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Streamline Deployment and Configuration. ESXi has far fewer configuration items than ESX, greatly simplifying deployment and configuration and making it easier to maintain consistency.
Reduce Management Overhead. The API-based partner integration model of ESXi eliminates the need to install and manage third party management agents. You can automate routine tasks by leveraging remote command line scripting environments such as vCLI or PowerCLI.
Simplify Hypervisor Patching and Updating. Due to its smaller size and fewer components, ESXi requires far fewer patches than ESX, shortening service windows and reducing security vulnerabilities. Over its lifetime, ESXi 3.5 required approximately 10 times fewer patches than ESX 3.5.
What’s New in ESXi 4.1
In the vSphere 4.1 release VMware has added significant enhancements to either ESXi or the core tools that are used to manage ESXi.
AD Integration. New to ESXi/ESX 4.1 is the ability to configure the host to join an Active Directory domain, and any user trying to access the host will automatically be authenticated against the centralized user directory. You can also have local users defined and managed on a host-by-host basis and configured using the vSphere Client, vCLI, or PowerCLI. This second method can be used either in place of, or in addition to, the Active Directory integration.
Scripted Installation. New to ESXi 4.1 is the ability to do a scripted installation of the ESXi software to the local disk of a server. Various deployment methods are supported, including booting the ESXi installer off a CD or over PXE, and accessing the configuration file over the network using a variety of protocols, such as secure HTTP. The configuration file can also specify the following scripts to be executed during the installation:
- Pre-install
- Post-install
- First-boot
These scripts run locally on the ESXi host, and can perform various tasks such as configuring the host’s virtual networking and joining it to vCenter Server.
Boot from SAN support for ESXi. Support for Boot from SAN has been added to ESXi 4.1. This support includes Fibre Channel SAN, as well as iSCSI and FCoE for certain storage adapters that have been qualified for this capability.
Tech Support Mode Enhancements. In ESXi 4.1, Tech Support Mode is fully supported, and is enhanced in several ways. In addition to being available on the local console of a host, it can also be accessed remotely through SSH. Access to Tech Support Mode is controlled in the following ways:
- Both local and remote Tech Support Mode can be enabled and disabled separately in both the DCUI as well as vCenter Server.
- Tech Support Mode may be used by any authorized user, not just root. Users become authorized when they are granted the Administrator role on a host (including through AD membership in a privileged group).
- All commands issued in Tech Support Mode are logged, allowing for a full audit trail. If a syslog server is configured, then this audit trail is automatically included in the remote logging.
- A timeout can be configured for Tech Support Mode (both local and remote), so that after being enabled, it will automatically be disabled after the configured time.
vCLI Enhancements. In vSphere 4.1, some important enhancements have been made to make the vCLI more powerful, such as:
- The ability to forcibly terminate a virtual machine, even when it is not responding to normal shutdown commands.
- The ability to configure storage to a greater extent, including various software iSCSI parameters and storage plugin.
- Additional diagnostic capabilities for networking and NFS storage.
Compare ESXi to Other Vendors' Offerings
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