VMware ESXi (2024)

FAQs

What is ESXi VMware? ›

ESX/ESXi is the primary component in the VMware Infrastructure software suite. The name ESX originated as an abbreviation of Elastic Sky X. In September 2004, the replacement for ESX was internally called VMvisor, but later changed to ESXi (as the "i" in ESXi stood for "integrated").

As of today Feb 12, 2024, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (free edition) is no longer available on the VMware website. Along with the termination of perpetual licensing, Broadcom has also decided to discontinue the Free ESXi Hypervisor, marking it as EOGA (End of General Availability).

To recap, vSphere is a product suite. ESXi is a hypervisor installed on the physical machine. vCenter Server is a management platform for VMs. When you are working on a small virtualization environment, the vSphere client will be sufficient enough to maintain and manage virtual machines hosted on a few ESXi servers.

While ESXi architecture offers many benefits, it also possesses several disadvantages, including: ESXi offers less flexibility than ESX, as it doesn't support the installation and execution of additional software on its kernel.

VMware ESXi, also called VMware ESXi Server, is a bare-metal hypervisor developed by VMware for vSphere. ESXi is one of the primary components in the VMware infrastructure software suite. ESXi is a Type 1 hypervisor, meaning it runs directly on system hardware without the need for an OS.

In the latest development following Broadcom's November 2023 acquisition of VMware, the company has decided to kill off the free version of VMware's ESXi hypervisor.

Is VMware ESXi Free? The short answer is yes, VMware does offer a free version of ESXi, often referred to as VMware ESXi Free. This version is aimed at individuals and small businesses that want to get a taste of what VMware's virtualization technology can offer.

To many enterprise IT observers, Broadcom — the new owner of what used to be known as VMware for 25 years — believes that its prized $69 billion acquisition's product line was too complicated, far-flung and perhaps even becoming irrelevant here in the mid-2020s.

Yes, there is still a web interface for the ESXi host. You don't need vCenter. Agreed, vCenter is helpful when managing multiple hosts. For a single host, you can do everything needed from the host web interface.

What is the advantage of VMware ESXi? ›

VMware ESXi enables you to: Consolidate hardware for higher capacity utilization. Increase performance for a competitive edge. Streamline IT administration through centralized management.

Once your vCenter is up and running, you can proceed with upgrading the hosts from their old esxi version to the new version number. You just have to keep doing vCenter first then the ESXi. You can't have ESXi version number ahead of vCenter.

ESXi stands for “Elastic Sky X integrated”. Optimal security for your data: IONOS Cloud Backup enables you to save and run ESXi-based systems in one central place. You'll have the choice between an upgradeable plan or the flex version where you pay for what you actually use.

It was already expected, but on February 12, 2024, VMware by Broadcom announced that the free ESXi Free hypervisor in versions 7. x and 8. x would no longer be available. This is the logical consequence of the discontinuation of all products with purchase licenses that could not be converted to annual subscriptions.

VMware ESXi: It has specific hardware requirements, and it may require more demanding hardware configurations compared to Hyper-V. Consider the cost of hardware that meets the recommended specifications for optimal performance. Hyper-V: Hardware requirements are dependent on the version of Windows Server being used.

WSGI (Web Server Gateway Interface) is a specification that describes the communication between web servers and Python web applications or frameworks. It explains how a web server communicates with Python web applications or frameworks and how web applications or frameworks can be chained for processing a request.

Overall, the functionality of ESX and ESXi hypervisors is effectively the same. The key difference lies in architecture and operations management. If only to shorten the VMware version comparison to a few words, ESXi architecture is superior in terms of security, reliability, and management.

ESXi: ESXi is the core of vSphere; it is a Type-1 hypervisor that runs on host computers to manage the execution of virtual machines, allocating resources to the virtual machines as needed.