Ever since vmware made ESXi a free download I have wanted to install and run it at home so I can P to V my systems at home. And save money on electricity. And before you ask I have looked at the Xen and Virtualbox and Kvm solutions but have found them not quite ready fro my prime time.
I had been running vmware server in the past with reasonable success.
I downloaded an iso of the ESXi installer and dutifully copied all my VM’s to an external disk. When I tried to install esx it complained about not finding a device to install the image on-to.
I initially thought it was the SATA problem so installed an IDE drive to see if that would help but it did not.
I even tried a full ESX3.5 install CD but that also did not work.
So I downloaded Opensuse 11 mini and installed that and vmware server 2 which is actually quite decent and the new web based management is actually quite usable.
I will continue my quest however. But it looks like I will have to get some new hardware. The prerequisites for this is that it must be quiet as the machine stands in out lounge next to the TV and the missus does not want to hear it. I also need 64bit support as I do some dev work for foresight and need that for packaging.
We will see how it goes.
The links below are the ones I currently have looked at. And will add more to the post as I find them or they are suggested.
http://vinf.net/2008/01/14/vmware-esx-v35-on-cheap-pc-hardware/
http://www.theinquisitivegeek.com/2006/11/esx-on-whitebox-as-many-of-you-know-i.html
http://www.techhead.co.uk/building-a-low-cost-cheap-vmware-esx-test-server