A Swiss VMware partner, Kybernetika, had a great idea: setup a complete ESX Server & VirtualCenter infrastructure and lease it for absolutely uncapped remote use.
The real good is that you can manage the whole infrastructure remotely, connecting via Remote Desktop to a Windows virtual machine offering physical servers management panels, ESX Server and VirtualCenter web and binary consoles.
The infrastructure, called Testcenter, actually offers following hardware:
- 3 Server HP Proliant DL380 (2-ways)
- 1 SAN HP MSA1500
- 2 Network Gigabit Switch HP ProCurve 3400cl-48G (redundant, deployed on a dedicated DMZ)
- 2 UPS APC (redundant)
Kybernetika offers you a whole set of operation systems ISOs trials and all VMware and Vizioncore softwares to create from scratch any kind of configuration.
I personally tried it from Italy, setting up a whole ESX Server 2.5.2 and VirtualCenter 1.3.1 datacenter, working with VMotion without problems.
The rent price is of 250 CHF, which are quite 160 Euros / 190 US Dollars, for 5 days.
Absolutely recommended for preparing to VMware Certified Professional (VCP) exams or improve confidence with VMware technologies.