Is ESXi the way to go?

Phrozenpenguin · 30 Sep 2011 at 12:34

I'm looking for some advice regarding setting up an ESXi box for running multiple virtual machines (which is what I think I want).
I want to buy a decent machine, and run a mix of production and testing servers, maybe some networked storage, maybe a router and potentially more. Can I do this with ESXi - and what is the best way to manage it; do I need another machine? Can I login remotely over the internet?
It looks like I can do internal network switching within ESXi; is this true?
Basically I want one machine that I can run lots of different OS / machines / test beds on - is ESXi the way to go, or something else?
Thanks for any advice.

Phrozenpenguin · 1 Oct 2011 at 04:18

Thanks. ESXi get an all round better reputation than Hyper-V. Will I need another machine to administer the virtual machines running on ESXi - or how does it work?

Phrozenpenguin · 5 Oct 2011 at 06:35

Sorry, my question was badly worded. Can I plug a screen into the ESXi box and use that for one of the virtual machines?

Phrozenpenguin · 5 Oct 2011 at 23:15

blastman, thanks for the info. There is a lot of potential - I have some reading to do!

Phrozenpenguin · 7 Nov 2011 at 04:10

Thanks for the continued input. I will take another look at HyperV and an initial look at Citrix, but for what I need ESXi looks ideal.