Running ESXi on a Mac mini made by Apple is nothing new. There are many opportunities to consider when you want to build a VMware vSphere Lab or a Homeserver. In this post I am going to cover capabilities, accessories and issues you might encounter in the newest release: Mac mini MD387, Mac mini MD388 and the slightly enhanced Mac mini Server MD389 from 2012/2013. Mac mini offers great performance and is small in size and power consumption and thus makes it a great candidate for running ESXi at home.

The latest version offers 3 models which are different in CPU performance and HDD capacity. The Server version has two 2,5" hard drives:

Apple Mac Mini MD387LL/A - Intel Core i5 (Up to 2x 3.1 GHz)

Apple Mac Mini MD388LL/A - Intel Core i7 (Up to 4x 3.3 GHz)

Apple Mac Mini MD389LL/A Server - Intel Core i7 (Up to 4x 3.3 GHz)

Features

Mac mini is a fully configured ready-to-run system including:

Mac mini Chassis

CPU

4GB memory

Hard drive: 500GB (MD387) / 1TB (MD388) / 2x 1TB (MD389)

Internal PSU

Power Cord

HDMI to DVI Adapter

To run ESXi I would suggest to have additionally:

16GB Memory (2x 8GB)

USB Flash Driver for ESXi Installation

Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

SSD as second drive

Data Double (required to fit a second drive into MD387/MD388)

Model comparison

MD387LL/A MD388LL/A MD389LL/A Server Form factor Mac mini Unibody Processor Core i5-3210M Core i7-3615QM Core i7-3615QM Clock Speed 2.5 GHz (3.1 max) 2.3 GHz (3.3 max) 2.3 GHz (3.3 max) Cores 2 4 4 HT YES YES YES Max Memory 16 GB 16 GB 16 GB Network 1x 1Gb Ethernet 1x 1Gb Ethernet 1x 1Gb Ethernet Ports 4x USB 3.0

1x Thunderbolt

1x Firewire 800 4x USB 3.0

1x Thunderbolt

1x Firewire 800 4x USB 3.0

1x Thunderbolt

1x Firewire 800 Hard drive 500 GB (5400 RPM) 1 TB (5400 RPM) 2x 1 TB (5400 RPM) VT-x with EPT YES YES YES AES YES NO NO TDP 35 W 45 W 45 W

HCL and ESXi 5.x Support

The system has hardware support for virtualization and a 64-bit capable CPU. There are some tweaks required to get ESXi 5.x installed because the installer usually fails with a PSOD when you try to install the basic ESXi Image.

To clarify, the system is not supported by VMware (No HCL entry), so do not use this System in a productive environment. As a home lab, or a small home server it should be fine.