Running Windows and Linux on vSphere Hypervisor

[linux_trojan]

I want to run VMware directly on my computer hardware (bare metal), and run both Ubuntu and Vista as virtual machines without having to dual boot; nor run Ubuntu as a host and run Vista as a virtual machine client.  I read a little of the users manual for Hypervisor and got confused however.  Looks like you must have 3 physical servers and 6 GB of RAM?  Now I am not sure this product is for me.  I liked it coz it was free.  Am I looking at the right software?

[sparrowangelste]

since you probably dont have a server but a desktop or laptop esxi wont be supported most likely on your hardware.

you can check the hardware compatibility on the HCL: http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

otherwise you can run vmware player (free) or vmware workstation ($200) on your pc under an os.

so linux would run under vista or vice versa..

[linux_trojan]

I would like to avoid  the whole host/client thing.  Just have everyone be a client on VMware running on base metal.  I have heard this type of arrangement is really fast, faster than VMplayer and avoids dual boot.  Besides, this way I could run other Linux OS and Windows OS with equal speed.

I do have a desktop, but I have also used desktops as web servers, so I am not sure what you mean by a "server"?

[sparrowangelste]

most sever hardware, like a dell r320, is on the compatiblity list.

if you want to run esxi on your desktop hardware it needs to have compatile comppnents or it wont load or will give your errors.

you could try to load it if you have an empty disk drive and see what happens.

[EdWilts]

I want to run VMware directly on my computer hardware (bare metal), and run both Ubuntu and Vista as virtual machines without having to dual boot; nor run Ubuntu as a host and run Vista as a virtual machine client.  I read a little of the users manual for Hypervisor and got confused however.  Looks like you must have 3 physical servers and 6 GB of RAM?  Now I am not sure this product is for me.  I liked it coz it was free.  Am I looking at the right software?

What I think you're looking for is the free hypervisor.  It's capped at 32GB of memory in your host and 32GB as the sum of all of the powered-on virtual machines.  You shouldn't hit this limit.  You'll probably want 6GB of memory to support both guests but can probably get away with less but it really depends on how memory hungry your guests are.

You do not need 3 physical servers - one is enough.  You'll probably want a second machine to make it easier to manage it - just a web client is enough.  You're probably not concerned about a supported configuration since you're running Ubunta and Vista (if you said Win 2008 R2 I might guess differently).

[linux_trojan]

I am presently running Vista on VMware.  Can I just copy over the *.vmx (or whatever its called) file to Hypervisor and run it?

I just realized that to run both Ubuntu and Vista on Hypervisor simultaneously, I will need about 2GB of RAM for each OS.  So I probably do need a total of about 6GB RAM just to give me some breathing room?

[sparrowangelste]

just in case you arent clear on it, which I think you might not be

if you install esxi, you will need another pc to access virutal machines on esxi.

the only thing you can do on the esxi console is management and host setup.

you cannot get on the console of the virtual machines.

so you would haveto ahve 2 pcs.

1st esxi running vista and ubuntu

2nd pc to connect to the vista and ubuntu machines over the network.

[linux_trojan]

Wow, I did not  know this.  I think that just burst my bubble.