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gallagauge
Contributor
Contributor

esxi 5 free hypervisor?

I saw that there is a new version of esxi (version 5).

Will there be a version 5 of the free VMware vSphere Hypervisor or is this product going to stay at version 4.1?

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MauroBonder
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Version 4.1 will remain in the market for some time, but it is recommended to upgrade version. The version of ESXi, continues to have the trial version, and licensed.


Please, don't forget the awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers. 

Mauro Bonder - Moderator

*Please, don't forget the awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers. *Por favor, não esqueça de atribuir os pontos se a resposta foi útil ou resolveu o problema.* Thank you/Obrigado
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gallagauge
Contributor
Contributor

So just to be clear, is it safe to say that after esxi 4.1 there will no longer be a free version of vmware hypervisor?

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MauroBonder
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Check out the newly updated "Licensing, Pricing and Packaging" White Paper.

ESX(I) free will keep available.


Please, don't forget the awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers. 

Mauro Bonder - Moderator

*Please, don't forget the awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers. *Por favor, não esqueça de atribuir os pontos se a resposta foi útil ou resolveu o problema.* Thank you/Obrigado
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nr122
Contributor
Contributor

where in the new licensing, pricing, and packaging does it mention the free version of vSphere Hypervisor?

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DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

Hypervisor will still be available as a free product going forward

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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nr122
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you

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gallagauge
Contributor
Contributor

So will there be a version 5 of vSphere Hypervisor or is this product now completely separate from the versioning of ESXi?

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MauroBonder
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Discussion moved from VMware vSphere Hypervisor to VMware ESXi 5

*Please, don't forget the awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers. *Por favor, não esqueça de atribuir os pontos se a resposta foi útil ou resolveu o problema.* Thank you/Obrigado
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Josh26
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Rememeber that "ESXi 4.1 free" or "ESXi 4.1 Hypervisor" is just "ESXi 4.1 without a purchase license". There should be no difference with this in version 5 - it doesn't make sense to talk about it as having different versions.

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peetz
Leadership
Leadership

You can already register for the download of the new version 5 of the Free VMware vSphere Hypervisor (the new name for ESXi), and you will get informed as soon as the product is released and available for download:

http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/overview.html

Andreas

- VMware Front Experience Blog

Twitter: @VFrontDe, @ESXiPatches | https://esxi-patches.v-front.de | https://vibsdepot.v-front.de
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Jackobli
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

I did look on the mentioned site, but couldn't find any registration.

The link for the download of free Esx(i) still leads to 4.1. But hey, it's quite new. Who knows, perhaps they make it available the next some days or I have to complain in Las Vegas at VMworld 😉

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rickardnobel
Champion
Champion

Josh26 wrote:

Rememeber that "ESXi 4.1 free" or "ESXi 4.1 Hypervisor" is just "ESXi 4.1 without a purchase license". There should be no difference with this in version 5 - it doesn't make sense to talk about it as having different versions.

I think it is good to talk about it as different versions since it has created a lot of confusion about whether ESXi is free or not. It is more clear with different product names in my opinion.

Besides, there are some technical differences, you can not run writable remote CLI against the Free Hypervisor version for example.

My VMware blog: www.rickardnobel.se
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RogerThomas
Contributor
Contributor

It exists as VMware vSphere Hypervisor,

It's rather key limitations are

1) You can not make changes to an environment with anything other than the GUI - so no CLI.

2) VMware vSphere Hypervisor includes a VRAM entitlement of 8GB

Item 2 is a bit of a joke, how many people use ESXi with only 8GByte of RAM!

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rickardnobel
Champion
Champion

RogerThomas wrote:

2) VMware vSphere Hypervisor includes a VRAM entitlement of 8GB

Thats too bad. I guess this will make the vSphere Hypervisor useless in almost all cases and will force all really small VMware users to Hyper-V.

My VMware blog: www.rickardnobel.se
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RogerThomas
Contributor
Contributor

I expect to start looking at XENServer as there is no need to purchase MS licences and they have a good blend of features across their releases, but as a medium term solution as my current 4.1 licences will keep me going for a good year or so.

The new limit seems just a bit daft as it means I have more memory allocated to my VMWARE Workstation environment than I will be allowed to allocate to a 'VMware vSphere Hypervisor' system!

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rickardnobel
Champion
Champion

RogerThomas wrote:

The new limit seems just a bit daft as it means I have more memory allocated to my VMWARE Workstation environment than I will be allowed to allocate to a 'VMware vSphere Hypervisor' system!

I was thinking of that too. I am having 16 GB of RAM in this PC running Windows 7 and VMware Workstation, really strange that it should scale better than the free Hypervisor.

I wonder what the reason for this could be. When Microsoft has the free Hyper-V version based on Server Core available for small business companies, it is somewhat unlogical for VMware to make the VMware product unavailable.

My VMware blog: www.rickardnobel.se
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vlho
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

8GB vRAM max for freeware ESXi?

I'm shocked...

Little question: 8GB vRAM max. per CPU or per physical server?

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RogerThomas
Contributor
Contributor

vlho wrote:

8GB vRAM max for freeware ESXi?

I'm shocked...

Little question: 8GB vRAM max. per CPU or per physical server?

That will be 8GB per physical server, but there does not seem to be a limit on the number of CPUs :smileyconfused:

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Jackobli
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

RogerThomas wrote:

vlho wrote:

8GB vRAM max for freeware ESXi?

I'm shocked...

Little question: 8GB vRAM max. per CPU or per physical server?

That will be 8GB per physical server, but there does not seem to be a limit on the number of CPUs :smileyconfused:

No, definitively it is 8 GByte per virtual machine, not per ESXi host.

It has a socket/core limitation, but I was unable to find the number quickly. I am running a two socket, four core each machine.

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