Setting up esxi

[trick0502]

so this is what i am working with:

amd fx 8120
asus 990fx sabertooth
32gb
1tb
1tb (from whs11 once i move it over)
2 80gb
250gb
realtech nic
broadcom nic

do i should install exsi on a usb drive? i could put another 80gb in to install esxi if that would be a better setup.

so my plan is to setup vms on their own hdds for now, until i get a raid card in there. with only one vm per hdd it should run smooth?

planned vms as of now are:

server 2012 (dc/ad/dns/dhcp) 80gb
server 2012 (game server) 80gb
whs11 (file, web) 1tb

should i give all the vms 4 cores and 8gb?

 

[TeeJayHoward]

should i give all the vms 4 cores and 8gb?

I can't speak for best practice, but I can tell ya how I set mine up, and the reasoning behind it.
The first time I made an ESXi host, I gave each of my cores out to a different VM, reserving one for the host. This resulted in TERRIBLE performance. I think I even made a thread here asking about it. Ever since then, I've just given each VM whatever the defaults are, and, if I used too much of that resource, I gave it more. It seems to be working a lot better.

 

[dave99]

give each vm 1 core unless they absolutely need more. The only time I've really been cpu limited was running windows server on a SSD datastore, and doing a bunch of windows updates. That can pin the single vcpu at 100% for a while.

 

[Hagrid]

Yes, on the thumb drive/usb drive. I use 4gb or 8gb ones, cant remember.

Yes, if they are on a separate HD, it will run alot smoother. You could run a SSD also, which would give you the best performance.

Have you tried the NIC's that they are detected in esxi? A couple of dual or a single quad intel NIC might work better, or some that are on the HCL list.(or HCL that is done by users, and known to work)

 

[trick0502]

I haven't tried out the nics yet, I am still waiting for some parts to come in. The system won't be up until Tuesday. But, both nics are on the hcl list.