vmware giving away ESXi free to compete

There are 4 replies, with the last one on 07/23/2008 at 07:48:21 AM by deandownsouth Quote: quote: Originally posted by joe_elway Now that is interesting. Questions for the VMware folks: I’ve only ever worked with the full blown ESX product. What is the downside of using ESXi VS ESX? Am I right in thinking ESXi does not have the Linux “parent” or host (VM) OS? Does ESXi have limited managability compared to ESX? ESX3i is the same hypervisor as all ESX versions. It is a bare metal hypervisor which your are correct in thinking that it does not have a root/parent domain or host. There is no OS that is in between the hypervisor and the hardware-in other words, the hypervisor is the OS. It does not require the virtualization CPU extensions (AMD-V - Intel-VT); however, it can take advantave of them if present (and for Intel CPUs, those extensions are required to do 64-bit VMs) and although I haven’t worked with it yet, can do paravirtualized VMs (Linux only, but I understand Novell is working on paravirtualized drivers for Windows guests). The main difference is that the Linux console has been removed which reduces the effective footprint to about 32MB. It has the same management options as all other ESX versions except that the Linux service console has been replaced with the DCUI or Direct Console User Interface. This is the version that is shipping on a memory card with HP, Dell, IBM, and any other hardware vendor that wants to include it (Xen also has a version that can go on a memory stick but I have not had a chance to look at it). I see no downside to this at all and I believe this is where VMware is taking all versions. Removing the Linux based service console has been goal for a while, particularly since 90% of all VMs are Windows systems so usually Windows admins manage the systems and it has been a road block for many since they (incorrectly) think that you need to have Linux knowledge to install and manage VI3. Plus, most patches are related to the Linux part so by removing that, it lowers the attack surface and the patching surface. As far as where it is placed with its competition, ESXi is the direct competition for Xen and Hyper-V. It is a stand-alone virtualization platform but it is fully upgradeable to the next levels of VI. Remember, there is no player currently in the same space as VI3 Enterprise. My current evaluation of Hyper-V and VMM 2008 is showing me that Microsoft is within a couple of years of something like vMotion/DRS and HA (without deploying MSCS). Over committing of resources, according to one road map I saw is still about 3 years away. Even Red Hat’s Xen with Live Migration is not the same as it moves the disk files. So the person saying the quote you included is being intellectually dishonest since you don’t get HA with the base version of Hyper-V either-you have to roll out MSCS or some other clustering suite to get that. ESXi is placed squarely at the same customer that would deploy Hyper-V or Xen. That customer is not interested or cannot justify the cost of HA, DRS, and the other enterprise features. It is not aimed at the enterprise customer since those generally don’t blink an eye at the VI prices. Also, this is step one. I fully expect wholesale slashes in the prices in the very near future. Remember, EMC was very smart in appointing an ex-Microsoft executive as CEO; very Art of War-ish.

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vmware giving away ESXi free to compete

July 23rd, 2008