On 12/23/2010 10:02 AM, Alexander Dalloz wrote:
>
>> The ESX/ESXi host is limited to a maximum of 32 logical (sockets x
>> cores x hyperthreading) CPUs. The free license only allows access
>> through the vSphere client and all other features such as
>> vMotion/vStorage/HA are disabled. Otherwise the host's hardware limits
>> are the same.
>
> All the nifty VMware features are technically bound to the existance and
> functioning of a vCenter Server. It's all controlled by it and without one
> (reboot, failure, whatever) the VMs will go on running but no vMotion, HA
> or DRS will work. This is the case for whatever vSphere product and
> feature set you choose. Of course, beyond the 60 days trial period the
> vCenter Server must be licensed as well the required number of physical
> CPUs.
>
> The named vSphere Essentials license does not cover vMotion and HA, not to
> speak about Storage vMotion. Neccessary to choose at least vSphere
> Essentials Plus.
>
> </offtopic>
To put this back in the context of comparison to other free virtual host
servers, you can run the console client (windows app) to connect to as
many ESXi servers as you want, but on a one to one basis. That is, open
a new instance of the client for each connection, and within those you
can open consoles to as many VM guests as you want (although once the
network is up I usually prefer to use vnc or NX/freenx directly to the
guest). The licensed vCenter stuff refers to a single app that is
simultaneously aware of all of your ESXi servers and their guests and
can move/fail resources across servers - concepts that I don't think the
other hypervisors even have.
I don't think there is an overall restriction on how many of the free
ESXi servers you install - you just have to treat them as standalone
instances.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell at gmail.com