vSphere Hypervisor ESXi - which features would I lose using the free version in my Lab?
So I am completely starting over in my home lab and wanted to know if I would be able to test all the features of VMware vSphere with the free vSphere Hypervisor ESXi version.
Beyond that is there a comparison chart?
Lastly, does Hyper-V lack any major features that vSphere Hypervisor ESXi free edition brings?
I will be building primarily Microsoft AD, multiple Exchange versions for testing migrations, SCCM, SCOM etc.
Thank you.
Beyond that is there a comparison chart?
Lastly, does Hyper-V lack any major features that vSphere Hypervisor ESXi free edition brings?
I will be building primarily Microsoft AD, multiple Exchange versions for testing migrations, SCCM, SCOM etc.
Thank you.
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Autolab, great recommendation!!
Cannot wait to use it!
Thanks again!
Cannot wait to use it!
Thanks again!
I've got an article here you can follow:-
HOW TO: Set up a lab environment for vSAN using VMware Workstation
HOW TO: Set up a lab environment for vSAN using VMware Workstation
Please find the link below explain what you will get in free version for testing of ESXi 5.5 & 5.1
Source -1. http://www.vladan.fr/esxi-5-5-free-version-details/
2. http://techhead.co/vmware-vsphere-5-1-hypervisor-free-esxi-5-1-limitations/
ESXi 5.5 Free version – The Features
Physical RAM restriction removed (ESXi 5.1 was limited to 32Gb per host – it was a hard limit)
8 vCPU per VM limit (It’s not often that one would need to run at home 8 vCPU VMs).
Virtual Hardware 10 improvements:
LSI SAS support for Solaris 11
Enablement for new CPU architectures
AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) support
SATA controller supports both virtual disk & CDROM on controller
ESXi, there is no SCSI CDROM support, only IDE
Mac OS X has stopped support for IDE, CDROM will require AHCI controller
Most guest OSes also support AHCI
Support 30 devices per controller, up to 4 controllers with total of 120 devices
Update: The other restrictions on Free ESXi, like the non writable APIs for having the possibility to use one of the backup software on the market, and do hot backups, are still valid. You can check out How-to Apply VMware Free License to VMware ESXi.