Use ESXi instead of ESX with vCenter

[Eternal_Snow]

Hi.

I wonder that if I change all hypervisors from ESX 4.1 to ESXi 4.1, some advanced functions like HA and FT are still available or not.

HA & FT are licensed.

Thanks.

[schepp]

All features that you can use on ESX can also be used on ESXi. It's the same license, and will unlock the same features.

Regards

[bulletprooffool · Accepted solution]

Hi,

ESXi has the full functionality of ESX when fully licensed.

Although you will not longer have a services console, you will still be able to use HA / DRS / FT / Resource pools etc.

ESXi is not a reduced ESX in functionality, it simply has a smaller footprint.

[Eternal_Snow]

What about Update Manager?

I know that ESXi has a standalone update client. But it will need much down time for upgrading.

I love the Stage function of Update Manager.

Is that possible for using Update Manager to upgrade ESXi?

Thanks.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

There's no problem using Update Manager with ESXi including the ability to stage patches.  You can't upgrade from ESX 3.x/4.x to ESXi but once you have ESXi deployed there's not problem keeping it patched with Update Manager.

The Host Update utility has been removed from ESXi 4.1, but you can use the vCLI and PowerCLI.  PowerCLI also includes Update Manager extensions.

Dave
VMware Communities User Moderator

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