I recently got an old Dell T5500 workstation and verified it can run esxi 6.7. I'm waiting for hard drive to arrive so I can install 6.7 and then learn about VMware and then install some simulators from NetApp and EMC to better learn some new storage products. I'll also create windows VMs to learn the latest SQL server etc.
Although I am familiar with with window servers I know next to nothing about vmware. That's what this home lab is for - to learn. Once I have esxi installed I will need to get other software downloaded from the web to start building those environments. I'll have the 1GB ethernet cable running to my BGW210 gateway for internet access. At this point the host will have no other OS on it other than esxi. Is there anyway I can connect this host to the internet to start down loading VSAs and windows server etc. Or do I need to create a Windows VM first to be able to get access to internet?