Laboratorio virtuale in casa - parte 3

Dopo il primo articolo introduttivo e il secondo in cui abbiamo visto Proxmox, nella terza puntata di oggi vedremo la soluzione basata su VMware ESXi.

Procediamo con l’installazione utilizzando la seguente configurazione:

• tastiera e mouse collegati (porte USB posteriori)
• chiavetta USB con Ventoy (porta USB frontale)
• cavo video HDMI
• cavo di rete collegato alla porta Ethernet 2.5Gbps

PROBLEMA 1: Una volta avviato il setup dal menu di avvio ci troviamo in breve di fronte ad una schermata di errore dal titolo “No Network Adapters”.

Ubiquiti NanoStation LocoM5 - Access point setup

A little over a week ago, I got my hands on a Ubiquiti device, in particular the NanoStation LocoM5. A friend of mine recovered a couple, now disused, from the hotel where he works.

It is hardware now out of production, but that is more than fine if used as a temporary backup solution (access point). Powered by passive PoE, it works on a frequency band of 5 GHz.

First, we reset the device to restart it with the factory configurations. With a toothpick or a paper clip you simply hold down the reset button on the bottom of the LocoM5 for at least ten seconds. We will see the various LEDs light up and blinking.

Virtual Home Lab - part 2

Here we are, albeit after some time, with the second article on how to create your own virtual home lab.

After an introductory and generic first article we will see today the solution based on ProxMox. In particular, the installation process together with a whole series of small tricks useful for solving various problems encountered.

We insert our USB hub with the mouse and keyboard connected on one of the front ports. On the other we connect the USB stick with Ventoy and the ProxMox ISO. Remember to connect the network cable to one of the interfaces. In our case we will use the 2.5Gbps one.
Let’s start the MinisForum H80 and press F7 so that we can choose the correct entry from the boot menu. ProxMox after the first initialization operations seems to get stuck on a similar screen:

Virtual Home Lab - part 1

This is the first in a series of articles dedicated to creating a a virtual home lab using as hardware a mini-pc, in this case a MinisForum H80.

We will see the tests done with 2 software solutions for virtualization. On the one hand the “open source” one with Proxmox VE, on the other the “closed” one of VMWare ESXi.

This is the lineup of the series:

• Part 1: introduction and overview of the HW and SW used
• Part 2: solution using ProxMox
• Part 3: solution using VMWare ESXi
• Part 4: choice, considerations and conclusions