I’m sharing my home lab setup for those who need help building an ESXi/vCenter, Hyper-V/SCVMM home lab.
Overview of the Lab
I built a home lab to play with stuff and build and break things. In addition to giving me an environment to practice, my home lab allows me to learn.
Moreover, since I write about technology, having a test environment at home provides me with an actual working infrastructure to show screenshots when I write how-to guides.
Finally, this lab is Windows/VMWare-focussed – the lab allows me to write about migrating VMware ESXi/vCenter VMs to Windows Hyper-V/SCVMM VMs.
Okay, enough of the intro, let’s get down to business!
The Lab Kits
The environment is made up of the following kits:
Computers and Monitors
| Make/Model | Quantity | Total RAM | CPU | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dell OptiPlex 7020 SFF | 2 | 32 GB | Intel Core i5-4590 3.30GHz | 1×110 GB SSD, 1×1 TB HDD |
| HP ENVY x360 Convertible | 1 | 32 GB | Intel Core i7-7500U 2.70GHz | 1×250 GB SSD, 1×1 TB HDD |
| HP EliteDesk 800 G2 SFF | 1 | 32 GB | Intel Core i5-6500 3.2 GHz | 1×256 GB SSD |
| Dell Latitude E7470 | 1 | 16 GB | Intel Core i7-6600U 2.60GHz | 1x1x2 TB SSD |
External Storage
I also have 2x1TB External USB drives.
Ethernet Hub
I have 2 hubs. The first is my internet Wi-Fi hub.
I then connected another 5-port hub to one of the “main” hub ports to expand the number of ports.
Lab Configuration
In this section, I will specify what each computer does. I will also explain the network configuration – IPs, default gateways, and DNS – for all the computers.
ESXi Hosts
My VMware configuration is made of 2 ESXi hosts. I deployed a vCenter Appliance 8 server, then, created a vCenter cluster with the two ESXi hosts.
The table below details the VMware configuration for my two ESXi hosts.
| Computer Make/Model | Host Name | IP Address | DNS Server |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dell OptiPlex 7020 SFF | IPMpVMW1 | 192.168.0.100 | 192.168.0.80 |
| Dell OptiPlex 7020 SFF | IPMpVMW2 | 192.168.0.102 | 192.168.0.80 |
vCenter, Datacenter, Cluster
| Item | Host Name | IP Address | DNS Server |
|---|---|---|---|
| vCenter Server Appliance | IPMvVCSA1 | 192.168.0.111 | 192.168.0.80 |
| vCenter Datacenter | lab-datacenter-1 | NA | NA |
| vCenter Cluster | lab-cluster-1 | NA | NA |
ESXi Hosts/vCenter Datastores
| Datastore name | Available to (ESXi Hosts) |
|---|---|
| iSCSIDatastore | IPMpVMW1, IPMpVMW2 |
Hyper-V Hosts
| Computer Make/Model | Host Name | IP Address | DNS Server |
|---|---|---|---|
| HP ENVY x360 Convertible | IPMpHPV4 | 192.168.0.104 | 192.168.0.80 |
| HP EliteDesk 800 G2 SFF | IPMpHPV5 | 192.168.0.105 | 192.168.0.80 |
Hyper-V Cluster, VMMLibrary, Veeam, and VMM
| Item | Host Name | IP Address | DNS Server |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCVMM VM | IPMvVMM | 192.168.0.106 | 192.168.0.80 |
| Hyper-V Cluster | lab-cluster-2 | 192.168.0.107 | 192.168.0.80 |
| SCVMM Shared Library | lab-vmm-lib* | 192.168.0.108 | 192.168.0.80 |
| Veeam Backup repository | IPMvVBR | 192.168.0.113 | 192.168.0.80 |
*lab-vmm-lib is a clustered file server that serves as a Shared Library for SCVMM
Storage Configuration
The 2 TB SSD of the Dell Latitude E7470 provides the storage for the ESXi datastore. The table below specifies the laptop’s storage configuration.
| Partition # | Partition size | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 120 GB | OS Install Disk |
| 1 | 1790 GB | For creating NFS Share for the ESXi datastore |
For the Hyper-V storage, I used a 1 TB USB drive – connected to Dell Latitude E7470 – to create iSCSC virtual disks. I used a second 1 TB USB drive as my Veeam Backup Repository.
Windows iSCSI Server
| Computer Make/Model | Host Name | IP Address | DNS Server |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dell Latitude E7470 | IPMpiSCSI2 | 192.168.0.109 | 192.168.0.80 |
Configure the iSCSI Targets
The table below details the specs described above. The configurations below are completed on the iSCSI server, IPMpiSCSI2.
Create the iSCSI virtual disks ClusterQuorum, VMMLibrary, and CSV on the 1TB external USB drive. The second 1 TB USB drive is used to create an iSCSI virtual disk for the Veeam backup.
| iSCSI Virtual Disk (LUM) Name | Virtual Disk Size | iSCSI target | iSCSI Initiators |
|---|---|---|---|
| QuorumvDisk | 1 GB | HypervStorage | IPMpHPV4.lab.infopressmedia.com, IPMpHPV5.lab.infopressmedia.com |
| VMMLibvDisk | 120 GB | HypervStorage | IPMpHPV4.lab.infopressmedia.com, IPMpHPV5.lab.infopressmedia.com |
| CSVvDisk | 835 GB | HypervStorage | IPMpHPV4.lab.infopressmedia.com, IPMpHPV5.lab.infopressmedia.com |
| VeeamDisk | 1 TB | VeeamStorage | IPMvVBR.lab.infopressmedia.com |
Select the Dynamically expanding option.
While creating ClusterQuorum virtual disk, create the HypervStorage iSCSI target. After that, while creating the other two iSCSI virtual disks, assign the HypervStorage iSCSI target.
Before connecting the Hyper-V hosts to the iSCSI target, wait for the iSCSI virtual
For the Hyper-V hosts to access the iSCSI volumes, follow these steps:
- From the first Hyper-V host, IPMpHPV4, use the iSCSI target to connect to the HypervStorage target. Once the host is connected, the 3 LUMs in the above table will become available in Disk Management
- Then, from Windows Disk Management, configure the partitions as shown in this table,
| Disk # | Partition Size | File System | Drive Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 GB | NTFS | Q |
| 2 | 120 GB | NTFS | E |
| 3 | 835 GB | NTFS | No Drive Letter |
- Finally, sign in to the second Hyper-V host, IPMpHPV5, and use the iSCSI initiator to connect to the HypervStorage iSCSI target. Once the 3 LUMs are available to the second host, you’re done – NO NEED to format the disks on the second host!
Configure the ESXi Datastore
When I built my ESXi lab, I used my Windows iSCSI Server to create a datastore. However, once I deploy a VM to the datastore, it freezes and I had to rebuild my vCenter VM altogether.
After this happened about 4 times, I decided to use a Windows Server NFS Share for the ESXi datastores.
Configure a Veeam Backup Repository
To use the iSCSI target as a Veeam backup repository, sign in to the Veeam server. Then, open iSCSI Initiator app and connect to the iSCSI target (provide the IP address of the Windows iSCSI server).
After that, bring the disk online via Disk Management, initialize it, create a Simple Volume, assign a drive letter, and format it. Finally, create a Veeam Backup Repository with the disk.
Windows AD Domain
It is important to mention that, installing Service Center Virtual Machine Manager requires Active Directory. For my lab, my domain is called corp.itechguides.com.
I have a single Domain Controller Windows Domain. The DC is a VM I created on my Windows 11 PC which I use as a Hyper-V host.
As part of AD deployment, I configured the DC as a DNS server as well. So, for all configurations in my lab – vCenter, Hyper-V cluster, and SCVMM – I use this VM as my DNS server.
Finally, I configured my configured my AD domain as an identity source in vCenter. This allows me to sign in to vCenter with my Active Directory domain accounts instead of using the local vCenter accounts.
Conclusion
The home lab I described in this article includes a Hyper-V/SCVMM and an ESXi/vCenter configuration. With this setup, I’m able to play with both hypervisors.
In addition to playing with the individual hypervisors, I was able to test migrating VMware VMs to Hyper-V VMs.
I hope you were able to create your home lab using the information I provided in this hands-on guide. I would be extremely grateful if you could share your home lab setup with me and our readers.
To share your lab setup, use our “Leave a comment” form at the bottom of this page. Finally, before you run, kindly let me know what you think about this guide by responding to our “Was this page helpful?” feedback request below.
