General help setting up vsphere

[turbo123]

Hey guys I'm very new to all this so just looking for some general advice to see if i'm on the right track or not...

i'm looking to set up a virtual box that I can RDP into and test various different versions of windows explorer in an XP enviroment. In particular - 4 versions IE6 through to 9

First off I have a fairly robust dell poweredge server  and I have downloaded ESXi 5.1

Will ESXi 5.1 OS let me do this and secondly is it free? I notice it mentioned a 60 day trial??

Is it just a matter of setting the server up on the network and installing XP on it or is this over simplifying it too much??

All help appreciated guys!

[sparrowangelste]

you can get a free license for esxi5.1

setup the management network.

setup the virtual machine network.

setup shared storage, unless storage is local then skip.

then install xp on a vm and and then you version of IE.

or

you can run a hyperv and download Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11575

Normally I would stay away from hyperv, but in your particular case it actually makes sense since the images are prebuilt

[turbo123]

Ok cool, so im on the right track then

[sparrowangelste]

you download and run the exe makes a vhd and then mount it.

just thought about it

you can also download vmware player (free)

and then convert the vhd to vmdk

http://www.mydigitallife.info/how-to-convert-and-import-vhd-to-vmdk-vmware/

[turbo123]

Ok, so I configured the management network no problems however I cant see options to configure the other two ya mentioned

Virtual machine network

shared storage network - although the storage is gonna be local anyways

I have also downloaded vsphere client and setup a virtual machine - how do I go about installing an OS onto it?

Is there a good tutorial anywhere that describes how to add an XP virtual machine...? Might save a loooaaadd of newbie questions

Thanks again for the advice

[vmpwn]

installing os is quite simple, just right click on the vm from left panel and select edit settings then the virtual cd/dvd drive, u can mount on it a .iso image or use the physical cdrom of the server. Then u can power on the machine and install it as usual through the console tab.

[turbo123]

Ok so when I swicth on the virtual machine and try to turn on the CD drive I get the following message:

the device cd/dvd is not configured to support connections to client backings

Any ideas why that would be?

[turbo123]

any further ideas on this guys???

This message comes up when I try to install it from CD or from an ISO.

[vmpwn]

what do u mean with "turn on the cd drive"" , u have 2 solutions to install the os, u can insert the os install CD in the physical drive of your server or u can copy the image of the os into the server and load the iso. Both solutions can be done in the menu of the virtual machine's device from the vsphere.

[turbo123]

Thanks for all the help guys I got it sorted today and i'm curently installing VM's.  just one more thing....I cant see where to register it so as to get rid of the 60 day free trial message.  I definitely downloaded it from the free section..it is free isnt it???

[vmpwn]

step 1: retrieve a free serial registering on the vmware site.

step 2: insert the serial from the vsphere  -> select the host from left menu -> configuration tab -> Licensed Features -> u will see the link "Edit..." click on that and insert your free serial.

[sparrowangelste]

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1006481

it pertains to 3.5 but the steps are the same iirc

[turbo123]

Thanks guys!!!  you all helped me out soooo much!  Got the server up an running and 4 virtual machines riunning on it.  Very happy boy!

[vmpwn]

ESXi 5.1 has a free version but u need to register and get the free serial.

The free version has some limitations like the 32GB physical memory limit. Take a look here http://www.vladan.fr/esxi-5-1-free/

Manage the Esxi is pretty simple, u need the vsphere client (works on windows) and its pretty "user-friendly"