Vmware ESXi - whats the minimum spec for 2 guests

BigEejit

I have been considering putting my htpc to further use. Currently running a Athlon x4 610e (low TDP 4 core, no L3 cache) with 4GB ddr2, I was considering installing esxi, with my Win 7 Ultimate htpc migrated to a VM and adding a basic LAMP guest as well.

I have a 60gb SSD, win 7 takes up ~25 - 30GB and the box also as a pair of 1TB seagates in raid1.

Is this feasible? Does the computer just lack the grunt to play a blu-ray while serving some pages/emails/ftping in the other guest? Can my 5770 graphics card still output hdmi? (I'm thinking unlikely )

Any thoughts appreciated.

Captain Commie

im not an expert on ESXi, but afaik it has some pretty strict requirements re: networking, was reading some stuff on TechRepublic and was talking about gigabit nic's.

If you want to serve up some simple html whilst using as media player i dont see why you want to virtualise. With those system specs i would not be splitting it in 2, you can try a simple LAMP host with *nix on say a 256mb ram vm using something like virtualbox tho might impact system performance too much.

there is nothing that says that you can not run XAMP or similar whilst using as media centre, infact i used to have a media centre setup that had all movies and music etc listed on a simple php page and then used that as launch pad to play movies either locally through my telly or remotely via wireless on my laptop

rolion

u have to check if VMware supports the ssd and for video...that will be replaced by VMware video graphics driver,basic standards !
you might have a better luck if search for VDI (Virtual Desktop infra) but with limited resources made available to the software running in virtual machine...
forget it.

BigEejit

Well the main reason I would want a seperate server for web serving etc is because of security. I could download vmplayer and download a lamp appliance but surely that is a lot less secure than running on bare metal or on vsxi.
The mobo has a gigabit port and I could install a gigabit nic to connect to my gigabit router if required.

I have never used virtualbox, I've used vmware for the last few years problem free though. Vmplayer and Vmserver and esxi are all free to use so if practicable I would go that way instead of trying new software.

A bit more research is required..... maybe running vmplayer in sandboxie :eek:

qwertz

First of all you need to check if the hardware is supported. If not then ESX or ESXi won't even install.

Jumpy

When considering ESX/i to do anything graphical, just ditch the idea. Its for sharing processing and memory grunt. It is not in any way graphical.

Think of it this way, if you cant do it over RDP you cant do it over ESX.

Jumpy

This is also what you need to look at.

This is the first step in any VMWare configuration plan.

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?action=base&deviceCategory=server

Jumpy

Why dont you use VMWare Workstation? That way you can still share the load, but maintain the Windows 7 front end.

I am assuming because you are looking for a cost free solution.

BigEejit

cheers for the replies....

Didnt realise esxi had such requirements. Ah well, time to start looking into how to make a vmware guest nice and secure.

When considering ESX/i to do anything graphical, just ditch the idea. Its for sharing processing and memory grunt. It is not in any way graphical.

Think of it this way, if you cant do it over RDP you cant do it over ESX.

/Idea blown out of the water

swampgas

BigEejit wrote: »

cheers for the replies....

Didnt realise esxi had such requirements. Ah well, time to start looking into how to make a vmware guest nice and secure.

/Idea blown out of the water

Using VMware Workstation, any VM is pretty securely isolated from the host OS. You can bridge onto the network (give the VM it's own IP), you have the same security concerns as you would with another physical machine one the same network.

ESXi is very much geared to running servers or generic desktops, rather than graphics-friendly apps.

CptSternn

http://www.ultimatewhitebox.com/

ESXi has beefy requirements and only works with certain NICs/Motherboards/Drive Controllers, usually kit from major server lines.

That being said, some manufactures use the same components in their desktop systems so you can get it up and running on some higher end desktop PCs, but the performance would be dismal as it requires lots of memory/processor power.

swampgas

CptSternn wrote: »

http://www.ultimatewhitebox.com/

ESXi has beefy requirements and only works with certain NICs/Motherboards/Drive Controllers, usually kit from major server lines.

That being said, some manufactures use the same components in their desktop systems so you can get it up and running on some higher end desktop PCs, but the performance would be dismal as it requires lots of memory/processor power.

Agreed.

ESXi is usually installed on clusters of beefy servers which are then managed by VMware's vCenter product. Then you get benefits like live migration (vmotion) and High Availability. This is very much a server-room / data-center product, and has license fees that match.

For regular PCs, something like Workstation is a much better fit.

// My €0.02

Svetti Arss

Ive built an AMD Esxi box from scratch. Esxi is more picky with raid cards (If you need them) and NICs than anything else.

If you are not sure if it will work on your hardware download the free ESXi CD and give it a ago but only if you dont need the data on the server first.


Update: just noticed some comments on ESXi performance on desktop PC's.

I cant remember the exact components in my system but roughly

AMD Six-Core Phenom II X6 1090T
8GM RAM
4 Enterprise drives in RAID configuration
Desktop MB

This system is lightening fast even when running 8 or 9 guests - Never had any problems at all with it.

Will post exact spec if wanted.

tech

hi would you mind posting the specs

Thanks

po0k

Linux + kvm + xbmc. Or you could try xen and getting ATI drivers to work. Leave esxi alone unless it's pure server stuff.

Jumpy

XenServer is still going to have the same grpahical restrictions.

Unless you can get VMs that can direct access physical gpus then you will always have a lack of graphical processing power.

Plus the screen access to all vm systems is done through a RDP session (or similar)

Svetti Arss

tech wrote: »

hi would you mind posting the specs

Thanks

1 X AMD Athlon Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz Processor
1 X ASUS Crosshair IV Formula - AM3 Socket - 890FX - ATX Chipset MB
1 X Intel PRO/1000 GT PCI NIC
1 X Adaptec 2405 Raid Card
4 X SEAGATE Barracuda ES.2 Hard Drive 1TB - 7200rpm drives in RAID 10 configuration
8 GB DDR3 Ram + another 8GM to be bought

A few minor disadvantages with this system

• Hardware cant be monitored
• Raid cant be monitored or an alert sent if a drive fails

If I was to do it again i would get a lower spec processor. This one have seems to be overkill.

SouperComputer

If the box is going to be used to play content then forget ESXI. It's not going to happen.
VMWare "server" is probably the best route. I prefer versions 1.x as 2.x has a lot of java\web based UI that frankly sucks IMO.

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_server/1_0

VMWare Server is free, you can acquire a licence simply by registering. I've had VMWare server running a linux guest on Windows 7 with an Athlon XP3000 and 1.5GB RAM without issues. Takes a while for the VM to get going, but peformance is verymuch acceptable once its up. The host serves the typical media center stuff as well as pulling media from the linux guest.