[ale] [OT] VMWare learning environment?

[DJ-Pfulio]

On 04/25/2018 05:39 AM, Leam Hall via Ale wrote:
> So far I see ESXi, VSphere, and VCenter. The direction I've been given is "go
> learn VMWare".
> 
> I've used VSphere clients but never administered an installation. Looking at the
> ESXi system requirements I'm not sure SATA is supported for the guests, so I may
> need to do their lab stuff remotely until I can figure out a host to use.
> 

SATA controllers are supported, but not all of them.  ESXi is picky about
hardware.  Back when I ran it, only 1 of my 5 machines had a disk controller
that was supported by it.  It is also picky about NICs and other HW.

This is good and bad.  Flakey HW doesn't get supported, so when it is on "the
list" you know it should work.  They choose very popular, server-type, hardware
for their support. Usually not the cheapest stuff.

Catch me at a meeting on Sunday and I'll happily share some apparently forgotten
history with VMware (management) and why I'll avoid all their products for the
rest of my life.

If you mainly run Windows, ESXi should be considered.  If you mainly run Linux,
I wouldn't ... and don't.