Difference between ESXi Server and Workstation

[RayBanton]

Hello everybody,

my question might be stupid but that´s why I need to know...

what is the difference between a ESXi Server and a vm-workstation.

In case I want to run a few virtual machines, I could buy any server hardware and run an ESXi hypervisor.

I could also buy a ordinary computer and install a vm-workstation to run my virtuall machines.

Where is the difference?

What are the use cases for each appliance?

Kind regards

[a_p_]

The main difference is that ESXi runs natively on the hardware, and VMware Workstation runs on top of an operating system (either Windows or Linux). Running natively on the hardware allows native to access the hardware resources, where VMware Workstation is an application which has dependencies to the host OS. Anyway, it depends on your needs whether VMware Workstation provides sufficient performance for your VMs.

André

[RayBanton]

Hello Andre,

thank you for your answer. If I want to install and run OpenStack, I will probably need to install it on a ESXi server, right? I guess it wont work with VMware Workstation?

[RayBanton]

To answer my question by myself 😃

I´ve found informations how to run OPenStack in a VM Workstation

Create an OpenStack lab in VMware Workstation - VMware Workstation Zealot - VMware Blogs