It is not new to install ESXi on Mac Mini for technical person . There are lots of benefits to do this. I have been used ESXi 5.5/6 on my Mac Mini 5.1 for many years now. Just recently I have got two Mac Mini 3.1  to play at my home and I was wondering if it is possible to get ESXi on them.

I have two types of Mac Mini 3.1, one is regular with one hard drive and one optical drive. Another Mac Mini 3.1 is server version. There is no optical drive but two hard drive installed.

The result is surprising and working very well although I had a small hiccup on storage adapter. First thing I did is to upgrade the RAM from 4G to 8G which is maximum you can have. You can not start installing process if you only have 4G RAM. I did not try 16G RAM since no one succeed that by googled online. It is enough to get me run 2-3 VMs anyway.

Proxmox VE is a complete open-source platform for all-inclusive enterprise virtualization that tightly integrates KVM hypervisor and LXC containers, software-defined storage and networking functionality on a single platform, and easily manages high availability clusters and disaster recovery tools with the built-in web management interface.

The enterprise-class features and the 100% software-based focus make Proxmox VE the perfect choice to virtualize your IT infrastructure, optimize existing resources, and increase efficiencies with minimal expense. You can easily virtualize even the most demanding Linux and Windows application workloads, and dynamically scale-out your computing and storage as your needs grow ensuring to stay adaptable for future growth of your data center. You can easily use Proxmox VE to control KVM and OpenVZ virtual machines and create a small computing cloud with it.

YouTube Video: Install ProxMox 5.3 into VMware Workstation

VMware vCenter Server provides centralized visibility, proactive management and extensibility for VMware vSphere from a single console.

The easiest way to deploy vCenter server is to use vCenter server appliance, which is a Linux-based virtual appliance used to manage vSphere. Following steps shows the procedures how this virtual appliacne deployed into ESXi environment.

1. Download Software

There are a couple of options you can download.
a. Download .iso file to install vCenter into windows / linux environment.
b. Download .ova virtual appliance to deploy it into virtual environment
c. Download ovf file, vmdk system disk and vmdk data disk to deploy template into virtual environment.

In my lab, I selected single 2g single ova file to download and deploy it into my ESXi 5.5 server.

2. Deploy it into ESXi

Deployment procedure for this virtual vCenter appliace is same as other virtual appliances. After imported into ESXi, you can review Vmware vCenter Server Appliance's Virtual Machine Properties again. By default, it uses 8G memory, 2 CPUs, Hard disk 1 is 25G system disk and Hard disk 2 is 100G data disk.

3. Power on Vmware vCenter Server Appliance

After system fully powers on, you will get vSphere Web Client URL. In my this case, it is https://192.168.2.220:5480/

 4. Log into Web Client using a browser with default username root and password vmware.

5. Use Vmware vSphere Client to log into vCenter using ip address 192.168.2.220

6. Add ESXi into vCenter 

 Enter my ESXi 5.5 ip address192.168.2.201, root username and password , then next step.

7. Problem to add ESXi

My ESXi has been used for more than 1 year, and evaluation expired. I did get a free license from Vmware website for my personal usage. Unfortunately, vCenter can not allow any expired or non-evaluation ESXi machine to be added.

• vSphere Essentials
  
  Licensing an ESXi host with vSphere Essentials allows you to manage three ESXi hosts using vCenter Server. For more information on purchasing vSphere Essentials, see VMware vSphere and VMware vCenter Server Pricing.
    
• vSphere Standard, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus
  
  Licensing the ESXi host with one these products unlocks the add-on features that allow you to manage ESXi hosts using vCenter Server. For more information about these products, see Compare vSphere Editions.

• For more information on licensing an ESX/ESXi 4.x host, see Licensing ESX 4.x, ESXi 4.x, and vCenter Server 4.x (1010839).
• For more information on licensing an ESXi 5.x host, see Licensing ESXi 5.x and vCenter Server 5.x (2014295).
• For more information on licensing an ESXi 6.x host, see Licensing ESXi 6.x and vCenter Server 6.x (2107538).

" 

Official way is to get an license for your vSphere. But we will have another easy way to reset ESXi into an evaluation mode for 60 days. You always can reset it again after expired.

8. Reset my ESXi to evaluation mode

a. For ESXi 4.1/5.0
cd /etc/vmware
rm-r vmware.lic
rm-r license.cfg
"reboot" or "services.sh restart"

b.For ESXi 5.1 + (used for my machine ESXi 5.5)
rm -r /etc/vmware/license.cfg
cp /etc/vmware/.#license.cfg /etc/vmware/license.cfg
/etc/init.d/vpxa restart

After did above steps reset the machine into evaluation mode, please go to Licence configuration page and put back to Evaluate Mode for 60 new Days

Cisco released ASA Software Version 9.4(x) on March 2015. Thre are some new features from release note in the Cisco website. I am going to give it a try to add it into my testing environment using Vmware workstation or ESXi. Some old ASA versions have been tested in my previous posts:

1. ASA 9.21 in Vmware Workstation 10
2. ASA 8.42 in VMware Workstation
3. ASA 8.02 in Vmware Workstation

Download ASA v 9.4.1

Here are some download links we could find from Internet.
1. Cisco Software Download Site

2. from http://pan.baidu.com/s/1gdiZ7kJ

Problems when importing into Vmware Workstation / ESXi

1. Using OVA file

But When tried to open in the workstation, there is error which says "Line 264: Unsupported element 'Property'."

Tried again in ESXi 5.5, File -> Deploy OVF Template ...
But it seems same error message when tried to open downloaded asav941.ova file.
"
The OVF package requires support for OVF Properties
Line 264: Unsupported element 'Property'.
"

2. Using vmdk File

I thought I may use vmdk's file to add them into workstation or ESXi. I did find a vmware package from http://pan.baidu.com/s/1kT25ngz with following files:

Unfortunately, it does not boot properly into configuration mode. Eventually it will dip into a reboot loop. Captured screenshots with my testing in Vmware workstation and ESXi show all steps below:

2.1. Opened in the Vmware Workstation

 2.2. Since my Vmware Workstation host does not support VT-x, it will not be able to power on.

2.3. Workstation Connect to ESXi

2.4. Upload workstation vm into ESXi. That was successful

2.5. ESXi vm's configuraiton

 2.6. It got into a rebooting loop.

In my previous post "Cisco ASAv 9.4.1 and ASDM 7.4.1 in Workstation / ESXi (1)", I tested the importing both OVA and VMDK file into Workstation and ESXi, but both ways failed. Those files are found and downloaded from Internet for only testing purpose. I believe those are good files and somebody has tested them. The only reason for my failure is because I am not using a right way to do it. In my old testing posts I have tested other versions such as 9.2.1, 8.42 and 8.02. All were successful loaded in either Vmware Workstation or ESXi.

1. ASA 9.21 in Vmware Workstation 10
2. ASA 8.42 in VMware Workstation
3. ASA 8.02 in Vmware Workstation

To find out the why this time failed I searched online again. My searching is based on error message I got from ESXi:
"
The OVF package requires support for OVF Properties
Line 264: Unsupported element 'Property'.
"
Following two links explains why , also both gives a solution , which is Vmware vCenter will be able to help load ASAv 9.4.1 into ESXi or ESX. Actually Vmeare vSphere Client has to connect to vCenter first then deploy this asav941.ova into ESX/ESXi host.

• http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/dfa/troubleshooting/guide/b-dfa-trouble/b-DFA-Troubleshooting_chapter_0100.html
• https://www-304.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSCR9A_2.0.0/doc/ICON/topics/tsicn_ovafailsproperty.html

When license agreement window popped up, accept it then next.

4. Choose vm's name

5. NICs configuration. 

By default, there are 10 NICs and all of them are in same virtual network. In my case, it automatically set to connect to VM DMZ network.

6. Some other parameters.

7. Review all configuration

8. After 3-5 minutes importing process deponding on your connection speed, you should get a new VM in your ESXi. 

And you can power VM on and get booting window from console.

9. VM will reboot itself once then you will get this lovely ciscoasa prompt

Reference: