so is ESXi free, or "free"

F

f1y

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Looks like it's free, and I can use vSphere to manage my one virtualized server just fine.

If I moved into an enviroment with multiple ESX boxes I would need to pay.

But is ESXi free for my needs?

I used it to just virtualize a line of business application server.

I should be fine right?
 
ESXi is a free hypervisor, with a management client that is also free.

vSphere is a brand name for ESX + Virtual Center + Add-ons.

If you want to use Virtual Center / etc, you need to pay.
 
I thought there were limitations to the free version like the amount of ram?
 
there are ram limitations, it's meant for testing and trying to get users accustomed to vmware products so that they will buy the expensive versions.
 
According to the EULA if you are planning to use ESXi in a business production setting then you can not use the free "home" version you would need an essentials license (Though of course the whole don't use it for business is a honor system thing).

In the future if you want multiple ESXi hosts clustered and controlled by a vCenter server with FT and HA features enabled like vmotion then you need Essentials Plus licenses for each hypervisor. If you have more then 3 servers that you will be clustering you need Standard, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus licensing.
 
So if i had 2x quad xeons in my box will it detect all 8 cores?...
really intrested to know as i wanna install esxi on this box but if i cant use all 8 cores its pointless...
 
For ESXi free you are able to use 2 sockets with up to 6 cores per socket.
 
C7J0yc3 said:
According to the EULA if you are planning to use ESXi in a business production setting then you can not use the free "home" version you would need an essentials license (Though of course the whole don't use it for business is a honor system thing).
Click to expand...

I see people quote this all the time in various places, but I haven't been able to confirm it. Could you point me to the portion of the EULA that specifies this?
 
Is the 256 GB limit per virtual hard drive a limitation of the ESXi free client or of ESXi 4 as a whole?
 
NetJunkie said:
what 256GB limit per drive?
Click to expand...

That is the limit if you don't reformat the default VMFS datastore created for you, previous to vSphere 5. It is formatted with a 1mb block format by default.

Delete the datastore, and recreate it with an 8mb block... there you go. Of course, with vSphere 5 everything is 1mb block formatted (with the exception of upgraded datastores), but regardless the limit with either ESXi 5 or ESX(i) 4.x with an 8mb block is 2TB - 512 bytes for a single vmdk... leaving RDMs out of it.

EDIT: Yeah, not that NetJunkie needed to be told any of the above. He is just so far separated from novice users :p.
 
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Well dammit. I'm gonna have to do that. Time to backup my vms and try again!
 
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