ESXi vs VMware server

[aloggia]

So, I've got a server, a Dell 2850 with about 550 GB of space, two 3.2 GHz procs and 16 GB of RAM. The server is going to run VMWare in some form and the guest OSes will be used to test an application we are developing. Realistically, we will only probably be running a few vms on the server. Initially, I was thinking of running VMWare server (with Windows 2003 as the host OS) but now I'm thinking that ESXi is the way to go. ESXi is going to have better resource management than VMWare Server, among other things. Is there any reason not to run ESXi? Are there any gotchas I don't know about?

I know that ESXi does not have all the functionally as ESX; ESX isn't even in the equation so there is no need to try to upsell me on that.

Thanks!

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Welcome to the VMware Community forums.

A couple things with ESXi

- ESXi uses CIM providers to monitor hardware and with an older server you may not see all the components (i.e. RAID / drive status)

- what sort of backup plan do you intend to use. There are a number of script available for ESXi and commercial products, some of the scripts require SSH which isn't officially supported

As an aside, ESXi can match ESX for all the main features.

[aloggia]

Thanks for the quick reply.

>ESXi uses CIM providers to monitor hardware and with an older server you may not see all the components (i.e. RAID / drive status)

Hmmm...interesting. I do have some time until this server has to get setup. Maybe in spare cycles I'll load it with ESXi and see what I see (or don't see).

>what sort of backup plan do you intend to use. There are a number of script available for ESXi and commercial products, some of the scripts require SSH which isn't officially supported

Yeah, good question. The vms that get created will be used for testing so imagine they will get trashed on a semi-regular basis. I'll want to have a base vm that I can create multiple vms from. So, the backup would cover that base vm and the ESXi server itself. The base vm is going to be pretty static; I envision having an iso with an automated build of the guest OS on it and using that to create the base vm. So, I don't think there will be anything to backup there. Which leaves ESXi installation. Now, as people read this there maybe a collective shutter but since this is a test environment and I'll have detailed instructions on how I built the server, I was leaning towards not backing anything up. That may not be the right approach but I'm trying to do something with nothing (or at least very little).

>As an aside, ESXi can match ESX for all the main features.

Yeah, I know that it is the same code base etc. I also know that ESX comes with lots of good things like VMotion, etc that isn't available with ESXi. It comes down to $ (doesn't it always?)

Actually, that makes me think of another question. We may end up having a couple of machines dedicated to running VMs. VMotion is the product that allows movement of VMs between ESX servers. If I run ESXi, I can't do this right? If a run VMware Server on all those machines, I could do that. I mean it's not elegant; I'd have to shut the vm down and copy a bunch of files from one machine to another which could take a long time depending on the size of the vm. Then I'd have to put it in the inventory and start it up. Not automated by any means but doable. Opinion?

[couak]

Before ESXi released to free of charge, I run dozen of VMs for tests under VMware Server v1.0 with PE2950.

I tried Windows 2003 and CentOS as host OS, performances were quiet poor especially when using intensively the HDD : creating a pre-allocated virtual disk definitively kill performances for all other VMs.

Since I migrate all my VMs to ESXi, performances went better : Each of my PE2950 (2 x quad cores, 16Gb RAM and 800Gb HDD) host about 15 VMs for testing purpose.

[oreeh]

Actually, that makes me think of another question. We may end up having a couple of machines dedicated to running VMs.

VMotion is the product that allows movement of VMs between ESX servers. If I run ESXi, I can't do this right?

You can if you pay to get it licensed.

If a run VMware Server on all those machines, I could do that. I mean it's not elegant; I'd have to shut the vm down and copy

a bunch of files from one machine to another which could take a long time depending on the size of the vm.

Then I'd have to put it in the inventory and start it up. Not automated by any means but doable.

Opinion?

You can do the same with ESXi. With a shared storage this is even easier as you don't need to copy the VM.

Instead you simply shut it down on one host and power it on on another host.

[aloggia]

>You can do the same with ESXi. With a shared storage this is even easier as you don't need to copy the VM.

>Instead you simply shut it down on one host and power it on another host.

Sorry, brain fart. The vms running under ESXi probably have the same file names/types as the do running under VMware Server (vmdk, vmx, vmsd, etc). It's just they are a UNIX box and it may be harder to get to them (I know you can log in local to an ESX server but I've never gone snooping for the files). I also don't know if you'd be able to mount a remote drive and copy the files. And yes, shared storage would be great. I totally see the benefit. Unfortunately, it's not something I'll have.

[RParker]

what sort of backup plan do you intend to use. There are a number of script available for ESXi and commercial products, some of the scripts require SSH which isn't officially supported

2 of the major competitors in this arena NOW support ESX 3i, esXpress and vRanger. So SSH is not longer a hurdle

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[RParker]

I'm thinking that ESXi is the way to go

Actually I would still use VM Server. It's much easier to learn and not have to deal with the complications that ESX gives you early on, while trying to understand how VMs work. Also moving files around and doing little things like wanting to mix 'n match the server along with running VM's might give you more flexibility.

I like ESXi, and if that's what choose great, but I know many smaller upstart shops want to use that server for other things in the mean time. Something to keep in mind. By making it ESXi full time you lose the ability to leverage that machine for other stuff....

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[aloggia]

>Actually I would still use VM Server. It's much easier to learn and not have to deal with the complications that ESX gives you early on, while trying to understand how VMs work. Also moving files around and doing little things like wanting to mix 'n match the server along with running VM's might give you more flexibility.

>I like ESXi, and if that's what choose great, but I know many smaller upstart shops want to use that server for other things in the mean time. Something to keep in mind. By making it ESXi full time you lose the ability to leverage that machine for other stuff....

I actually have played a little bit with ESX. Another part of this project bought it and I sat in while a VMware guy installed that, vCenter and whatever else you need to. I'll admit I didn't fully grasp how all the pieces work together. It was all done in a day. It was a drinking from a firehouse day of learning. I have used VMware server alot so I'm familiar with it.

I totally get that the server becomes dedicated for VMware. One of the people I'm working with is thinking we could have 3 servers run VMware Server with 2 vms each (6 all together). I'm thinking if we can collapse that down to 2 ESXi servers running 3 vms. I would think the performance would at least be equal, if not better on the ESXi box. That's assuming identical config and a host OS of Windows 2003 and guest OSs of Windows 2003. Of course, I don't have any data that would support that but I'm sure VMware does.

Thank you everyone for throwing out ideas/suggestions/opinions. This is the sort of stuff I'm looking for. It helps me make a decision (or least give me more reasons to be unsure which to pick).

[malaysiavm]

addition to that, esx 3i provides flexibility to upgrade to enterprise features in future to support HA/DRS, Vmotion and etc. VMware Server will not able to do so.

Craig

vExpert 2009

Malaysia VMware Communities -