ESXI vs ESX ?

itdaddy

dudes
I have no clue what is the difference.

I have an ESXI 4.1 and and ESX 3.5 both have the command line
and looks the same what the difference????

VMware ESX Server 3.5.0 build-82663



VMware ESXi 4.1.0 build-348481

they look and feel the same??
both use the infrastructure client. and ofcourse the 4.1 looks more spiffy with a nicer GUI but nonetless they seem to function the same?

cyberguypr

Check this: Compare VMware ESXi and ESX Hypervisors for Simplified Virtualization Management

In a nutshell, ESX has a service console and ESXi doesn't. ESX is being phased out and everything from VMware is now based on ESXi.

itdaddy

good cause I bought esxi 4.1 and am using it and it is great ...thanks man

jibbajabba

In fact, VMWare removed the binaries for ESX 4.1 and only available versions are now ESXI

Edit: actually, they're still there, just right the bottom
Edit2: it is, but as older version so I think it won't be updated anymore.

itdaddy

thank Gomjaba! cool stuff appreciate your ideas

jibbajabba

The only reason I personally loved the full version of ESX is the Service Console as it has a nice set of commands.

Now however I am starting to love vMA and PowerCLI so ESXi is just fine .. in fact - vMA is brilliant

Tackle

itdaddy wrote: »

good cause I bought esxi 4.1 and am using it and it is great ...thanks man

As far as I know, unless something has changed...ESXi is free. We run multiple physical servers with the ESXi bare-metal hypervisior and have never paid a dime for it. Have downloaded and installed it 3 times in the last year. All you need is an e-mail address and they will send you an activation code.

vCole

LucasMN wrote: »

As far as I know, unless something has changed...ESXi is free. We run multiple physical servers with the ESXi bare-metal hypervisior and have never paid a dime for it. Have downloaded and installed it 3 times in the last year. All you need is an e-mail address and they will send you an activation code.

Most likely, he is referring to paying for the licensing for vSphere (vCenter Server and other features).

RTmarc

In VMware's eyes you aren't paying for the hypervisor (ESX or ESXi), you are paying for the feature set. They don't care which one you use. ESXi is indeed free, but you don't have any of the higher end features without the necessary licensing.

slinuxuzer

You also can't manage an ESXI free instance with Vsphere, there are paid version of ESXI, you also can't do direct path I/O per the sales guy I called.

tbgree00

Another thing to keep in mind is that ESX is not going to be a product going forward. Starting with 5 it is ESXi or bust. We decided to change our ESX 4 infrastructure to ESXi 4.1 so that future upgrades will be easier.

itdaddy

yep you are are right i have the paid version of esxi 4.1
because it allows driver injection..and vcenter management.
love it..

jibbajabba

itdaddy wrote: »

yep you are are right i have the paid version of esxi 4.1
because it allows driver injection..and vcenter management.
love it..

ESX has already dropped to the bottom of the download page and there won't be any updates anymore I think ... The build number is old (ish)... You can get maybe patches via the update manager, not sure, but people have to start looking into alternative methods of managing (due to the lack of service console = less commands available) ... vMa, PowerCLI, CLI springs into mind.