Like the OP I just wanted to have a play with VMs and learn a little about servers in general, my background is non IT but an interest in it (currently pursuing Cisco CCNA)
Last year I picked up a Dell power edge 860 from eBay for about £110 very basic with none of the bells and whistles like raid etc but does the job with a single duel core Xeon and 4mb ram Looking on eBay now shows old rack servers galore for peanuts.
I installed the free esxi hyper visor, installed vsphere on my laptop and grabbed the 120 day trial of win server 2008r2 to install on it.
The initial setup of esxi and installing the VMs was very simple even for a noob like me, and for when you feel adventurous google is, as always, your friend.
I would warn the OP though, the nagging from 'er in doors about the constant whine from the fans can lead to trouble! Then again the fans on the PE860 were but a whisper compared to the "orangutan in a blender" howl of the freebie PE2950 from work :D. Wonder if I can water cool it?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
