ESX or ESXi

[Guv]

I know some of the differences between ESX and ESXi, but I want to know when would I recommend esxi to a client and when should i recommend esx.  I want to know when is each version suitable for each situation.  Can anyone pinpoint when is each version suitable and what the advantages and disadvantages to a situation.  I need to outline this to a client.  Can anyone advise please.

[DSTAVERT]

ESX and ESXi are feature equivilent. This, 4.1 is the last version of ESX so I would only recommend ESXi.

[DSTAVERT]

Anyone who wants the console for management will be right at home installing the vMA appliance and managing from there. http://vmware.com/go/vma

[Gerrit_Lehr]

I always recommend ESXi for the mentioned reason. Except for the service console functions which are all replaced by vMA and RCLI, they are completely equal.

[idle-jam]

It has to be ESXi, as there is will be none ESX in the next release.

[AndreTheGiant]

See also: http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-11113

[bulletprooffool]

Nice doc Andre

[AndreTheGiant]

Thanks... it needs a little update... Hope to do a review in next days

Andre

[depping]

Keep it simple and always go ESXi unless there is a very very compelling reason not do it, which hardly exist anymore. As mentioned ESX 4.1 is the last version with a COS and introducing a new customer to that at this stage doesn't make sense. It is a tough learning curve already and there is no point having going through the efford twice.

vMA / vCLI / PowerCLI are there to make commandline troubleshooting / automation easier.

Duncan (VCDX)

Available now on Amazon: vSphere 4.1 HA and DRS technical deepdive

[Guv]

I am slightly confused.  So there is no new version of esx only esxi.  So will this new esxi be free or licensed.  Also esxi does not have a service console, cannot be added to virtualcentre, will this be still limited in this new esxi version

[AndreTheGiant]

For next product (name is not yet official, maybe vSphere 5.0?) there will be only ESXi.

The free version it's already called vSphere Hypervisor (http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/index.html) to avoid confusion.

Note that the "core" is the same... if you add a real license to the free version you have a licensed version (without the need of reinstall the product).

Andre

[Guv]

OK so the vsphere hypervisor is free, which i can download, so if i want to get extra features like adding onto VC, and getting drs and ha I just need to install a license.  Also the service console will also be only accessed by  an appliance as well.  Is this correct

[AndreTheGiant]

OK so the vsphere hypervisor is free, which i can download, so if i want to get extra features like adding onto VC, and getting drs and ha I just need to install a license.

Correct!

Also the service console will also be only accessed by  an appliance as well.  Is this correct

The ESXi management can be done in the management console (there still exist but it's not suggest to use it, and in vSphere 4.0 and ESXi3 was also unsupported)... or with the vMA appliance... or with vCenter Server... or with scripting (like PowerCLI).

Andre

[Guv]

so the free vmware vpshere hypervisor will have a management console to access which will be read only and it can be accessed by the mgt console or it can only be accessed when licensed.

But did nt the esxi not have a service console, is it the same for new vmware vpshere hypervisor, or when you license it the service console appears in the esx,

Can you advise.

[idle-jam]

it's the same as the older version. you can use vsphere client (rename from vi client) to connect to your management network and manage it. from there you will need to enter the free license key to prevent it from going into expired mode.

[Guv]

but with this new esx or vpshere hypervisor, does still have no service console, and when you license it for more functions does still have no service console like the old esxi.  Has the service console changes in the new esx.

[idle-jam]

it's still the same, with ESXi - there is no longer any service console available. You could use VMA,vCLI and etc that could management as good as or even better than a service console.

[depping]

the free version doesn't have a service console and neither has the paid version of ESXi. There is a seperate appliance called the vMA that can be used to do commandline management of ESXi if and when required. However I would highly suggest using the vSphere Client for now.

Duncan (VCDX)

Available now on Amazon: vSphere 4.1 HA and DRS technical deepdive

[Wozzer]

ESX has a Service Console (a separate RHEL virtual machine to run many management functions).

ESXi no longer has this separate Service Console. The management functions of the Service Console still exist but from a POSIX based machine (busybox) which is compiled within the kernel of ESXi. The result is a smaller amount of code, and no web server or firewall built in - those are the main differences. The vSphere Client will generate the web pages so you can still manage ESXi in the same way as ESX. vCenter can manage ESXi. As already mentioned there are also CLI and scripting interfaces available to use with ESXi (vCLI, vMA, PowerCLI).

As also mentioned, ESXi is the future, so go with it now and even start managing existing ESX installations with ESXi tools like the vMA (it will ease the pain of migrations for your customers in the future).