The Beginning:
After two very frustrating experiences with our shared solutioncenter environment inside our company, I decided to build my own VMware lab…
But, where should I start? Buy a supported server, that is on the official HCL? Build my own machine?
I decided to build my own special ESXi server hardware:
A custom made host, just for my requirements.
I bought an Intel Mini-ITX Mainboard, an Intel Core i3 CPU, 8 GB of RAM and a buch of hard disks.
The only supported Piece inside this first ESXi host, was the IBM Serveraid Raid Controller, because VMware vSphere cannot handle Software (Fake) Raids.
I connected my new VMware Box to my existing HP Procurve 8 port Gigabit Network Switch and the “beast” was up and running. What a great moment…..
One of my first virtual machines was a Microsoft Home Server, which was a file-server and a backup server.
The SSD was for vmkernel swap files (vswp). I placed them manually on the SSD.
After a few month with this setup, including a virtual vCenter Server instance, patching of the environemnt becomes a challenge…
I decided to upgrade my homelab to stage II “The Evolution”