Confused in what I need [ ESXi Embedded; ESX Installable; ESX 3.5]

[mannyeng]

Hello Team.

Let me explain what I need first: I need to run 6 Virtual machines and manage these 6 VMs thru a single window. I might be able to manage all 6 VMs using this one window ( In general - this might be any App). By manage, i mean, create snapshots, revert back, use them as if I have VMware workstation. I dont need any other functionality. I am looking into machine specs : Quad core; 8 GB; SATA RAID.

Now my question is what do I select ESXi Embedded or Installable or ESX standalone. Is there any documentation that shows these differences or videos showing what the different interfaces are ?

I read the difference between ESXi and ESX and it was mentioning something about linux required for ESX. Does that mean that my whitebox will need have Linux installed before I could install ESX?

ESXi is barebone architecture, which means, will I lose admin capabilities?

Dont you think, with these questions, am confused? Thanks for all help in advance

Novice user in Virtualization - Manny

[jungsberg · Accepted solution]

Hello Manny,

Actually it's the same interface and program, you use in both esx and esxi.

esxi is free, esx costs money, and can do all kind of magic to keep uptime close to 100%.

You will need to have an admin pc running windows to run the VI-client from.

The VI-client (or VMware Infrastructure client) connects to your host and from there you can create new guests, create snapshot, revert etc.

NO, you do not need linux. Actually my esx 3i is booting from an USB-key, so no OS is required on the hard drive.

I have attached a picture, where you can see the interface to manage the guests.

[mannyeng]

Hello ,

Can you send me your specs for your machine? May be I will compare with what I have.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

What sort of load from your VMs do you expect. If it will be light then a single dual core processor might be sufficient. Do you have an idea of what sort of RAID controller you plan to use. ESXi will only work with certain devices and for soft-RAID cards ESXi will not support RAID. Unless you have a certified system for ESXi embedded you'd be best to stick with ESXi installable. ESXi will be fine for what you propose.

[jungsberg]

The specs can be seen here:

http://proconsult.dk/katalog/m_pc/s_pc-sff/pc-mitx/pc-mitx-a330.html

It is built around an Intel Atom 330 running with 2 GB. memory, 1 WD Green Edition with 1 TB VMFS, and 1 dual Intel Nic.

It's not fast, but this was not built for speed, but for home and testing usage.

It has a very lov power usage (less than 35 watt) and can run 3-5 vms concurrently (2003+xp)

Kind Regards

Torben Jungsberg

[Dave_Mishchenko]

I'd take a search of the forums for "atom" to see if anyone has been able to use this type of MB. You'd also want to add more memory to run that number of VMs. See www.vm-help.com for other whitebox options.

[mannyeng]

Hello Dave.

I expect medium to heavy. Considering a test installation of 4-Tier Application install, I might have 2-3 servers running all the time doing work. So, I plan to use quad-core 8 GB. I am sticking to build one from scratch. This will not frighten my wallets.

I also plan to use ESXi with Installable.

Yes, I need recommendations for RAID controller. I am not a RAID expert either ( in fact, I havent installed one yet).

What kind of raid controller do I need to use and I plan to use RAID 1 - Just mirroring.

YOu said, "ESXi will only work with certain devices " -Where can I get more information regarding this?

THanks in advance.

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What sort of load from your VMs do you expect. If it will be light then a single dual core processor might be sufficient. Do you have an idea of what sort of RAID controller you plan to use. ESXi will only work with certain devices and for soft-RAID cards ESXi will not support RAID. Unless you have a certified system for ESXi embedded you'd be best to stick with ESXi installable. ESXi will be fine for what you propose.

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