Hi All, long lost thread. I get too many emails...
Anywho, my setup. I have three Mac minis with ESXi 6.5 on them, specs below.
Hypervisor: VMware ESXi, 6.5.0, 4564106
Model: Macmini6,2
Processor Type: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3720QM CPU @ 2.60GHz
Logical Processors: 8
NICs: 1
Virtual Machines: 5
State: Connected
Uptime: 76 days
I also have a Dell R610 I saved from a dumpster I've been playing around with. Since this isn't a Mac, it can't host any Mac VMs. It runs some Linux and Windows guests.
These are managed through a EvalExperience license of VSphere (well, at least the 3 Minis in the cluster. The Dell is running the free version of ESXi). None of these can be upgraded to newer versions past 6.5, as their processors don't have the latest virtualization features VMWare uses in the newer versions.
ESX02 runs most of my home automation servers.
Guest OS: Apple Mac OS X 10.12 (64-bit)
Compatibility: ESXi 6.5 and later (VM version 13)
VMware Tools: Running, version:10278 (Current)
More info
DNS Name: Indigo.[domainname.tld]
IP Addresses: 10.0.5.40
View all 2 IP addresses
Host: 10.0.1.102
2x CPUs, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB HDD.
Indigo (non-admin user) auto logs in, auto starts Indigo.
Insteon USB modem is passed through the hypervisor to the guest through Edit Settings on the VM.
I use VMWare Fusion on my laptop to create VMs and upload them to the cluster. You can't get to all the advanced settings through Fusion, but it's great to build the VM, make sure everything is working, then upload it to the cluster. There you log into the VSphere/ESXi web interface to change the pass through settings, network settings, etc.
For resources, I really like the website
https://www.virtuallyghetto.com - William there really digs deep into VMWare on a Mac. I was running on an Xserve 3,1 at my old place, but that would randomly hang. Not the PSOD either, so couldn't get errors. Got 3 minis surplus from the local college several years ago so made those in to a cluster at my new place.
On the Minis, ESXi is installed onto a cheap USB flash drive plugged into the Mini. Internal storage (one SSD and one HDD each) are used for storage.
What more specific things would you like to know?
Alexander