After reading, studying, and taking classes, I am ready to ask this question.
What is the best practice in setting up a classroom lab in order to teach vsphere 5.0?
The question is too general. I have constraints. I was asked to build a lab for 16 students in order to teach Vsphere 5.0. My boss ordered the equipment and said "this ought to be enough":
Desktop systems:
16 Dell Optiplex 755s with 6 Gig ram, each has 1 nic and 1 esata dock. ( I want to install Windows server and VCenter server on these machines)
These are KVMed to:
16 Dell Poweredge T110 servers with 16 Gig ram, each has 3-Gigabit Ethernet adapters and 1 USB external drive dock. (I will install ESXi on these servers)
My storage is in the form of the following:
Qnap TS-879 pro with 8 1Terebyte spindles. 2 Gigabit ports.
My network switches are as follows:
1 DLINK DGS 1216T 16 port Gigabit managed switch.
1 NetGear prosafe GS748T 48 port Gigabit managed switch.
3 Netgear GS116 16 port Gigabit unmanaged switches.
I am struggling with the setup but I am considering the following:
The 16 desktops and 2 ports of the 16 servers attach to the 48 port switch. using up a total of 48 ports. using vlans, I can have my Host management network and my vmotion network.
What about my storage network? I guess I can connect some of the ports on one of the 16 port switches and then connect them together. I know I need at least 18 ports for that. (16 server and 2 for the NAS)
I am sure I also need a production network for my Vms. I could "double up" and use one port for both management and vmotion, or even add the san network to the same adapter. After all, each student would usually only be working with a couple of hosts and half a dozen Vms each.
I have a little 12u rack and 4-48 port patch panels. I know some of the other teachers want to use the lab for TCP-IP fundimentals and Exchange Server classes so I want to panel everything so that patc cables could be shifted.
Another consideration. The classroom has 20 wall ports leading out to the schools gateway router for Internet access. Should I try to include this as well?
I am trying to consider the basics, but I would appreciate any assistance the forum members could offer. Some of you folks could figure this out in your sleep.
P.S. I do have a old HP Procurve 4000M switch with 80 ports I could bring out of retirement if it would help.
Thanks for any advice you could offer.
Regards,
JCT