Going through VMworld 2010 video, I was not too surprised of getting the news that VMware ESX will be discontinued & only VMware ESXi will exist forward. Actually it seemed a news that had been circulating for a while, but finally its official now. Watch the below VMworld video from VMworld TV which clearly state that:
Ok, so what does this mean to me. I thought I will share my opinion of this decision.
Although VMware customers will have to pay some efforts to upgrade to ESXi, the upgrade process more than likely will be streamed line & not much more efforts than doing the normal upgrade between ESX releases. Though the gained benefits will be much worth it.
VMware ESXi has a much smaller foot print than ESX, which ensure it has a higher reliability and security level. Further, as ESXi get rid of the service console (a big chuck of the ESX code) it reduce the amount of patching required for ESX tremendously. In regards of the service console command line access, RCLI & Support Tech mode shall do the trick of replacing it. VMware has made a great development on both that I believe they can replace the service console command line in the future.
One more advantage that I see & not emphasized much by other is unifying the platform. It will finally kill the confusion many customers have between ESX & ESXi. Which one shall they use? when to use it? I mean one of the question I have been asked tons of time will I be able to use VMotion & HA if I install ESXi instead of ESX. I believe this move will wipe this confusion. It will even put VMware one more step a head of the competetion.
What does this shall mean for VMware Admins & consultants? If you have a new vSphere implementation make sure you set it up with ESXi from the start, as ESX will be phasing out with the next release. If you have ESX & you are still planning to carry out the upgrade, you might want to consider upgrading to VMware ESXi direclty.
I would like to hear other people opinions of the move to ESXi, Please leave your points & feedbacks in the comment area below.
I think you are making an incorrect assumption in stating that the upgrade will be streamlined. Maybe I am missing something, but I have never seen an ESX to ESXi migration that has been anything but a wipe and reload process.