what are the differences between ESX3i embedded edition and VI 3

[amarnathreddy19]

what are the major differences between esx 3i embedded and ESX VI 3

[weinstein5]

The major difference between the two is there is not a Service Console so managing the server is done differently -

The table below provides a side-by-side comparison of management approaches taken by VMware ESX and VMware ESXi:

VMware ESX uses the Service Console for:	VMware ESXi leverages:
Executing custom scripts	Remote Command Line Interface (Remote CLI)
Hardware monitoring agents	Industry-standard monitoring protocols such as agent-free management through CIM
Backup or management agents	ISV solutions that leverage standard interfaces, the VI API and VMware Consolidated Backup

The other difference is VMware ESXi is available built into server hardware as an embedded component, simplifying and speeding deployment of virtualization.and is available form the major server manufacturers - Other than that they are pretty much the same - check out for more informaiton -

[alanrenouf · Accepted solution]

Taken from RTFM here: http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/docs/vmwdocs/Appendix_B_ESX3i.pdf

ESX3i (Integrated) is a version of ESX that ships with hardware. You can see it as an OEM edition of the product. In this guise ESX is embedded into you hardware in memory chips or ROM. ESX3i has a much smaller footprint than the initial release ESX3, as it does not include the Service Console piece of ESX3.

There are a number of advantages to this approach including:

• Reduced Patch Burden

Most of the patches issued for ESX3 address problems in the Service
Console, rather than VMKernel. By removing this part of the platform,
VMware have instantaneously made your life easier. Additionally, as many
of these patches address security vulnerabilities in the Service Console –
ESX3i should be more secure as these security weaknesses simply don’t
exist.
Additionally, the ESX3i system has a “lockdown” mode. This lockdown
mode prevents remote access to the command-line environment of the
ESX3i system. It can only be then managed via the ILO (referred to as the
local console) or VirtualCenter

• Rapid Provisioning

Rather than having to install the ESX product to disks or invest some time
in automating the ESX installation, ESX3i simply removes the install
process – and eliminates much of the operator and business decisions
required to deploy ESX. This said your networking and vSwitches still have
to be created, although this process could be automated with Remote CLI
Scripts

• Greater Reliability

With ESX3i being integrated to solid state components rather than on hard
drives we no longer have to worry about the failure rate of physical disks
unless you are creating local VMFS volumes

• Hardware Monitoring

Currently after installing ESX the operator must install vendor specific
hardware management agents such as the HP System Insight
Management agent or the IBM Director Agents. When ESX is upgrade from
one release to another, generally you will find that have you have to
download and install a new hardware agent. With ESX3i hardware
monitoring is integrated into the system. Therefore no hardware
monitoring agent needs to be manually installed

As with all products it’s not without disadvantages and these generally present them to businesses that have been using ESX for sometime. They may have in recent years become dependant on the Service Console for various operations such as scripting various tasks. With the removal of the Service Console it is very unlikely that these “console” scripts are unlikely to work unmodified in ESX3i.

This said the main ESX commands that begin with esxcfg- prefix are still available.

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for Correct or Helpful.

Alan Renouf

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

UK