I just moved to a new house and i`m starting to plan how i gonna build my VMware home-lab, i have few boxes that i used with ESXi but no shared storage and all the cool stuff from VMware.
But now my company is gonna pay for the VMware Course and i feel that a proper home-lab is obligatory.
The question is,
What is best, separate boxes (2 ESX box and shared storage box) or 1 box with VMware workstation or ESXi and all running inside of this one?
I ask this because i see a lot of people debating this... any advice?
Posts: 36
Joined: 29.Jun.2010
From: VA
Status: offline
I'm not sure there is a 'best', most people just cobble together what they can afford.
IMO, I'd recommend two physical boxes that support AMD-V or Intel VT, have SCSI drives and large amounts of RAM plus a NAS or server running iSCSI software...but I know that's not always feesible.
At a minumum though, you'll need something with a 64bit processor and as much RAM as you can get your hands on, then use Workstation or Server to build out a couple ESX VMs.
Once you become a VCP, you'll get a free license for Workstation ;)
That's my point of view too, ATM i have 2 Opteron box each with 6G of RAM and i will run OpenFiler on another machine (PE SC1420) for NFS and iSCSI Storage.
thanks for the input..
I haven't managed to put all together, right now over here (Dominican Republic), we have Emergency alert because of this Tropical Storm (almost 5 days in a row raining!)... i will update the thread when i got all together..
ATM my decision is about getting it virtual or physical, because is just for testing and no performance is needed i'm also considering the Celerra VSA (UBER Version).
Another question for you about your home labs. I have two PowerEdge 2950 servers that make up my home lab and I'm probably going to be adding another one plus storage of some kind.
My problem: NOISE. It's freakin' loud. It sits in a room at the far end of my basement, but it can't stay there forever as it's my wife's office. I've considered moving the equipment to the garage, but the garage is very hot and very humid. I could build a small room in the garage and put in an air conditioner, but is there a better way?
I have one of those at work for LAB and other six for production. i found PE2950 too louder for home-lab environment (i cant afford one!!).
I have a PE SC1420 and i replace all the fan with others and now i can have it turned on almost all the time. is a shame that we cant do the same with PE2950...
Posts: 36
Joined: 29.Jun.2010
From: VA
Status: offline
Noise is a beast. Is there a closet anywhere in the house that you could stick the servers in maybe? I'm lucky in that I have a large storage room in my basement, I plan to just stick some equipment in there.
< Message edited by JustinC71 -- 26.Jul.2010 8:55:32 AM >
I do have a utility room in my basement that I might be able to use if I insulate it. I'm a little concerned about cooling the space, but I won't have a ton of stuff in it. I suppose I could pick up a small portable unit if it gets too warm.
I finished my basement a while back and didn't envision the need for multiple servers and storage at the time... my bad!
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