VMWare vSphere ESXi 5.1 Install and Basic Configuration - Dell PowerEdge 2950 GII

VMWare ESXi 5.1 Install and Basic Configuration - Dell PowerEdge 2950 GII

This video covers the basic install process of the VMWare ESXi Hypervisor on a Dell PowerEdge 2950 GII server. In the video I install it to a 8 Gb Sandisk Cruzer thumb drive and show the basic configuration and connecting via the vSphere Client.

For more information and links to the VMWare download and license key information please see the post on my blog...

[robwillisinfo]

Thanks for the tip ill give it a try :) I try to key word it up as much as possible but sometimes I just get lazy or dont have enough time between work, editing, making post for the site and actually doing the labs. To be honest the reason I started all this was to use it as a way to help me remember the details of some of the things Ive built so the adsense money is just a bonus. Keep at it man, hope you get your stuff in!

[rfrancoi]

GREAT video Rob.  VERY clearly explained and demonstrated.

[samira.malsharee]

A fantastic video. Really helpful.

Thank you Rob for this video.

[theunfrailhale]

Concise and everything I needed to get my feet wet. Thanks for the Tut.

[robwillisinfo]

Hey bud, glad to hear your getting your stuff! Waiting for it is the worst. So heres the low down - VMWare ESXi is the server - and best way to run vms. VSphere is basically another server to manage your ESXi Servers. VSphere is not free but ESXi. Vsphere comes with a lot of neat features, but you dont need them for a only a few servers. Workstation is good, but your "wasting" a lot of resources running on top of another OS like windows, its better for testing than running your serious stuff.

[Cndin]

Also last 24 hours been reading about virtual desktops thats why i wanted to set up a vcenter but so for it looks complicated .i wanted to be able to access my desktop from my ipad anywhere :P just to try it out !! looks soo coooll !!

[robwillisinfo]

That sounds like it, I could see that server having it because its perfect for virtualization. Basically it would be some sort of flash memory similar to a usb drive just embedded on the motherboard and yes that means you wouldnt have to waste a whole disk or i/o. Even though esxi is small, if you installed it on a larger drive esxi still wont let you use the rest of that drive even though space is available. I dont mind answering, this is exactly why i started doing this! good questions!

[shasijeen]

The Best of the best ! Thank you very much for this Video.

I'm very sorry for the people who do Unlike.

[robwillisinfo]

Thanks and congrats man! it is sweet when you get that first check :) Sorry if Im loosing track of some of your questions, google is awesome and all but the way comments works on here blows! lol

[Cndin]

and remember for the tags it needs to be the FIRST WORDS that you put in tags ARE THE MORE IMPORTANTE so like for esxi
you should start like ESXI, Vmware esxi, esxi vmware ... etc all those combination and the first ones are the more important .. ALSO you can PRE tag and describe your video s in the DEFAULT tab so everytime you upload it will already be set ! have a good one man !!

[Cndin]

i m liking all your video s they are perfect its all i need :P thanx again !!

[Cndin]

Thank you Rob you the man ! More questions incoming later :P

[robwillisinfo]

Thats a very good point! However the ESXi install so lightweight it doesnt make much of a difference once its booted, think of it almost more like firmware. Now you wouldnt want to run a virtual machine like this, bu esxi runs just fine like this. If you buy a server with esxi, the install is most likely on an embedded chip similar to this. I think the Dell 2950 G3 have this feature (Mines a G2)

[Cndin]

and thanx again for your help ! seriously you the man ! and for the expensive keys well ... i hook you up with some i got if you need :P i got your back !! lol

[robwillisinfo]

@Nick Harvey, sorry the new youtube comment system sucks and wont let me respond to your question directly. But VMware's ESXi IS your base os, it is essentially linux based. No need to install a base os like you would with vmware work station.

[robwillisinfo]

ESXi IS the OS. Its confusing when getting into it all. But ESXi is actually a linux based OS under the hood (red hat from what i understand). The server is booted from the ISO from VMWare, I burned it to a cd and since the install is small I installed it to the thumb drive. ESXi will consume the whole disk it is on regardless of size, nothing else can be on it, no sense in wasting a hd on it. I've also istalled in on CF cards. VMs can be any OS, unlike Hyper V. Ive run Windows, BSD, and Linux.

[robwillisinfo]

Yes this is entirely possible. I do a lot of my work from a low powered 12" laptop, at home I just use the VSphere client installed on my laptop, on the go I use my laptop over my cell to RDP into a Windows machine on my farm that has Vsphere installed there. You can open up the Vsphere client to the net but I wouldnt do that, use another box to get you inside then connect.

[Cndin]

And btw how come you don t get that many hits on your channel ? you should set up the tags on the video s put all kinds in the description also ! you should get way more ! good job man !!

[robwillisinfo]

You can do all of that without Vcenter. I use the 2x app on android to remote into my stuff all the time. I use RDP for windows and VNC for linux.

[Cndin]

alright cause i m getting it thursday :P can t wait :P ... the only thing i m missing his a decent SSD