VMware vSphere 5 Hypervisor running natively on the iMac (mid-2011)

[rozhasi]

Today is the last day of the tax free weekend in North Carolina, and I would like to justify purchasing a 27" iMac with 3.4 GHz i7-2600 CPU. I want to combine a desktop Mac and a beefy machine for running ESXi natively. In light of the recent announcement by VMware of vSphere 5, even more recent change of their licensing on the vSphere 5 Hypervisor free edition (up to 32 GB of vRAM per machine), and the announcement that vSphere 5 runs on Xserve, I am wondering if I will be able to install VMware Hypervisor natively on the 27" iMac with 3.4 GHz i7-2600 CPU. Currently, I am running my Cisco voice lab on a Dell server with Xeon 5620 (2.4 GHz) and 12 GB of RAM. It's a pretty big box, and I would be happy to get rid of it and combine business (my Cisco lab) with pleasure (owning and using a 27" iMac). Judging by benchmarks, the 3.4 GHz i7-2600 CPU is pretty close to the performance of the 2.4 GHz Xeon 5620. The Xeon has 8 cores and 12 MB of cache vs the i7's 4 cores and 8 MB of cache, though. So, I have a few questions:

1. If you know the modern computer hardware well, what's your opinion on the performance of the Xeon 5620 vs the 3.4 GHz i7-2600.

2. Is it realistic to expect that in a few weeks - once VMWare releases vSphere 5 Hypervisor - it will install natively on the mid-2011 iMac?

3. Provided I can install vSphere 5 Hypervisor natively on the iMac, is it possible to use the iMac's monitor to be directly connected to a VM running Mac OS on the iMac? On my Dell, the only thing that I can see on the locally attached monitor is the VMWare ESXi console. To access any other VMs' desktop, I have to RDP to them. So, is it possible to redirect one of the VM's desktop/keyboard/mouse to the locally attached (to the iMac) devices? That would allow me to use my Cisco lab running in VMs on the iMac (and being accessed remotely) and at the same time use Mac OS X (running as a VM) via the local (gorgeous) 27" display, Bluetooth keyboard, and the Bluetooth Magic trackpad.

 

Thanks.

[Grootstyr]

The only way to use a iMac as an display is to put it into Target Display mode. To achieve that mode you have to boot Mac OS X natively, and then press some buttons. The iMac cannot be used as an display for another computer while ESXi is installed on it.

 

So basically, even if ESXi installs on the iMac, you have a nice 1000-dollar cinema display going to waste. You really would not want that. Besides, the amount of input lagg between the vmware console and a virtual machine is more than you would expect. Waiting a quarter second before every click arrives gets annoying over time.

 

According to your post the Tax-free shopping is over now, but if you are still considering this option. Don't.