ESXi embedded vs installable

[wolfwolf]

Hi,

We want to install ESXi 4.1 Update 1 on a few Dell PowerEdge M610 blade servers.

They don't have any internal hard drivers.

After getting the servers from Dell, we put into each of them a blank SanDisk 2GB SD card, to install ESXi on it.

We noticed that Dell provides an ISO file for ESXi installable and another for ESXi embedded, the same files can also be downloaded from VMware site, see below for the links to all the download pages.

What are the differences between the installable edition and the embedded edition?

Which one should we use?

Thanks.

VMware ESXi 4.1 Update 1 Embedded Edition

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&releaseid=R297943&Syst...

VMware ESXi 4.1 Update 1 Installable Edition

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&releaseid=R297945&Syst...

VMware ESXi Installer & Recovery CDs for Dell

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/dell_esxi_recoverycd/ZHcqYip3ZWJkKmV3

[Gerrit_Lehr]

The only difference is that embedded comes vendor pre-installed with the server so if you purchased the server with no ESXi installation, you should go with ESXi installable and install it onto the SD Card. There is no functional difference between the two of them.

[mrksiddiqui]

Embedded version comes preinstall and you can only update that. Installable version allows you to install ESXi on hard drive or usb.

[AndreTheGiant]

Note that usually there are two version of the ESXi installable:

• one customized from a specific vendor (you can usually download from hardware vendor web site)
  
• one "vanilla" from VMware
  

The first usually include specific drivers, CIM and management utility from the vendor (but you can also add them later in the VMware installable versione).

The embedded and customized installable version are quite the same.

Andre

[wolfwolf]

Andrew M wrote:

Note that usually there are two version of the ESXi installable:

• one customized from a specific vendor (you can usually download from hardware vendor web site)
• one "vanilla" from VMware

The first usually include specific drivers, CIM and management utility from the vendor (but you can also add them later in the VMware installable versione).

The embedded and customized installable version are quite the same.

Andre

Yes, my question is about the Dell customized embedded and installable editions, as per the links that I posted above.

I'm still puzzled: if they are quite the same, why doesn't Dell just release the installable edition?

Thanks.

[AndreTheGiant]

I suppose that one reason is that the embedded is pre-installed and is designed only on few destination.

Andre

[krishnaprasad]

Hello,

I see a section  'Additional Information' in the Dell Support links that you posted above. This talks about the Customization that they do w.r.t Installable and Emebedded edition ISO images.

From my understanding, no hardware vendors can release just one ISO image. Because Installable ISO image can be used only for installing ESXi on harddrives, where as Embedded ISO image can be used only for flashing the image on Internal USB keys/cards.  That could be the reason why they release 2 ISO images.

Thanks,

Krishnaprasad

[wolfwolf]

krishnaprasad wrote:

From my understanding, no hardware vendors can release just one ISO image. Because Installable ISO image can be used only for installing ESXi on harddrives, where as Embedded ISO image can be used only for flashing the image on Internal USB keys/cards.  That could be the reason why they release 2 ISO images.

Actually it looks like you can install ESXi installable edition on an SD card as well, you just have to answer a few more questions during the installation compared to the embedded edition installation process.

Thanks.

[krishnaprasad]

Ohh yes. The Installer screen ( VMware ESXi installable edition ) is capable of showing all the storage medias connected to the system. it looks like all the valid storage medias are listed when booted with the installable edition.