A VMware lab can come in many forms. You can use standard rack servers installed in your basement, you can use your desktop PC, you can run several small PCs as an Intel Next Unit of Computing (NUC) to host your ESXi servers, you can rent a physical server from a number of service providers, or you can use a cloud environment to host your virtual ESXi hypervisors.
The aim is to find the sweet spot between cost and functionality. Of course, it would be nice to run your blade chassis with multiple physical servers and fiber-channel storage, but the cost of such a solution would probably be too high.
It is important to note that whatever your decision, in most cases, it won't be supported by VMware at all. You can't expect any support from the VMware support team and you will be responsible for any problems you have with your lab. In order to...