VMware ESXi

Anyone using ESXi with SBS 2008? I have installed ESXi on a new server that
I want to load SBS 08 on but I am not sure if I should assign a static IP to
the VMware interface or do you do that once the server is loaded and leave
the vmware DHCP?

As always thanks in advance for the help!!

Funny thing you should ask. I just finished loading ESXi but do not plan on
loading SBS 2008 on it. I will be loading W2K3 Standard 32-bit for some
legacy applications as well as Windows 2008 Standard Server. I found that
even though the ESXi server is on the same network as my SBS 2008 Server
that handles DHCP it ppears to be unable to obtain a DHCP lease so I just
went ahead and used a static IP.

I was curious as to how they can offer this more robust virtual application
for free and after loading the VMSpere client and opening it for the first
time I got the 60-day trial message and if I let it expire I will no longer
be able to manage and maintain the ESXi host. So pretty much you either but
the client or you go back to VM Server. Your thoughts?

Funny I thought the same thing but after some digging and reading throught
the user docs I found out that you have to activate the copy. Now finding
out how to activate was another story but I did ultimately find it and here
is what I did and now I have a fully functional, no expiration version...


a.. Once client is installed then go to "Inventory", then "configuration",
"licensed Features", and then click edit on the right side of the screen.
Here you can choose to activate your license file with the file provided to
you when you registered. If you do not provide a license file then correct,
your copy will expire in 60 days!

I am running 2003 now and I just built this super server so now I want 2008
so I will keep searching for answers.

Tim that is fantastic. I did that and now no longer get the 60-day trial
message and can also see it no longer shows as an evaluation copy. thanks a
lot.

Great now install 2008 and not 2003 :-)

I am proceeding with the 2008 installation using the DHCP and I will just
have to see what happens. It is likely that I will end up doing this a few
times anyway just for good practice.

as SBS's DHCP server will not be available until ESX is up and running and
the VM is started it is best that the host have a static, manual, IP.

Tim: Since SBS likes to be the DHCP server, you have a chicken and egg
scenario if you have VMWare running with a DHCP assigned address.
SBS...and by proxy your DHCP server, is running on a virtual machine and the
host environment needs a DHCP address from the DHCP server that is down.

Stick with static. :)

As I am finding out, this may not work for my production server after all.
My new server, (obtained at an Intel TST event) is huge. In fact 2 Qaud
Core CPU's, 6GB RAM and 3 SAS drives. Problem with that is this free
version of ESXi only allows for 6 Cores! Basically meaning that I will not
be able to take full advantage of the speed if I understand all this
correctly. Right now I am testing SBS 2008 installation utilizing 4 cpu's
just to see what happens.

I'll keep plugging away and test, test, test but it looks like I should
probably just install 08 without virtualization and save all this for a non
production enviornment server.

I appreciate it. I think on my next attempt I will connect
this to my extra Static from my ISP.

i have one client on ESXi 4.0 with SBS 2003 + plus two member servers,
no problem. Small dentistry, 4 workstations, no hiccups.
SBS is DNS/DHCP, static IP, no problems what so ever.

Well like you Tim this is just for playing around. Eventually I'll wipe it
all off and do it all again and will be documenting everythis for
verification and for SOP's. I will need to have one W2K3 for legacy apps
that have not been certified to tun on W2K8. I'm also curious to see if I
can use a virtual W2K8 server for Citrix. Just playing around right now and
learning on my own. Thanks and enjoy your play time.

I'm running into technical difficulties try to load a gust OS on my newmly
created VM server. I've got the CD loaded into the host machine. I even went
into the the virtual machine bios and made sure the boot order is correct.
I've gone into the VM console and select for the DVD/CD "Connect to host
device". I power off the VM then power back on and expect to see the VM boot
from the CD and begin the W2K3 installation. Appears to not be recognizing
the host CD or something. any tips?

OK so now I am sure it does not reecognize the CD/DVD. See below message
from the Event Log.

I don't think that was my issue. The issue was that my CD/DVD
was not recognized. In the VM BIOS boot order it was listed but did not show
as being available. Using the vSphere client on my desktop I can go into the
VM properties and view the listed hardware available. Here's the funny part.
You can see the "CD/DVD Drive1" and the host device as being listed as
"/vmfs/devicesgrnscsi/mpx.vmhba2:C0:T1:L0". there was also an option for
another device "vmhba0" neither of which worked. So I was doing some
googling and stumbled across this discussion regarding something similiar
about using DELL hardware. Same symptons and the poster said he had to use
the "Add" option for hardware and add a "SCSI Device". During the setup
process it show my options for my CD/DVD as being listed by name and ure
enough after I added it I can go into the VM BIOS and now see it as being
recognized. So once I powered off/on it immediately booted in the OS
installation. Good to know in case others experience something similiar.
I'll blow this all away and do it again and will try using the client CD/DVD
drive.

Another question if you please. My host machine is 64-bit. I am running the
vSpere client on my XP workstation. I already created a VM on the host
machine and have install Windows 2003 Standard x86 as a guest operating
system. Now I want to create another VM on the same host this time
installing Windows 2008 Standard 64-bit as my guest OS. Looks like ESXi is
not liking that. So is it possible to mix x86 and x64 OS's on the same host
hardware? Got abother question but will post it another time.

Sorry I have been out of pocket all day today.

You need to have the CD in the Drive of the client machine. "Power on" the
VM server through the client and then click the DVD/CD Connect button.

It is kind of confusing but I actually had to have the cd in the client not
the actual server.

Let me know how you make out.

though SBS related do you not think that asking this in the ESX forums would
be a good idea?

Yes, you can mix 32 and 64 bit guests.

That sounds like no VT (or AMD equivalent). Odd, last time I looked at ESXi
I am pretty sure it required VT. I probably need to download the latest.

I only ask these questions here because I happened to stumble across this
topic and the poster doesn't appear to mind.

Appears that my DELL Server is not supported for 64-bit "guest" operating
systems.Kind og figured that seeing how my hardware did not support MS
Virtual Server because my bios does not support virtualization. Even though
my chipset can support ESXi it cannot support 64-bit guest operating
systems.

You are somewhat correct. Even though my hardware meets the requirements to
host ESXi it does not support 64-bit "guest" operating systems. Pretty much
it comes down to my system chipset does not support virtualization but it is
64-bit and I can run "installed" 64-bit OS and applications ESXi 4.0
supports 64-bit. Latest release since 3.5 that supports x86.

There seems to be something funny going on. I have a number of HP DL385 G1s (generation 1 Opteron with no AMD-V), yet using the HP supplied version of ESXi 4.0 I managed to install Windows Server 2008 x64 as a guest machine. This should not be possible, yet it has been very smooth, no hiccups. The vmware bootable cd reports that VT is definitely not a capability of the CPUs, yet the os runs fine.