What is ESXi and VMware

[t3chmachine]

What is ESXi and VMware?? I been seeing this around forums and wonder is it the same as a Virtual Machine. I looked at a wiki explaining this but would like it explained simple. Can anyone inform me what it is used for and why would someone use one..Thanks

[Xahid]

Vmware is Company Name Exi is the product Now vSphere Hypervisor, its not same as virtual machine for desktops,

its a server based product, you can consider it as Operating system for Virtual Machines.

[spikey_richie]

This image is a good simplified representation

From here.

[+BudMan MVC]

As to why you would use one - because you want to run VMs ;)

Type 2 hypervisors are fine for playing around with virtual machines on your desktop machine, virtualbox, vmware player/workstation, etc. But when you want/need to have a VM be a more permanent part of your network it makes sense to use some hardware as your VM host, and run a Type 1 hypervisor to remove that unneeded OS between the hardware and the VM.

Type 1 are more efficient use of the hardware, more robust features, etc. You see them more in work environments, or IT personal and hobbyist types in their home setups and labs. I run esxi on a hp n40l at home - it gives me the ability to run multiple OSes on my network on 1 piece of low budget hardware suited for my home network. So now I can run my router distro in a VM, my file server in VM, my linux boxes and any other OS I might need to play with - it can stay running on my esxi host and becomes a permanent part of my network on a dedicated piece of hardware vs using up my desktop resources, etc.

[fusi0n]

As to why you would use one - because you want to run VMs ;)

Type 2 hypervisors are fine for playing around with virtual machines on your desktop machine, virtualbox, vmware player/workstation, etc. But when you want/need to have a VM be a more permanent part of your network it makes sense to use some hardware as your VM host, and run a Type 1 hypervisor to remove that unneeded OS between the hardware and the VM.

Type 1 are more efficient use of the hardware, more robust features, etc. You see them more in work environments, or IT personal and hobbyist types in their home setups and labs. I run esxi on a hp n40l at home - it gives me the ability to run multiple OSes on my network on 1 piece of low budget hardware suited for my home network. So now I can run my router distro in a VM, my file server in VM, my linux boxes and any other OS I might need to play with - it can stay running on my esxi host and becomes a permanent part of my network on a dedicated piece of hardware vs using up my desktop resources, etc.

S

Sums it up nicely..

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

If you understand what a VM is (i.e. using VMware Workstation or Virtual Box on your home PC) it's not a massive stretch to then learn about what ESXi is. It's basically a super-light operating system, dedicated to doing nothing but run Virtual Machines - no GUI or anything, with only rudimentary configuration done on the console and everything else done remotely. Beyond the features you understand on VMware Workstation though, ESXi adds in a number of Enterprise features such as live migrations of Virtual Machines between ESXi hosts without having to turn them off.

[t3chmachine]

I think I understand now so it's pretty much a dedicated OS to serve multiple OS's to say a network of computers that don't need it installed. Ok so BudMan you say you run esxi on a hp n40l is that special hardware or a machine you dedicate to be a server that can run this software

[+BudMan MVC]

HP N40L is a just a microserver from HP, that I dedicated as my esxi host. Look it up, its a nice home budget priced box that, you can up to 16GB of ram, can add more nics, etc. So I have 8GB in mine with a 2 nics added one single and one dual so 4 gig nics in total with 4 disks currently installed in its 4 bays, you can add 2 more disks in its optical drive area, or even more via esata or usb, etc. I had gotten mine on sale for like $269, plus the extra ram and nics - well under the $500 mark, which puts it in to budget of many hobbyists. Free version of ESXI, etc.

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

ESXi will work on a variety of hardware so you could build your own box up from spares.. but the HP Microserver that BudMan is using is a pretty decent entry point and seems pretty well regarded.

I'd strongly recommend picking up some books if you can to teach yourself about ESXi - on the surface it is very easy to get up and running with but if you want to get into any of the cooler features, or "deep dive" to understand how it works, there's a hell of a lot to take in. VMware publish a LOT of white papers on all aspects of ESXi so there's no shortage of information out there, and indeed if you want to ramp up the stuff you're testing you can get fully functional 60 day trials of the full / enterprise versions of the products.

Get stuck in there - it's an ever expanding market and the product is evolving all the time.. it's one of the few technologies that really hooked me in and interested me, and as someone supporting ESXi professionally it really is a killer product.

[trek]

I use a Dell R210ii with 16GB of ram for my home ESX box however, it's a bit more expensive than the HP Microserver Budman has. If you want to be certain the stock build of ESX contains all the necessary drivers for your hardware, check out the HCL (hardware compatibility list)

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

[ANON86364]

No Hyper-V love :cry: