I'm thinking of building up a desktop (you can call it home server) for VMware vSphere Hypervisor to test at home for educational purposes. I'm currently using a >6yr old Dell laptop which cannot support VMware vSphere Hypervisor. I do not have opportunity in my working environment to have hands on VMware. VCP5 course is expensive here in Malaysia, about 3 times salary of a fresh grad. If you have 1/3 savings, it would take 9 months of saving to just register for the course. Also i would need to take 5 days leave for the course, they do not have weekend class.
My plan is to setup for lab testing (VCP5 exam) and eventually setup 4 VMs. What are the cheapest way to build this ESXi server for testing?
Processor - AMD FX-6100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103962
Motherboard - ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX [Micro-ATX]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157323
RAM - 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231606
Network adapter - Realtek 8111E (embedded with Mobo)
HDD - WD Green WD10EZRX 1TB IntelliPower (do not plan for any RAID setup)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236070
Casing - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
Power Supply - COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus 500W or COOLER MASTER GX 450W RS450
I do have experince in building my own desktop back in the years of pentium - pentium 4. But i certainly do not have experience in building such a complicated system also I'm total newbie for VMware. I would need your need help and advice to avoid buying wrong devices for my setup.
my budget would be RM3000 which is about USD1000. (Now I think I can have below USD600 after opt to have AMD over Intel i7)
Thanks
*Some useful links that I have found
Hardware setup
http://wahlnetwork.com/2012/03/13/building-esxi-5-whitebox-home-lab-servers/
http://vdestination.com/2011/01/19/building-a-home-lab-101/
Configuration (setup Lab environment, may not apply to me)
http://professionalvmware.com/2012/05/vsphere-5-autolab/
http://www.vmwarevideos.com/video-my-home-vmware-vsphere-lab