February 19, 201214 yr What is the benefit to use esxi? I tried it on a test computer and it loads into it's own OS and then you just add operating systems and such. Besides condensing servers into one box, what is the other benefits?
February 19, 201214 yr condensing servers into one box got it in one... There are many other benefits though, such as -Hardware Indepentance. If you ESXI rig dies you can boot those same VMs on any other ESXI system and not have them complain and need new drivers. -Snapshots. If i have a Service Pack to install onto a computer, but am worried it will cause me issues, take a snapshot of the VM, install the Service Pack. If it goes pear shaped simply reload the snapshot. If it works, you can remove it (or keep it for backup) -Consolidation. I know you mentioned it, but its a very good reason. I currently have 7 VMs running. A few of them could probably be combined together, but id still need a good 4-5 separate computers to do the same thing. Running one machine (even if it is slightly more grunty) is cheaper than running 5+ in both Power and hardware costs. IT also allows you to pool resources. If you have a once off (or rare) 'event' that needs a large amount of RAM (ie, a 3D Render?) you can increase the RAM allocation to a VM and then reduce it once completed -Management. It allows you to see the status of all your VMs from a single interface and change the hardware in them (add more ram, virtual nics, hardware passthrough for some devices) -Cost. The basic Hypervisor is free! i'm sure i've missed a lot of things, so have a look on the VMWare website, or have a play on your own system.
February 20, 201214 yr In addition to the above the big one for me is general flexibility. Build a large, powerful machine with a lump of storage in it - then carve it up however you want with regards to operating systems and functions. No need to hand it all over to a single OS. As time passes and your needs change you just reallocate as necessary - almost on the fly. Should I ever migrate away from unraid then all I need to do is bring up the replacement OS as a new virtual guest and reassign whatever storage I want across to it - again pretty much on the fly. No cumbersome downtime or rebuilding of a single machine. The same can be said from upgrading unraid whilst keeping a backout copy of a working guest ready and waiting. Other than the initial knowledge hurdle and more limited hardware support / requirements I'd really flip the question on it's head and ask why you wouldn't use esxi.
February 20, 201214 yr ..to me the question in the OP is twofold. first: Why would I approach vitalization, what is it good for, ...? ...well, I agree with the other statements made here already. second: Why is ESXi the hypervisor solution of choice? ... I do not want to use it, but I don't have another choice as of now. + it runs the most OSes as guest, including OI/solaris + it is an enterprise grade piece of software, with a proven record for applicability and stability - I do need a windoze box to operate/administer it :'( - it needs enterprise grade HW ...the HCL isn't that big at all... ...if it wasn't for solaris, I'd switch to proxmox-VE ...with its current 2.0rc1 the needed pci-passtrough feature is also only a simple step away (although documentation sucks)
February 23, 201214 yr - it needs enterprise grade HW ..l... Would have to disagree with that. I build clients machines based on desktop (i.e. Intel Q67) boards and processors (i3/i5 if VT-d is required) as well as server boards and processors. It is true that the majority of items on the HCL are server grade products but these are just the ones certified to work correctly and are not an extensive list of the only items that will work with ESXi. The difference is that if it is not on the HCL then you take the risk of it not working. A number of Supermicro boards are not on the HCL but work fine with ESXi (X9SCM-F for example). RB
February 23, 201214 yr I have the X8SIA-F which is in the same boat. I wish there was a Sandy Bridge replacement for that board (it's 1156) .
February 25, 201214 yr Author Thanks for all the replies here. I appreciate the information. After I loaded up a couple OS's I'm a dummy and couldn't find a way to log into them from like a client computer on the network. Derrrr. Is there a main VM view client that can just connect to the main server and then let me CHOOSE which OS I want to log into?
February 25, 201214 yr the same way you installed the oses on the VMs, the vsphere client. Just right click on the vm and select open console.
February 25, 201214 yr The console is pretty bad though. I highly suggest installing some sort of VNC server on the virtual machine so that you can use that to connect to. Or for the Windows guest enable Remote Desktop.
February 25, 201214 yr If you get the tools installed and give the video a decent amount of ram I find it works quite well. Linux cli can not be good though. Ssh/telnet works better, I do almost nothing on my Linux box once its setup
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