personal use: XenServer vs ESXi

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ripken204

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most threads compare these for business use, I would be using it for personal (free) use

I was able to install XenServer in virtualbox today, purely for testing to see what it was like, seems very simple to use.
I was not able to install ESXi in virtualbox, apparently that is not possible without some hacks and I don't have a spare computer to install it on.

So for personal, which would you guys suggest?

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Here is what I plan for my network:

Server A - running openindiana, it will be a ZFS SAN with at least 14TB of usable space
Server B - virtualization server, i will run one OS for website development (LAMP), I am still undecided what else I will do, but once I have this, I know I will be playing with a lot of different things

Currently my Server B is running Ubuntu with about 8TB of usable space. The HDDs will remain there for backup purposes, backing up important data from Server A.
How would I go about doing this? Give one of the virtualized OSes access to the raid controller/disks? I dont care much about the performance since it's only for backup.

Where should I store the virtual disks (VMDK)? Am I able to tell XenServer/ESXi to use the raid array in Server B. Can I partition the OS disk and have the second partition for virtual disks? Do I store it on the Server A, meaning it has to go through the network?
 
For ESXi you need server grade hardware. Aka, Dell, IBM, HP etc maybe Supermicro. Xenserver is more forgiving I think.

I'm kinda toying with a new virtualization solution myself. Right now I have a bunch of VirtualBox windows in a VNC session, not really the nicest setup.
 
i'll be getting a supermicro motherboard and a xeon processor, so that shouldn't be an issue
 
I have used both and to be honest they are both as good as eachother for general use. I like the way that Xen will instlal on anything almost.
 
Tried xenserver's newset version a while ago and couldn't find to utilize vt-d nor i could find any how-to to enable/use it :/
So if your plan it to achieve a virtualized fileserver i'd still go with ESXi since it got good support for HBAs in VMdirectpath.
 
I use both and for a single host at home I would go with ESXi. Memory sharing and ballooning in ESXi greatly benefit a ram-limited home lab and with one host you won't miss the paid features. In the free XenServer a VM always uses all of the allocated ram and you will hit a wall much faster. ESXi also has more intuitive networking and more widespread support and availability of virtual appliances.
 
looks like i will have to give ESXi a try then, once i purchase my hardware.
are there any features in the free XenServer that are important which ESXi does not include in the free version?
 
ripken204 said:
looks like i will have to give ESXi a try then, once i purchase my hardware.
are there any features in the free XenServer that are important which ESXi does not include in the free version?
Click to expand...
Not if you only have one host.
 
when i last checked, this was important for me

both have only minimal storage/ backup functions in their free versions
-> you should have a NAS/SAN box for your VM's (copy,move, clone, backup)

Xenserver has free Vmotion
(move a running VM)

only ESXi has pass-through (pass hardware like nics and storage controller to guests)
Xen4 has this feature, Xenserver not. This is essential, if you want to virtualize
a fast storage NAS/SAN server like i do with my all-in-one VMserver+SAN in a box concept.

Gea
 
shiznit said:
I use both and for a single host at home I would go with ESXi. Memory sharing and ballooning in ESXi greatly benefit a ram-limited home lab and with one host you won't miss the paid features. In the free XenServer a VM always uses all of the allocated ram and you will hit a wall much faster. ESXi also has more intuitive networking and more widespread support and availability of virtual appliances.
Click to expand...

yep, I switched from xenserver to esxi just for that reason. One nicer thing about xen though was a full service console, so it was easier to get statistics and UPS shutdown capabilities.
 
For home use, and for learning virtualized servers and networks I would recommend ESX over just about anything. Reason being is that you are more likely to see ESX in the wild then anything else so if you are looking to virtualize your home network and also add some credentials to your resume, ESX is going to be a better way to do it.

I also find that VMware is the standard for just about everything, so you are going to find more prebuild VMware appliances then you are for Xen or Hyper V. More hardware (SAN / NAS etc type devices) is also going to tell you up front if it is VMware supported then anything else.
 
I'm running hyper V right now, i have never used XenServer OR Esxi.

Maybe i shal give esxi a try, since i just bought a brand SPANKIN new server, hasn't even arrived yet :(
 
C7J0yc3 said:
For home use, and for learning virtualized servers and networks I would recommend ESX over just about anything. Reason being is that you are more likely to see ESX in the wild then anything else
Click to expand...

This is what I thought as well but I have seen more XenServer for some reason, I think its the free live migration. I wonder why they can live migrate a server but not users in XenApp? I would love to be albe to move users off servers at low use times then I could power down until the capacity is needed. I do drain the servers but some time a couple of users stay on here and there and have an entire server just for them!
 
So now that they changed it, should one stick with Xen Server or go with v5 of this?

just got a new box together but am still trying to decided what to use?


Ideally this would hold some smaller roles, a 3rd DC/DNS , a CentOS HTTP server, anotehr windows install to handle some smaller apps we use on our network and so on, no massive file storage or anything like that..
 
Either will do fine for a home lab setup. Just decide which one you want to learn and work with.
 
s0lid said:
Tried xenserver's newset version a while ago and couldn't find to utilize vt-d nor i could find any how-to to enable/use it :/
So if your plan it to achieve a virtualized fileserver i'd still go with ESXi since it got good support for HBAs in VMdirectpath.
Click to expand...

technically, no hbas are "supported" for vmdirectpath - just saying.
 
MrGuvernment said:
what about for a work entry level Virtualized server for some small systems?
Click to expand...

Xen works well. But if I was doing more than one box I'd do vSphere Essentials or Essentials Plus...but if you're just doing one or two small boxes any of them work fine.
 
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