ESXi vs ESX

[jcwuerfl]

Looking at :

There are some obvious differences

Foundation adds Consolidated Backup, And if you have Virtual Center also has : Virtual Center Agent, and Update Manager

Standard adds: High Availability

Enterprise adds : Vmotion, Storage Vmotion, and Vmware DRS

From what I understand now, ESXi (35mb) Hypervisor can ALSO be licensed to be a VI Foundation Server however, NOT VI Standard or VI Enterprise.

So my next question is with ESXi with the small footprint and no service console can or will it also be able to do High Availability (STD) and Vmotion, Storage Vmotion and DRS (Ent) in that smaller footprint with no service console at some point?

I love the smaller footprint it makes life pretty easy compared to my old 2.5 ESX host that I'm trying to upgrade especially for us non linux admins. Even if that small footprint creeps up to 50mb or 100mb I don't think that's a huge deal as long as its keept as small as possible in order to give it the ability to use all of these features. Then one could choose if they would like a Service Console or not and choose any version.

I would still like to see a version with just Consolidated Backup and without the Virtual Center Agent, and Update Manager for the people that do not have those servers but just want consolidated backup. Also, would like to see quicker certification for hardware that was already certified in ESX.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

From what I understand now, ESXi (35mb) Hypervisor can ALSO be licensed to be a VI Foundation Server however, NOT VI Standard or VI Enterprise.

That's not correct. When you buy a Foundation / Standard or Enterprise license, you get the right to install either ESXi or ESX. ESXi is capable of supporting all the functionality of the Enterprise license.

So my next question is with ESXi with the small footprint and no service console can or will it also be able to do High Availability (STD) and Vmotion, Storage Vmotion and DRS (Ent) in that smaller footprint with no service console at some point?

Yes - it can do all those things. There are some minor differences between ESX / ESXi in regards to network (i.e. ESXi can't do jumbo frames in the vmkernel at this time, etc). But the major functional pieces are supported on both ESXi or ESX.

I would still like to see a version with just Consolidated Backup and without the Virtual Center Agent, and Update Manager for the people that do not have those servers but just want consolidated backup. Also, would like to see quicker certification for hardware that was already certified in ESX.

With consolidated backup you still need a backup package and the real adavantage with VCB is the ability to do networkless backups (i.e. your backup host has access to the VMDK via iSCSI / FC SAN instead of needing to go through the console of ESX). For backup I would look at www.esxpress.com (supporting ESXi in September or www.veeam.com. For patching - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Patch_3i_without_VC.html.

[jcwuerfl]

NO WAY! that is awesome! I didn't really get that ESXi could support the Enterprise license from all my looking at the website.

Doesn't and Require VCB ? Doesn't help me initially unless we purchase foundation. Why did they include the Virtual Center Agent and Update Manager in Foundation then if you can't use it unless you have Virtual Center ? Why not purchase licenses for all of your hosts when you purchase Virtual Center if you want to connect them to Virtual Center ? That would make more sense to me.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

I took a look at the release notes for Veeam backup and you do require VCB. EsXpress at this point does not, but they won't support ESXi until this fall and hopefully that won't require VCB either.

[rvgunten]

A bit late on that matter, but if you're sensitive to pricing, check for the various Acceleration Kits available which include either VC Foundation or VC.

Truly, VI licenses include many features which are difficult if not impossible to use without VC (DRS, VMotion,...) so this applies to VUM as well. Obviously having the VC Agent is also useless without VC. If you don't need/want VC then you should be rather happy with the Free ESXi

[jcwuerfl]

True, Virtual center does give you much more managability. However, we currently don't have it and JUST want to be able to do Consolidated Backup, so wanting something instead of VI Foundation with Consolidated Backup abililty. the VC Agent, and Upgrade Ability comes with Virtual Center so why not license your clients for VC when you purchase Virtual Center??? I think they need to change up there licensing a bit more

[wizdude]

Veeam backup does not require VCB. It does support it, but it's not required.

I'm evaluating it in the our lab at the moment. I love the fact that it will perform de-duplication when you back up multiple VM's as part of the same job. Saves backing up the same windows files over and over.

[RParker]

> Doesn't and http://www.veeam.com Require VCB ? Doesn't help me initially unless we purchase foundation.

esXpress does not. Veeam I don't think does either, I think they use their own. But you should look at VizionCore vRanger, that requires VCB, but their product has central management.

esXpress is the easiest to implement and they allow to use it free for 30 days, unrestricted. The others probably have a demo license too, but esXpress will keep running, just not at full speed. Also esXpress you just install on each host, open the Gui, and that's it. No complicated setup. With anything that interfaces with VCB you have setup the hosts, setup targets, configure them to communicate to VC.. if you want quick, easy and simple go esXpress. No special install, and it's 2 files.

[jcwuerfl]

Other requirement is that it supports backing up ESXi hosts and vmdk files.. I think they are both working on that ? but to backup those hosts it requires VCB, sorry should have said I'm looking for something that can backup vmdk files on ESXi hosts and without VCB.

[wizdude]

please remember that any product requiring VCB is going to be useless with a single ESXi box.

this doesn't change if you purchase foundation - it comes with a VCB license, but you can't install it without virtualcenter.

i haven't personally used esXpress. it looks fairly similar to veeam, but if you purchase it the price is about double.

[Gabriel_Chapman]

I don't understand why the Jumbo Frames was taken out of ESXi, from an iSCSI standpoint, it kind of nueters the ability to gain better throughput.

[wizdude]

remember that support for 10GbE iSCSI was added into update 2.

but the real solution to the problem is to use a hardware initiator.

[petedr]

Hey jcwuerfl,

I wanted to clarify for sure regarding your esXpress questions although Richard did state it correctly.

esXpress does not work with VCB, that was done by design. We look at ourselves as an alternative to a VCB solution.

As for 3i esXpress currently does not support it, but it is something we are working on. I don't have an exact time frame yet.

If you have any questions regarding esXpress you can always email or private message me.

Pete@esXpress

[jmattox]

FYI, vRanger does not require VCB. vRanger can backup with or without VCB.

[wizdude]

but does it work with ESXi?

[cs_vmware]

I am using vRanger to backup ESXi hosted VM's, but you have to use the VCB plug-in for vRanger.

It has to use VCB as there is no service console in ESXi.

Limitations with this:

- Backups are not compressed so they are much bigger.

- It will not backup VM's that have snapshots. Big limitation in my opinion, but apparently this is due to limitations in VMware VCB. Might be better with ESX v4 !

- There is currently a bug which means if your root password contains the "&" ampersand or "<" ">" characters, the backup fails. This is being fixed shortly.

Hope that helps.