3.5 or 4?

[Razorhog]

When I ordered VI3 Enterprise, vSphere was not available. I just got my licenses for vCenter 4 and VI3 today. (Apparently you can manage VI3 with vCenter Server 4) My question is, should I go with 3.5 or just start with 4? This is a completely new install. My setup is 2 Dell R710 servers and a Powervault MD3000i. I plan on installing ESXi on a USB key in the servers. Do the new features of vSphere outweigh the stability and age of 3.5? Thanks for opinions!

[AntonVZhbankov]

Install vCenter 4 and make mixed environment with ESX 3.5 and 4.0. You'll see yourself if new features are good enough and 4.0 is stable enough.

Currently I can say nothing bad against ESX4.0 stability, but some new features have cosmetic issues.

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VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[COdlk]

Since its a new environment with new hardware I would go with 4. Double check the HCL http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

david

[Razorhog]

I'll probably just jump in with vSphere. Even if 3.5 is more proven/tested, I hate starting something and being 'behind' from the get-go.

The Dell R710 is definitely on the HCL, thanks.

[AndreTheGiant · Accepted solution]

Remember that some other product could not (yet) work con vSphere, also from VMware (View Composer, SRM, ...).

Also Dell OMSA does't work (yet).

PS: MD3000i works fine with new ESX.

Andre

[Razorhog]

Thanks Andre, for that info. As long as the servers and SAN work, I can wait for new drivers for OMSA. ( I didn't even know about it or what it can do for me anyway)

[AndreTheGiant]

Dell OpenManage agent could be useful to configure BIOS and DRAC, check hardware status (with more details than ESX healt check), ...

Probably version 6.0.3 will be ESX 4 compatible.

Andre