Upgrading/Licensing ESXi to support APIs

[liort53]

Hello All!

We are using the free licensed ESXi for some time now, and would like to add abilities to use existing APIs to perform automated tasks against it.

With the free license, all APIs are blocked to read only actions.

I am looking for the best option to upgrade the ESXi to the right license to be able to use these APIs.

One option i saw was the "Essentials Kit" -- http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/buy/small_business_editions_comparison.html

which is reasonable in price for our purposes.

My questions regarding this are:

1. Is this license compatible with ESXi, or we should install a new product to use it ?

2. Will this license allow for using various VMware APIs? (VIX, vSphere SDK, PowerCLI).

3. Is this license more restrictive than the free ESXi or we only gain functionality by purchasing it ?

I'd love to hear any comments/feedback for users who currently have this license.

Thanks

Lior

[a_p_]

1. Is this license compatible with ESXi, or we should install a new product to use it ?

The license keys for ESX4 and ESXi 4 are the same. You only need to apply the new license key to existing ESXi hosts which currently run with the free license.

2. Will this license allow for using various VMware APIs? (VIX, vSphere SDK, PowerCLI).

Any paid license will allow full API access.

see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1023990

3. Is this license more restrictive than the free ESXi or we only gain functionality by purchasing it ?

The Essentials license adds some features, like vCenter Server management, API access, ... (as shown in the link you posted) and will not restrict any features of the free license.

Remember, each Essentials licence is valid for up to 3 ESX/ESXi hosts.

André

Message was edited by: a.p. - added link to Knowledge Base