[CentOS] Intel NIC

Thu Dec 23 16:27:28 UTC 2010
Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com>

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