Is FREE version of ESXi satisfactory for test lab?

[knc]

I think when we have installed ESXi we installed Standard edition. Going to fire up a lab to re-acquaint myself with it. I know it is missing some backup features and I think vSphere wont run with the free version.

 

[Markverhyden]

If I remember correctly when you install a fresh trial version you get all features for something like 90 days. After the 90 days, to continue using it, you have to put in the free product key otherwise it stops running the VM's.

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

I think when we have installed ESXi we installed Standard edition. Going to fire up a lab to re-acquaint myself with it. I know it is missing some backup features and I think vSphere wont run with the free version.

It's absolutely satisfactory for a test lab. You don't get all the fancy features like vMotion, vCenter or some backup stuff, but the free edition will get you acquainted with the fundamentals and "most" of the other features as far as management of the host and VM's goes.

Depending on how far you want to get into the lab you could check out VMUG for deeply discounted licenses: https://www.vmug.com/Join/EVALExperience It's $200 per year.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

IMO, yup the free one is fine. I ran it at home for a while quite a few years ago, had some older IBM X series like a 330 or something...and then also took one of my retired public gaming servers and stuffed a few more drives and NICs in it and ran that at home too for a while.

To me, you get to learn the essentials that you need, assigning/changing hardware resources.

 

[jft135]

I used it in production for years before I upgraded to the paid edition. Even then, the main reason I upgraded was to get the ability to migrate across physical hardware without shutting down the VM's. If I didn't need that these days, I could still get by with the free edition.

 

[knc]

It's absolutely satisfactory for a test lab. You don't get all the fancy features like vMotion, vCenter or some backup stuff, but the free edition will get you acquainted with the fundamentals and "most" of the other features as far as management of the host and VM's goes.

Depending on how far you want to get into the lab you could check out VMUG for deeply discounted licenses: https://www.vmug.com/Join/EVALExperience It's $200 per year.

I'll have to look into the Users group. Cant be $200 bucks a year if I need it.

 

[Markverhyden]

Depending on how far you want to get into the lab you could check out VMUG for deeply discounted licenses: https://www.vmug.com/Join/EVALExperience It's $200 per year.

Thanks for the link. At this point I'm fine with the free version for myself. But that's an awesome resource if I decide to get into pushing their products.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

You might also look into hyper v. At my job here, we've started attempting to learn that. I work for an IT department in a church organization, and we have some Bible colleges associated with our organization. One that is close by to the headquarters, the IT guy quit on them, and a lot of their stuff runs in hyper v, so we've been getting a crash course. We run some stuff in VMware, but are going to start running more hyper v to keep things consistent.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I started with the free VMWare ages ago, moved onto Xenserver, dabbled with ProxMox, and ended on Hyper-V.

The thing with Hyper-V is, you usually get the license for it along with the rest of your server... so adding another product to the mix just doesn't make financial sense for my customers. Everything is Hyper-V now.

But if you need something that can absolutely, positively, run any OS ever at any time? VMWare...

 

[Blackhammer]

I use the free Veeam Backup to move vms between hosts. I have the paid license for vsphere (2 of them actually, Essentials and Essentials Plus in a second rack) The free Veeam does a faster migration. I also have Altaro for backup but use Veeam to migrate vms.

 

[MDD1963]

I started with the free VMWare ages ago, moved onto Xenserver, dabbled with ProxMox, and ended on Hyper-V.

The thing with Hyper-V is, you usually get the license for it along with the rest of your server... so adding another product to the mix just doesn't make financial sense for my customers. Everything is Hyper-V now.

But if you need something that can absolutely, positively, run any OS ever at any time? VMWare...

There is no license for Hyper V at all, it can be downloaded/installed/used for free, and does not have to be installed as 'a role' with/nor even accompanied with WS2012/2016.

 

[Sky-Knight]

There is no license for Hyper V at all, it can be downloaded/installed/used for free, and does not have to be installed as 'a role' with/nor even accompanied with WS2012/2016.

This is actually not true, the hyper-v Free license you're talking about comes with several limitations, one of which is that it cannot legally have the management tools required to actually use the platform installed on it. Check your licensing!

 

[ohio_grad_06]

I may be completely, wrong, still learning hyper v. But the hypervisor, bascially their version of ESXi, IE stripped down command line version of Windows server, is free if memory serves. So what you would need to do is install that onto a dedicated box, then you must install onto another system the Hyper V Manager. You would then connect to your hypervisor and essentially manage from the other box.

From testing, I think you can do this either from Windows Server, or Windows 10 allows that tool to be install also. Then you create your VM's etc. on the remote box.

Here were some of the limitations for 2012 that I had found, but obviously this isn't complete.

http://hyper-v-backup.backupchain.com/hyper-v-vmware-and-virtualbox-hypervisor-limitations/

If memory serves as well(we are thinking of deploying hyper v at my day job), if you purchase Server 2016 standard for example, you are only allowed 2 VM's of hyper V, though I think they try to say ANY technology like VMware, virtualbox, etc.

I think you can purchase Server 2016 Datacenter which allows you do have unlimited VM's if I recall, but that was quite expensive. So that is why we were looking at the hypervisor solution.

 

[mikeroq]

If memory serves as well(we are thinking of deploying hyper v at my day job), if you purchase Server 2016 standard for example, you are only allowed 2 VM's of hyper V, though I think they try to say ANY technology like VMware, virtualbox, etc.

I think you can purchase Server 2016 Datacenter which allows you do have unlimited VM's if I recall, but that was quite expensive. So that is why we were looking at the hypervisor solution.

The limit is in Windows Server licenses and not virtual machines you can have.
Server 2016 Standard comes with rights to run 2 VMs of Server 2016 Standard.

That can be done using the free hyper-v edition or a Server 2016 Standard install only running Hyper-V role. The license for 2016 Standard will let you run two guests of Server 2016, or another hypervisor like ESXi with two guests of 2016 without additional licenses.

So if you want 3 or 4+ 2016 VMs you would have to buy another license for Server 2016 Standard to give you two more licenses and so on.

Datacenter allows you to run any number of Server 2016 virtual machines on the same hardware without having to worry about licenses.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Explain that again sorry. I get the part about if I want to run more than 2 VM's on 2016 Standard that basically I need to buy another copy of 2016 Standard. Or that if we purchased 2016 DataCenter, that you can run unlimited VM's on that.

So what about the free hypervisor software?

I was looking at this link. Which judging by the limits on the 2012 hypervisor, I was thinking it looked like you could run multiple VMs on the free version? Maybe I'm misreading it? Seemed like it was hard to find info or that maybe I was looking in the wrong places. Not sure. Kind of the first time we are really deploying Hyper V.

http://hyper-v-backup.backupchain.com/hyper-v-vmware-and-virtualbox-hypervisor-limitations/

Also, please correct me if I'm wrong, but on Server 2016 Standard, I think they essentially said that if you install hyper V and run VM's on a Server 2016 Standard box, that you aren't allowed to install any other roles without violating the license? Which seems absurd to me if you have capable hardware. But of course we have to follow the licensing.

 

[mikeroq]

You can run ANY number of guests in HyperV that you want. Any OS.

When it comes to running an OS that needs a licnese, you of course need a license to run it.

Essentially the licensing is the same no matter the hypervisor. Standard gives you two guests and datacenter gives you unlimited Server 2016.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[MDD1963]

This is actually not true, the hyper-v Free license you're talking about comes with several limitations, one of which is that it cannot legally have the management tools required to actually use the platform installed on it. Check your licensing!

Server 2016 and Hyper-V are two separate products...; there is no special Hyper-V 'free' license, it is always free. It can be managed (rudimentary level, start, stop, move, export, import) within Hyper-V Manager, a normal free application available to the Pro/Enterprise desktop OS anywhere on the network, it does not need WS2016, or System Center to manage it. Anyone can install Hyper-V as bare metal, and manage it afterwards w/ HyperV Manager remotely from elsewhere. (Some very much mistakenly think if Hyper-V 'role' as similar to VirtualBox, a Type 2 Hypervisor....which it is not...ever)

What 'licensing' are you wishing that I research? Hyper-V is free. HyperV Manager is free. System Center, of course (and all it's underlying tools, cost $1500/$3,500 extra on top of WS licensing), and WS2016 are not. HyperV can be managed with HyperV Manager, which would be isntalled on a Win8/10 Pro OS, either remotely, or locally. (Locally is what happens when the 'role' of HyperV is added.)

The fact that one can install Hyper-V from within WIn10 Pro or Server 2016 does not change that what is happening is that the original OS (WS2016 or Win10) is then actually 'scooped up' and converted into a VM, and installed as a special VM running at initial bootup of what is now actually HyperV at the bare metal layer, albeit imperceptibly.

If you are perhaps referring to System Center 2016 as the restricted 'managing tools' for running an entire datacenter, that is a separate product with other prerequisites, which of course might include a functioning WS2016 underneath...with licensing of course for WS2016 and Sytem Center.

I could run Hyper-V with no WS2008/2012/2016 VMs nearby whatsoever, however unlikely. HyperV can run an unrestricted number of Linux and FreeBSD VMs, etc... The WS2012/2016 licensing allows you to run a pair of WS2012/2016 VMs under whatever hypervisor you wish. Neither is connected to HyperV at all. I think what confuses people is that MS will allow you to install WS2016, and as long as you add no 'roles' other than HyperV, you can still run two additional WS201x VMs...

Hyper-V Manager - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../hyper-v/manage/remotely-manage-hyper-v-hosts
System Center- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/system-center-pricing