Plain Virtualization

Yes you hear me right. Check out the vSphere 8.0U3e  release notes . VMware is releasing the ESXi 8.0U3e as an entry-level hypervsor.  To download, head to https://support.broadcom.com/ and create an account if you have not done so.  Follow the screenshot below: Software> VMware Cloud Foundation>My Downloads Next click on Free Software Downloads available HERE. Scroll down to VMware vSphere Hypervisor and click on it. You will be lead to it. You will be able to download it. It will be about 618Mb That is definitely a good news for those who needs it for Home lab testing. But not sure if this going to be a one off. Also to note, it is on a 60 days trial but not sure if it behaviour the same as pre-broadcom after expiry. Thanks to Joey Ware for tipping off in Facebook group.

With the announcement of the end of perpetual license for VMware products moving forward, there are also other changes especially in regards to the free ESXi. As per KB on 12th Feb 2024 states, the free ESXi or free vSphere hypervisor is no longer made available. This came as a surprise to me. In fact, many of our home lab and evangelist are using the free hypervisor to learn VMware solution. With this gone, this will definitely affect the fan base and results in many to use alternative. Didn't expected this to come. But understandable that Broadcom might want to stop those who are leveraging on free hypervisor for commercial use. Which I know of some who does. I would rather they change the EULA and make it fully personal license, which mean Broadcom can actually use legal action if found anyone using it for commercial reason.  But sadly, this got to happen. At least the free ESXi has a good run.

With the release of vSphere 7.0, there are some changes to the editions. Actually not really much, rather the end of availability of vSphere Platinum, vCloud Foundation Platinum, and vCloud Suite Platinum effective 2nd Apr 2020. This doesn't come as a surprise since VMware has acquired Carbon Black, so I make sense to evaluate AppDefence with integration into the main Carbon Black solution. Below are the editions for your reference: vSphere ROBO Kits Scale-Out Free ESS ESS+ STD ENT+ STD ADV ENT Scale-Out Hypervisor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes vMotion Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes High Availability Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Data Protection & Replication Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes vShield Endpoint Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Fault Tolerance 2-vCPU 8-vCPU 2-vCPU 4-vCPU 4-vCPU Storage vMotion Yes Yes Yes Yes ...