Any one use VMware ESXi 6.5 free version? Need suggestion.

DrMak

Hello all,

Any one use ESXi 6.5 ? What are the limitations in free version?

MasonR

Limitations include:

• No access to storage API so you can't back up any VMs
• Max of 8 vCPUs per VM
• Max of 2 physical CPU sockets on the host
• Can't use vCenter Server to manage a cluster of ESXi nodes from one master machine

If you're using it for personal use, you'll be fine. If you're looking to use it in a production environment, then would probably not be recommended since you can't take any backups.

DrMak

T> @MasonR said:

Limitations include:

• No access to storage API so you can't back up any VMs
• Max of 8 vCPUs per VM
• Max of 2 physical CPU sockets on the host
• Can't use vCenter Server to manage a cluster of ESXi nodes from one master machine

If you're using it for personal use, you'll be fine. If you're looking to use it in a production environment, then would probably not be recommended since you can't take any backups.

Thanks for the details..
Actually I have a single Cpu Xeon E3-1245v6 - 4C 64gb ram 500gb ssd raid 10 server and want to use it for my 3 websites and need to create 3 vps for that. It's a production site and for development I was using 2 vps and a server, for which I use proxmox ve 4. But after update to pve 5 every thing is ruined as I kept backup of all my vps so that's not a problem.

Can I use esxi 6.5 for that as I have vps level backup. Please suggest as don't have much knowledge for that and I kept expenses as low as possible.

DrMak

I also studied about xen orchestra but it seems a bit difficult to manage the free version

MasonR

@DrMak stealing from this reddit topic -

ESXi is a mostly closed sourced, proprietary product that has a free version with limited features. Most "enterprise" features are not available in this free version.

Proxmox is free, open-source product based on other free, open-source products (KVM, LXC, etc) with all features enabled. For some, open-source aspect is enough of a difference to prefer Proxmox.
However, the largest issue is how limited free ESXi is when it comes to clustering, High Availability, backups, storage backends... you know the "enterprise" features that some of us wish to tinker with or even rely on for our homelabs. To unlock these you need to obtain proper ESXi licensing ($$$).

Proxmox gives you all of the enterprise features of ESXi for free. Proxmox has support for way more variety of storage-backends like iSCSI, NFS, GlusterFS, ZFS, LVM, Ceph, etc. Provides not only full-virtualization (KVM) but also containers (LXC).

Proxmox runs on pretty much any hardware. KVM virtualization does require VT-extensions on CPU. But you can run containers on even older hardware (like a Pentium 4) without VT.

ESXi requires newer hardware and CPU-extensions. Each new version drops support and drivers for some still-usable gear. E.g. Decent homelab-grade gear like Dell R410's are no longer officially supported in ESXi 6+. Yes, I know, ESXi 6 will run on R410, but that's no longer officially supported configuration.

From past experience deploying/maintaining ESXi in the enterprise I would rather avoid it. Too many issues with various bit of middleware that keep blowing up after minor updates, license management, and disappointing support experience with outsourced call centers.

Another product worth exploring is OpenStack. The cloud-scale virtualization ecosystem. I'm not comparing it to Proxmox. OpenStack serves an entirely different purpose with larger project scope. Be prepared to do a lot of reading. OpenStack is not a one-weekend experiment.

Personally I'd recommend sticking with Proxmox. Do a reinstall of 4.x or if feeling adventurous of 5.0 and call it a day. The good news is since you've already been using it that you're already familiar with how to operate it and utilize its features. I have an ESXi node at home, but after finally using Proxmox on a dedi I have, I'll be replacing ESXi with Proxmox.

mikho

@MasonR said:
If you're using it for personal use, you'll be fine. If you're looking to use it in a production environment, then would probably not be recommended since you can't take any backups.

You can export the VM but you need to shut it down first.

Gamma17

There are also ways to create backups using snapshots and command line tools, and automate it using cron...

robohost

I think it's better to reinstall proxmox 4.x for your production and try ESXi for your dev

Jarry

@mikho said:
You can export the VM but you need to shut it down first.

No, you do not. Actually, even with free ESXi you can do full proper snapshot-backup of running VM (using ghettoVCB). Compared to this, Proxmox is way behind because it still can not do proper live backup of running VM...

mikho

@Jarry said:

@mikho said:
You can export the VM but you need to shut it down first.

No, you do not. Actually, even with free ESXi you can do full proper snapshot-backup of running VM (using ghettoVCB). Compared to this, Proxmox is way behind because it still can not do proper live backup of running VM...

To do an .OVF export you need to shut the vm down.
GhettoVCB ( https://github.com/lamw/ghettoVCB )
works but, as said on the github page "it utilizes resources available to the ESXi Shell running the backups as opposed to following the traditional method of offloading virtual machine backups through a VCB proxy."

Meaning you need spare resources on the VSphere machine that could have been used by production servers instead.

It does work but not that well for production stuff.

Jarry

You do NOT need to shut the VM down. You can back-up running VM, including its memory content (something Proxmox still can not do). After restoring, it will be in exactly the same state...

Gamma17

@mikho said:
To do an .OVF export you need to shut the vm down.
GhettoVCB ( https://github.com/lamw/ghettoVCB )
works but, as said on the github page "it utilizes resources available to the ESXi Shell running the backups as opposed to following the traditional method of offloading virtual machine backups through a VCB proxy."
Meaning you need spare resources on the VSphere machine that could have been used by production servers instead.

It does work but not that well for production stuff.

It really depends on what is running in those VM-s. In many systems there are periods of very low usage, and there it is not an issue at all.