In a first part I described how to create HomeLab in a Box based on Linux or Windows host OS and VMware Workstation. How to set up a Home LAB for vSpehre 4 and vSphere5 – part 1 In second part of my series, I will describe how to create a HomeLab in a box but running on ESXi 5.1 as host platform. The approach is to have stable, universal, low cost  platform on which one can build, test and develop various type of systems and...

If you would like to test vSphere installation where main database engine is Oracle 11g R2 in HomeLab, this is the place which you were looking for . Below example oracle installation is based on Windows 2008 R2 running on VMware vSphere 5.1 Step #1 Requirements Deploy Windows 2008 R2 Virtual Machine with 1vCPU and 2GB RAM Download Oracle 11g R2 from Oracle Download page Step #2 – Installation Extract installation files and combine...

Few days ago I wrote blog post about OpenFiler virtual appliance deployment and configuration for vSphere homelab. Today, quick how to for in place upgrade from OpenFiler 2.3 to  OpenFiler version 2.99.1 and update to OpenFiler 2.99.2. In fact there is no easy way to do upgrade from 2.3 to 2.99. What has to be done is: export configuration from OpenFiler 2.3 clean install OpenFiler 2.99.1 update to version 2.99.2 restore configuration from...

Few days ago I got a awesome piece of hardware – Fusion-IO Duo  640GB Multi Level Cell – MLC, in fact it’s single PCI express card with 2 Fusion-IO modules, 320GB each). Within following week I will be doing performance testing and compare results with data provided by vendor. Technical details: ioDrive Duo Capacity 320GB 640GB 640GB 1.28TB Nand Type Single Level Cell (SLC) Multi Level Cell (MLC) Read Bandwidth (64KB) 1.5...

I had to rebuild my homelab storage “infrastructure” and this is a good opportunity to create quick how deploy and configure OpenFiler virtual appliance. OpenFiler is a OpenSource storage appliance (iSCSI and NFS) which is very easy to set up and fit perfectly into home or test labs. It emulates NFS v3 protocol and iSCSI protocol, as you know both are supported by VMware vSphere. Download...

Thanks to one of my blog readers, Keino-Paul from NYC, I have an opportunity to share with you tested hardware configuration for VMware vSphere 5.1 build 799733 which can be used as a pretty cheap HomeLaB config. Hardware specs: HP proliant microserver N40L 6GB RAM (max is 32GB, 2×16), 2 memory banks on motherboard. If you are interested in heaving 32GB these modules has been...