Requirements and Recommendations minimum:
- A computer must have a compatible x86-64 CPU
- 4 cores CPU
- 32 GB of RAM
NOTE: It is possible to run your lab with 16GB of RAM, however it will be painfully slow and maybe a challenge to run a nested lab ( using VMware Workstation as hypervisor)
- It is recommended that you use SSD but you can use standard HDD. If you have high-performance disk the performance will increase.
- Enable AMD/Intel virtualization in the BIOS:
vSphere home lab diagram:

- Desktop with VMware Workstation as hypervisor.
- Network bridge connection.
- Two VMs with ESXi installed.
- One VM with Windows OS serving as DNS.
- Few virtual machines hosted on ESXi.
- vCenter hosted on one of ESXi.
- As this is home lab, there will be no VLANs, however I will use different IPs for management network, vMotion and if (in the future) I will get SAN, for storage network.
What do you need:
- VMware Workstation
- ESXi ISO
- vCenter ISO
- Windows ISO (for DNS, but this is optional. If you don’t want to set up DNS, you can set up your lab on IPs only)
- External storage (optional)
Where to get software from:
- Go to Google or any of your favorite search engine and type :
vmware esxi download
- Click on the link from VMware.
- Log in to the portal or create an account:

4. Download your Free Product