What is a Nested ESXi solution ?
It is referring to virtualize your virtualization environment, so ESXi will be installed as a VM, hosted itself on a physical ESXi host.
Why to use it?
Definitely is not a solution for Production but is a good one for DEV/Testing environments or for your lab to test various products/scenarious. I’ve chosen this solution for my own Lab which is currently running on a Dell PowerEdge R430 with ESXi 7 and vSphere 7 (testing purpose).
Step 1
Installed the physical server with ESXi 7, first using a USB to boot the installer.
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/001-1024x194.png)
Step 2
Installed vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) on ESXi7
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Screenshot-2020-06-04-at-13.45.21-1024x407.png)
Note: I will not describe ESXi and vCSA installation here – this is not the goal of this post, there are many other articles about it, just Google it 😉 !
Step 3
Created a new VM where I have installed ESXi. I put 4 CPUs, 6 GB RAM and also checked Expose hardware assisted virtualization to the guest OS.
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/DB110C60-5377-4C90-9FD8-FD960058CAC1-1024x493.png)
I would recommend to use thin provisioned disks.
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/A4DC187E-4831-4726-8B52-01709FDF5723-1024x803.png)
CD/DVD Media – make sure you will choose ESXi installer and check Connect as Power On.
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/EF855576-DC1B-4707-887A-CFF1191A7044-1024x263.png)
Step 4
Start the new VM and install ESXi.
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/002.png)
Now we have the second ESXi 7 host where IP address is 192.168.0.116
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/003-1024x298.png)
Step 5
Let’s add the new host in vSphere. Right click on Datacenter and Add Host…
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/D8D9CE3D-FB48-47C5-B675-DE34BAE37358-1024x709.png)
Fill the new IP address – 192.168.0.116 in this case, and press Next.
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/B2092122-9799-48C2-972D-4ACD9E550978_4_5005_c.jpeg)
Put the connection details for the new ESXi – configured during installation.
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/BD842E72-5408-43B8-9764-B9412883EAA4_4_5005_c.jpeg)
Here you go!
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/879A349E-8808-47B5-AB22-C5501729A137_4_5005_c.jpeg)
Now I have 2 ESXi hosts in my Lab and I’m ready to test other VMware features 😉
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/785A84FE-0297-4D14-A01F-700551E1719B-1024x551.png)
For now I will keep Maintenance Mode, so no activities on VMs hosted on this new host.
![](http://bogdanburuiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Screenshot-2020-06-04-at-15.21.24-1024x542.png)