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mahazara
Contributor
Contributor

Is Hypervisor ESXi - 5.0 FREE?

Hi Guys

so i have been using Hypervisor 4.1 for the last half year for my home lab and it served the purpose very good and yesterday was going towards upgrading from hypervisor 4.1 to 5.0, I have done a lot of researching with no clear answer to the below question..

" Is Hypervisor 5.0 free? or the only free product was Hypervisor 4.1 ?

The reason i am confused is

# When i received the email from VMWARE and i log in to my account, it says i have 50+ days for my Evalution, But I have installed Hypervisor 5.0 on a box and put in the license that i received from vmware and it says Expiry - NEVER, in the host settings section.

Also in the VMWARE website under Free product Hypervisor comes up, so question is, if i read it as Hypervisor 5.0 is also Free then what is the 50 days evalution for that it shows on my account when i log into vmware?

Does anyone know the correct answer?

thanks

joel

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6 Replies
Villag3Idiot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hello,

ESXi 5, like version 4.1, is free to use just as before. There is a limit on vRAM in version 5, which is how much RAM you can assign to powered on VMs, and i believe that this is capped to 32GB. When you download ESXi 5, you are given a license key which allows you to use the hypervisor indefinitely. If you do not specify the key, you can trial all of the features available for a total of 60 days.

Hope this helps.

AndreTheGiant
Immortal
Immortal

The evaluation mode is just and Enterprise+ Edition that expire after 60 days.

For the free version you must register for the free hypervisor in order to have a license keys.

Note that is the license key that change the edition of ESXi from the free one to the others.

Andre

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
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Ashrafali79
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Dear mahazara,

Kindly i think you are right in the VMware Vsphere 4.0 & 4.1 have Free License Keys as the below link illustrate

https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/p/activate.php?p=free-esxi&lp=1

and the VMware Vsphere 5 has no Free Lisence Key in the VMware Site as below link illustrate

https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/p/activate.php?p=vmware-vsphere5-ent&lp=default&ext=1&ext=1&ext=1

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iw123
Commander
Commander

You have to put in the free license key that is presented to you on the download page.

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

Seems like it is free as i have now tested it

btw i was facing this wierd problem yester

My current setup

2, server 08 enterprice in the vmware - one serving dhcp,dns,ad & another serving just exchange 10 - Physicall box is Dual core (AMD) 8 GB ram.

when i RDP or access the host using Vsphere client - its sooooooo soooo laggy , i check in the event notification and i can see info telling me to install vmware tools , also says that the recommanded video settings arent achieveable.. something along that line..

never had this prob with v4.1 --

anyone had same problem?

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HayamaMarcelo
Contributor
Contributor

Mahazara,

In the VSphere client, with your VM up and running, right click the VM, and an option to Install VMWare Tools will appear. Select it, and at the Console TAB you´ll see something like a CD software suggesting an installation. This is the VMWare Tools, go on til the end.

About the video, Edit the Settings of your VM, find the place that has the RAM amount to video. By default it´s 4 Mb, increase it to 16Mb.

I think it will solve your problem.

BTW, I guess this post should be moved as another subject, as long as it has nothing to do with the "freedom" of ESXi. Moderators/coordinator, please do it.

Best regards,

Marcelo Hayama

http://tiny.cc/HayCard

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