@ManivelR "This means, this ESA requires 4 nodes" - No, this appears to be false and the article you referenced written by a non-VMware source. Have a look for yourself, there are plenty of references to 2-node and 3-node cluster in the ESA VMware resources (e.g. core.vmware.com) and if this was a limitation it would be mentioned in the ESA FAQ (which it is not). Maybe the author of that mis-remembered a slide from a presentation stating minimum 4 storage devices per node?
"and can configure right now only through VSAN-ready nodes not possible to build your own hosts?" - Yes, and for good reasons, including but not limited to the fact that vSAN ESA is in it's infancy here and trying to do sufficient validation testing required for adding support for potentially thousands of devices (like the vSAN OSA HCL) and other fun factors like whatever-hardware-combination-folks-decide-to-lash-in-the-server would be a logistical nightmare, not even to consider that as the product is in a deep state of tweaking and improvement that might invalidate any such validation tests.
It is far far far from a case of just saying something like that if devices are on the vSAN OSA HCL and are performance class F/G and have sufficient endurance that they should be automatically be rubber-stamped in an equivalency manner and added to the vSAN ESA HCL, in some cases that might be like saying "I put fuel in my car, so it doesn't matter if it is Petrol or Diesel, these are both fuels".
"VMware vSAN ESA requires Advanced or Enterprise licenses." - Yes it does, but so do most vSAN OSA licensed features that are embedded core parts of vSAN ESA.
