How to build VMware 5.0 environment for home lab

I have the following in mind:

• 2 physical servers that serve as vmware ESXi 5.0, 3 network cards, one for administration, e.g. a VMware, and one for VMotion
• 620 Dell Optiplex only with Windows 2008 EE serve as vmware vCenter,vmware vSphere Client is running on the machine also
• Cisco 3750 switch supports Gigabit and 802.1Q
• NAS storage to implement fault tolerance,

My goal is that he knows ESXi 5.0, learing Virtual Center, VMotion, etc and after that, I can teach 1000v Cisco, Cisco firewalls to isolate between VM instances and Checkpoint Firewall between virtual machines Virtual Edition. Can anyone confirm to me that these items (servers and storage) can support ESXi 5.0? It seems that ESXi can support 4.1, but I'm not sure if it can support ESXi 5.0

I would advise pNICs go over well. Especially with the realization of this to learn and such. You can also set a pair of ports for iSCSI traffic. IMO, a minimum number of ports LBNP, even for a home lab, is six. Two for the management and VMotion (a vSwitch, two groups of ports). Two for the iSCSI traffic (use of MPIO, active / active) and two for VM traffic. I also select Intel NIC for additional ports.

IMO, go with E56xx processors, instead of the X3450 models. If you are looking to learn this in order to get a job with what you will find most often in production will be of benefit. Same for the host servers. So you see to get renovated (if not new) servers from IBM, HP or Dell. Learning BIOS and remote administration tools server is a value (iLO2 and iDRAC, for example).Also, if a server is not on the HCL for ESXi 5, and is not otherwise HCL reliable, I would avoid it.

For my own home lab, I went the cheap route. You will not find these items in the HCL, but they work for me to test things for my own purposes. The key is to remember that the necessary components are the CPU, storage and networking. Very hard to find memory that will not work, you just have enough to run virtual machines.

I bought a cheap kit barebones phenomenon, with 8 GB of RAM, had to buy network cards, and spent the ESXi image on a flash drive. He has worked for 4.1 without problems, but I have not had the opportunity to upgrade to ESXi 5.0 yet. My vCenter also functions as a virtual machine host, along with the ad and dns.

I do not see a budget of $ 2k be enough to get a solid line, although the environment. Especially when it comes to training in order to obtain a position / job. I hope your nephew is thinking about getting your VCP before seeking a job. If not, then you probably will not qualify the first round of interviews. The vast majority of the jobs I’m seeing or VCP requires or have as an object much preferred.

Provided you are not going to run anything with very high I / S, this should work fine. Just be sure to get the fastest drives you can, facing the biggest drives. Testing and learning, should serve you well.

Oh, and the motherboard is not on the HCL is, and I cannot look up while at work, you might not be able to use the network ports on board.

Once you get to the hosts, has plans for a burn-in/test memtest 48 + hours .I do this in each host server prior to ESX / ESXi installed and load flash drive. I had to take the memory chips that were not 100% before the hosts went into production. If there were, there would be no major problem with the boxes.

I'm actually keeping an eye on the T610 server for when you're ready to add another host. That is, if I have a server that is used from the guy who hosts my mail server? You may be able to get a few of cheap money .If you're in a hurry, shoot me a PM with a way to get and I'll pass along the specifications and prices when you receive them

I am setting the ESXi 5.0 in my work environment for laboratory testing with the Cisco Nexus switches, firewalls, load balancers, web application firewalls, etc, and I'm going to use Dell Power Edge R710. That will be fine.

However, I will set up a home lab environment for a college student to study / ESXi 5.0 and learn with Dell T610 is really overkill. $ 1300 per box, it will cost $ 2700 for two T610. At this point, really "do not care much support because it is a home lab anyway