXi for 200 - 300 bugs on Ebay. The license for ESXi is free.
If you use eagerzeroed thick vmdks exclusively on ESXi your VMs will be long term stable.
The really deciding question here is: do you need to run Win10 or Win11 VMs ?
If not - go for ESXi - if possible with 5.5 or 6.7u3 - both are no longer supported or will drop out of support soon.
But for a standalone ESXi free version there will be no matter which version you use.

Please tell us about the guestOS versions you must use - that is the deciding factor.

Ulli


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

Reply
0 Kudos
robmlsl
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Hi, They will be Windows 10, but not Windows 11 until 2025.

The main reason for VMware Pro is because I have used this few years ago and I find it easy to navigate and simple on resources, whereby ESXi seem to be a shark to wrestle with than a salmon.

Reply
0 Kudos
continuum
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

If ESXi is a shark - it is swimming alone in its pool.
Workstation then is a piranha and you are swimming in the same pool.

The problem with Workstation nowadays is the updates of the host - the next update can result in a forced production pause.

If running WS 12 on a Win2008 R2 host would still be healthy I would have recommended that option.


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

Reply
0 Kudos
louyo
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

I (always) agree with Uli, but ESXi is a friendly shark:

We started using it back at version 4, some years ago. 

2 sites, both hosting ESXi. Both with static public IP's, hardware firewalls that support SSL VPN connections to the LANs, no teamviewer necessary.

First system is new Dell server, running 5 VM's. 3 Windows servers, 2 Windows workstations. 

 

Second site's system is Dell precision 5810 purchased on eBay for about $400. Presently running v7 U3, may not run the next version of ESXi.

Mirror VM's of first, for testing prior to production and backup. Plus, it hosts surveillance camera software and a Web server running on Debian. Multiple NIC's/IP's for security. 

Although you can run ESXi for free, you can't (or couldn't used to be) run utility software such as Veeam backup. We purchased ESXi when it was on sale, unlimited single processor systems. 

If WS runs on Windows, it is subject to restarting at the  whims of MS updates. I run it on a Debian based Linux system, fairly new Dell Precision 5820. Runs fine. 

For performance, lots of RAM and SSD's. Backups to disconnected and off-site storage. We use TrueNAS for local, remains disconnected after each backup.

Reply
0 Kudos
robmlsl
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Thanks so much for all you input, I installed the ESXi free on a HP Server, yes, it is a lot simpler than I imagined.

So far all went ok, managed to installed a few test Guest OS.

OK, I know this is a free version so I am not expecting a free lunch, but is the following possible ?

1. GPU passthrough, not to run things like Autodesk Revit or Adobe Cloud Suite, but enough power to run decent graphics software such as Sketchup and other simple art software that will look for a GPU with 1GB minimum.  I read it required a vGPU such as a P100 or Tesla P40 etc that are supported by ESXi, anything not on their list is a no no ? 
because when I am eventually learned all the basics and tested enough, I have plans to implement the paid version for other places.

2. Is it safe enough to access VMs using RDP without commercial SSL/Cert ?

3. What would be the best way to restore a backup image (ie. Acronis) into a VM, I plan to test a small office by restoring one Server 2016 image into VM, and then the two wks into another two VMs.

 

Learned so much already just by reading replies, thanks so much.

 

 

Reply
0 Kudos
louyo
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

I have not tried GPU pass through, I do use it for a NIC card with 2 NICs. When you do pass through, you can not take a snapshot of that VM, I have to power the VM down to use Veeam. We rarely have to do that, the system is only doing Blue Iris. Rarely changes. 

I think you would have to do port forwarding unless you can do SSL directly into the ESXi system. The rules for doing port forwarding are very simple. Never do port forwarding. Well, maybe if you PF to a router that has an openVPN server in it.

If you are not going to provide SSL access, probably Team Viewer or some such is best. Although I have tested same, I have never used it in production. We have hardware firewalls with SSL VPN servers and static public IP addresses. That is kind of old school. I guess it depends on how paranoid you are. I have cleaned up after 3 successful ransomeware attacks at clients. Well, 4 if you count a "honeypot". 

Backup/Restore: If you are running the free license, I think there are some backup  scripts floating around that work. Since we are "paid", we use Veeam. I see people enabling SSH and using secure FTP to copy files. You can always use the OS backup, stuff like Acronis or like. Run it just like on hardware. 

you would be better off taking your ESXi questions to the ESXi forum since this is WS. I do run WS with all the same security choices as the ESXi servers on my development system (Linux). Same hardware firewall.

Lou 

Reply
0 Kudos
robmlsl
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Thank you, I will move over to the ESXi forums.

Reply
0 Kudos
continuum
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Hi Rob
if you are interested in setting up your VMs for long term stable operation feel free to call me via skype next time you setup a new VM.
If you exclusively use eager zeroed thick VMs and do some extra cli commands right after creating a new VM your VMs will survive power failure and even complete VMFS-meltdowns. Drawback: it is a bit inconvenient and you cant save space through thin provisioning.

Ulli


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

Reply
0 Kudos