Vmware Esx And Esxi 4.0 Comparison.doc

VMware ESX and ESXi 4.0 Comparison Purpose This article provides a detailed comparison of VMware ESX and ESXi 4.0. The article is separated into capabilities or features and compared at that level.

Resolution Capability Service Console

CLI-Based Configuration

VMware ESX VMware ESXi Service Console is a standard Linux VMware ESXi is designed to make the environment through which a user has server a computing appliance. Accordingly, privileged access to the VMware ESX VMware ESXi behaves more like firmware kernel. This Linux-based privileged accessthan traditional software. To provide allows you to manage your hardware-like security and reliability, environment by installing agents and VMware ESXi does not support a privileged drivers and executing scripts and other access environment like the Service Linux-environment code. Console for management of VMware ESXi. To enable interaction with agents, VMware has provisioned CIM Providers through which monitoring and management tasks – traditionally done through Service Console agents – can be performed. VMware has provided remote scripting environments such as vCLI and PowerCLI to allow the remote execution of scripts. VMware ESX Service Console has a host The vSphere CLI (vCLI) is a remote scripting CLI through which VMware ESX can be environment that interacts with VMware configured. VMware ESX can also be ESXi hosts to enable host configuration configured using vSphere CLI (vCLI). through scripts or specific commands. It replicates nearly all the equivalent COS commands for configuring ESX. Notes:  vCLI is limited to read-only access for the free version of VMware ESXi. To enable full functionality of vCLI on a VMware ESXi host, the host must be licensed with vSphere Essentials, vSphere Essential Plus, vSphere Standard, vSphere Advanced, vSphere Enterprise, or vSphere Enterprise Plus. 

VMware vSphere PowerCLI (for Windows) and vSphere SDK for Perl access ESXi through the same API as vCLI. Similarly, these toolkits are limited to read-only access for the free version of VMware ESXi. When the host is upgraded to vSphere Essentials, vSphere Essential Plus, vSphere Standard, vSphere

Advanced, vSphere Enterprise, or vSphere Enterprise Plus these toolkits have write-access and provide a scriptable method for managing ESXi hosts.

Scriptable Installation

Boot from SAN

Serial Cable Connectivity SNMP

Active Directory Integration HW Instrumentation

Certain COS commands have not been implemented in the vCLI because they pertain to the management of the COS itself and not ESXi. For details, please see the vSphere Command-Line Interface Documentation. VMware ESX supports scriptable VMware ESXi Installable does not support installations through utilities like scriptable installations in the manner ESX does, at this time. VMware ESXi does KickStart . provide support for post installation configuration script using vCLI-based configuration scripts. VMware ESX supports boot from SAN. VMware ESXi may be deployed as an Booting from SAN requires one dedicated embedded hypervisor or installed on a hard LUN per server. disk. The installable version of VMware ESXi does not support booting from SAN. VMware ESX supports interaction through VMware ESXi does not support interaction direct-attached serial cable to the VMware through direct-attached serial cable to the ESX host. VMware ESXi host at this time. VMware ESX supports SNMP. VMware ESXi supports SNMP when licensed with vSphere Essentials, vSphere Essential Plus, vSphere Standard, vSphere Advanced, vSphere Enterprise, or vSphere Enterprise Plus.

VMware ESX supports Active Directory integration through third-party agents installed on the Service Console. Service Console agents provide a range of HW instrumentation on VMware ESX.

Software Patches VMware ESX software patches and and Updates upgrades behave like traditional Linux based patches and upgrades. The

The free version of VMware ESXi does not support SNMP. VMware ESXi does not support Active Directory authentication of local users at this time. VMware ESXi provides HW instrumentation through CIM Providers. Standards-based CIM Providers are distributed with all versions of VMware ESXi. VMware partners include their own proprietary CIM Providers in customized versions of VMware ESXi. These customized versions are available either from VMware’s web site or the partner’s web site, depending on the partner. Remote console applications like Dell DRAC, HP iLO, IBM RSA, and FSC iRMC S2 are supported with ESXi. VMware ESXi patches and updates behave like firmware patches and updates. Any given patch or update is all-inclusive of

VI Web Access

Licensing Diagnostics and Troubleshooting

installation of a software patch or upgrade previous patches and updates. That is, may require multiple system boots as the installing patch version “n” includes all patch or upgrade may have dependencies updates included in patch versions n-1, n-2, on previous patches or upgrades. and so forth. Furthermore, third party components such as OEM CIM providers can be updated independently of the base ESXi component, and vice versa. VMware ESX supports managing your VMware ESXi does not support web access virtual machines through VI Web Access. at this time. You can use the VI Web Access to connect directly to the ESX host or to the VMware Infrastructure Client. For licensing information, see the For licensing information, see the VMware Sphere Editions Comparison. VMware Sphere Editions Comparison. VMware ESX Service Console can be VMware ESXi has several ways to enable used to issue command that can help support of the product: diagnose and repair support issues with  Remote command sets such as the the server vCLI include diagnostic commands such as vmkfstools, resxtop, and vmware-cmd  T he console interface of VMware ESXi (known as the DCUI or Direct Console User Interface) has functionality to help repair the system, including restarting of all management agents 

Tech Support Mode, which allows low-level access to the system so that advanced diagnostic commands can be issues. For more information, see Tech Support Mode for Emergency Support (1003677).