I have been asked this question time and time again on how to setup a lab for vSphere to start learning VMware.

In this post today I am going to walk you through how I have created an amazing lab just using simple commodity hardware, which is easy to find and cheap to run with the electricity bills. Especially if you are planning to run it 24/7 as I do.

Hardware – Dell Optiplex 7010

I have purposely used Dell Optiplex 7010 as it is easy and cheap to buy.

Configuring / Billing of Material (BOM)

CPU Intel i7

Memory – 32GB

2TB HDD

CD/DVD

So as you can see this is a simple Dell desktop which you can buy, I have bought this from eBay for £350, The most important thing to remember is the memory, so the more the merrier. In my case, I have messaged the eBay seller and found out the maximum memory that is supported for this desktop which is 32GB and I have got 8 GB X 4 Memory Modules.

Although this looks like a good option sadly, there is no more room for an upgrade of memory as this is the maximum the motherboard supports.

I bought this kit back in Feb 2019, it fit the requirement I had for my basic home lab with vSphere 6.7

Installing ESXi

Once you get the server ready, Install ESX 6.7 you will need to register on https://www.vmware.com and download the ESX 6.7 Update 3 ISO first.

1. register with my VMware portal httpss://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/registration
2. once register login with the credentials

• Once you log-in you will find the downloads

4. click on Trial and Free products.

you will then find vSphere for Download free Trial

You can also have a go at the VMware Hands-on Lab ( HOL) they are very good too.

so once we click on the download link we will get 60 days evaluation for vSpehre 6.7 or any VMware products for that matter. as you can see my Evaluation edition time is compleated

This should let you download your software if you have registered a new MyVMware account.

You can also check out the old products that y you can click on View My Evaluation

Then you will need to burn the ISO to CD or DVD disk to install the ESX hypervisor on the server.

Please follow the blog given below to complete the ESX installation process. although this was done for ESX 6.7 Update 2 the process is the same for Update 3 too.

https://agileops.co.uk/2019/05/02/installing-vsphere-6-7-update-2/

Finally, at the end of the installation, you will find your brand new Hypervisor ready for action. you might need to check if the VT is enabled in the Bios to start nested esx host if that’s what you are planning to do like I have done in my lab.

You can find the full process of Installing the ESX on my YouTube channel where I teach VMware to beginners VMware Tutorial for Beginners | Session 3: installing vSphere 6.7

Then you can start installing the vCetner Server, you can go back to the MyVMware website and download the ISO.

Sometimes you see the error message given below:

You either are not entitled or do not have permissions to download this product.
Check with your My VMware Super User, Procurement Contact or Administrator.

If you recently purchased this product through VMware Store or through a third-party, try downloading later.

just click on Trail Download and you should be able to download the ISO

httpss://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=ESXI670&productId=742&rPId=24857

You can follow my blog Installing VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 2

How does my lab look like, well that’s a good subject? please check the screenshot below:

I have the Physical dell Optiplex server which I have highlighted in red. as as you can see I am chewing almost all the memory on the server currently.

I have two VM running nested esx which are highlighted in the demo cluster running around 7 VM’s

I have the vCetner server and vROPS instance running directory on the dell server.

How can I forget I have used FreeNAS for shared storage which is provisioned using ISCSI software initiators. you will find a full process of how to provide shared storage on the YouTube chanal in two parts.

Part1:

Part2:

Hi All,

In this post i am going to take you through the steps in installing and configuring the ESX host once the installation is completed I will show you how to add it to the vCenter Server.

for the purpose of the post i have done a nested ESX installation ( which is ESX running on a VM) below you will see a quick YouTube video on the installation. dont for get to subscribe to my YouTube channel as stay tuned for new videos.

I have also taken screenshots on for the installation process. I know sometime its quick to follow the screenshots as appose to going through the video.

At this point the installation starts and you will the progress of the installation.

Thats all you can now press F2 to login to the esx using the password you have set.

You will need to setup the Network configuration to static then add it to the vCenter. If you dont have a vCenter you can deploy one on this ESX server as this is the first one.

I will be posting about how to installing vCetner server in the coming days. however if you have got a vCetner installed this is how you can quickly add the new build host to the vCenter Server.

Login to the vCenter and right click on the Cluster or the datacenter then click on Add Host

After a few seconds you will see the vSphere ESX host appering in the cluster. you can put it on Maintenance Mode if you want to do further configuration on the Host.

Hope you enjoyed by post feel free to command and let me know if you have any questions. I will love to hear back from my users.

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Hi All today I have created a Youtube video on how to create a home lab its in 2 parts. the part one covers how to prepare your ESX host using commodity hardware Dell Optiplex 7010 for nested ESX.

The part 2 shows how install the vSphere ESX host on the Nested VM.

I have also created screenshots of the full process which you can follow on this post below.

Note that running nested ESX is not supported by VMware hence why this should not be used for production work load.

This is a very important option if we don’t enable this we cannot install the OS.

To install the esx watch the Youtube video here or follow my blog for step by step instructions to install esx.

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1.  Create a default LUN and add MAP ID 0 ‘zero’ when ever you are provisioning a new ESX  rule of thumb for Invicta is add a default lun  lun0_ default with MAP ID 0
2. Keep all the LUN’s with the same MAP id on each host when provisioning them. ( Caution : If you do not give the same MAP ID for a LUN which is already provisioned and the lun has VM running. The LUN comes up as a new lun to be added to VMware so the Administrator if he is not aware of this issue may end up formating it assuming its a new LUN to provision using VMFS 5.
3. You need to remember that you can right click and drag and drop luns to map them.

Step 1: Creating a LUN

Click on LUN Configuration and LUNs and Click on Create LUN

As I have mentioned in the Notes at the top that we need to first create a default lun which is what I am creating below. just fill in the details I call it lun0_default

Step 2.  Adding a Host Initiator Group

Click on LUN Configuration and Initiator Groups and Click on Create New Group

Give the server name or if you have 10 esx host to provision the full storage you can call the group and add all the iqn numbers there. – click on Create Group

After the group is created you will find it as shown below, you can right click and see the options you can perform. We need to Add Initiator to this group. In this case I am going to add only one esx host. Copy the iqn number of from the esx host and add it.

To get the IQN if you are using the iSCSI initiator you can go to the host Click on Configuration tab and click on Storage Aadapters and right click and create iscsi adapter. Copy the IQN number.

You will also need to add the iSCSI target ( Invicta iSCSI target)  in the Dynamic Discovery tab

It will look like this 

Step 3: Provisioning LUNS to the ESX Host 

To map a LUN right click the esx-01 Initiator Group you have just added and select the second option Map/Unmap Luns