Network Engineer's ESXi Server Build: Part 3 - Create VM & install EVE-NG

Welcome to Network Engineer Pro. I'm Rafael, CCIE 64356. Have you ever wanted to build your own virtualization server so you can studying for certs like the CCNA, CCNP and CCIE? Or easily run CML, GNS, EVE-NG, Automation, CSR1000v and more? If so then check out part 3 of my journey to build a virtualization beast for network engineers, it's easy and I want to show you all the steps in the process.

I purchased this used Dell PowerEdge R620 from newegg.

Don't forget to check out my site and follow Network Engineer Pro on Facebook.

Amazon affiliate links to recommended reading material

The CCNA 200-301 Official Cert Guide Volume 1

The CCNA 200-301 Official Cert Guide Volume 2

For those of you who want to take your studies to the CCIE level, here are the first two books(of many) you should get your hands on.

Routing TCP/IP, Volume 1

Routing TCP/IP, Volume 2

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00:00 Intro
02:24 EVE-NG Download
03:53 Upload EVE-NG ISO to Datastore
04:57 Create Virtual Machine
07:24 Allow Promiscuous Mode on Port-Group
08:27 Power on VM and install EVE-NG
09:41 Login to EVE-NG GUI & quick tour
11:17 Outro

In today's video which is part 3 of 3, I am taking my new to me, Dell PowerEdge R620, logging into ESXi 6.7, creating a virtual machine and installing EVE-NG. The end goal is to turn this server into a virtualization beast for network engineers to handle CML, GNS, EVE-NG, Automation, CSR1000v and more. I want to show you all the steps in the process. This is a 3 part mini series.

In part 1 I configured the iDRAC7 port and setup a RAID 5.

Part 2 is downloading and installing ESXi 6.7 on my Dell PowerEdge R620.

Part 3 (This video) is creating a VM and installing EVE-NG Community Edition.

How to import Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) IOSv Router & Switch images into EVE-NG

So let me tell you why I am building this server.
The reason I got this server is because I'm a network engineer, I'm constantly testing and labbing things out for work, studying for certifications or i just straight up forgot how something works so i go an lab it out.

I use a combination of csr1000v's, cisco modeling labs, eve-ng and all kinds of other things. I was running all those on VMware workstation player, which is a type 2 hypervisor installed on my windows 10 pc.

That windows 10 pc is also used for video editing, photoshop and gaming and it was just starting to be too much for it and i was running out of resources.

So I wanted to get something dedicated just for networking and labbing purposes that I don't have to worry about running out of resources for hopefully a long time.

I hope this video helps someone.

#CCNA #CCNP #CCIE

[mahendrakumarsahu]

Great bro!!!
Fabulous.
Truly glad to you for this lecture about Esxi installation process for network engineer.

Good luck from India 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

[shoz]

Great, professional video with simple instructions to follow, Thank you and all the best

[DJRhinofart]

One thing to comment on here. For the disk expansion, is that a limitation of the OS? As for expanding the HD of the VM, all you have to do is adjust the size in VM settings, and then from within your OS, expand the disk. Your HD will then fill out to be the entire size of what you've configured it for. It's a super simple, 10 second thing to accomplish, atleast in Windows systems. I'm certain Linux, etc have a way to do it from the CLI.

[pbelliard]

Awesome Tutorial from start to finish. What are the specs you provided on the EVE-NG VM for a substantial lab? Let's say for SDWAN, which require a lot of resources. I am looking to do the same thing but not sure if I should install it on bare metal. I like the flexibility of ESXi to test other software. But for big labs EVE-NG needs a lot of resources. Thanks.

[vijaysiwan]

thanks a lot, but why esxi on raid 5. in production is it correct for os installation like esxi

[info_]

Great video as always. Thank you!

Would you be able to make a video that talks about your CCIE journey? (How long it took you to get it? How many years of experience do you have as a network engineer etc..?)

[howardleen]

Can you recommend a server be used for big data analytics, VM and ml/ai purposes?

(I'm trying to set up a home lab for days science purposes and I'm struggling to find options that under 1k just for the chassis!)

[Tuto_]

Hey Rafael, Thanks for the great content. I literally followed each step in your video to the T, multiple times with the Pro version and Community version. However, when I start the virtual machine, It briefly shows a prompt of EVE NG saying to install EVE NG VM and other options, but then it disappears. It goes into this black menu and asks me for language, Keyboard selection, proxy server, and then it says that to continue the install, it will delete all the info on the disks chosen to be formatted. It says "Continue with destructive process? You cannot go back or come back to this page afterwards". No idea whats going on.

Thanks

[philliprgarcia]

Watching this after VMWARE decided to sell out and get rid of ESXI