A VMware lab can come in many forms. You can use standard rack servers installed in your basement, you can use your desktop PC, you can run several small PCs as an Intel Next Unit of Computing (NUC) to host your ESXi servers, you can rent a physical server from a number of service providers, or you can use a cloud environment to host your virtual ESXi hypervisors.

The aim is to find the sweet spot between cost and functionality. Of course, it would be nice to run your blade chassis with multiple physical servers and fiber-channel storage, but the cost of such a solution would probably be too high.

It is important to note that whatever your decision, in most cases, it won't be supported by VMware at all. You can't expect any support from the VMware support team and you will be responsible for any problems you have with your lab. In order to get official support, you need to have all hardware components listed in the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL). However, community support is still available. If you run into any problems, you can try asking a question on the public VMware forums at the following link: https://communities.vmware.com/index.jspa.

No matter what platform you choose, you should carefully plan the resources the platform will require and any additional hardware you might need. Think about the following questions:

• Which CPU and memory resources do you need?
• What is the size of the storage and what is its performance like?
• Do you need additional physical components, such as switches or storage arrays?
• Where will the lab be located?
• What will the energy consumption of your lab be like?

Another factor might be the time span of the lab or proof of concept (PoC):

• Short-term: You only need to run the lab for a few weeks or months to test the individual components or for exam preparation
• Long-term: You would like to run the lab for months or even years so that you have an environment that you can come back to whenever you need it

The duration of the lab project or PoC will, of course, affect the overall cost of the solution. Let's take a look at the different options for your lab and their pros and cons.