Comments on: If VMware ESXi 4 is so small, why is it so big?

By: Why Should I Install ESXi instead of ESX? « DeinosCloud

Why Should I Install ESXi instead of ESX? « DeinosCloud — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:01:49 +0000

[...] too much. Thus if we could get rid of the COS, we end up with a smaller footprint, in this case just a bit less than 64MB instead of several [...]

By: Eric Gray

Eric Gray — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:47:47 +0000

Thanks, Simon. Glad you found it useful.

Eric

By: Simon Seagrave

Simon Seagrave — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:41:11 +0000

Wow, great article Eric – can’t believe I haven’t read it before now. So many people I know get confused when they see the ESXi install consuming more than the actual hypervisor size of 32/60MB.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers,

Simon
http://www.techhead.co.uk

By: Computer Troubleshooters | VMWARE ESXi 4.0 Partitions on 1GB Flash drive or Hard Disk

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:13:56 +0000

[...] Take a look at this blog for details on what each partition contains:http://www.vcritical.com/2009/08/if-vmware-esxi-4-is-so-small-why-is-it-so-big/ [...]

By: aharden

aharden — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:18:55 +0000

I would measure hypervisors’ storage footprints by comparing the amount of storage space they consume immediately after the default vendor-supported installation. You spelled this out above for ESXi; I’ll check the ESXi stick I have to confirm. The ~1.5GB quote was from another blog article and it may have been more applicable to ESXi installed to a hard disk after an upgrade, which might retain more data from the previous install. Because ESXi carves out 900MB to operate normally (based on your example), I consider that its storage footprint. That is the number that should be compared against either the total space consumed by WS2008/Hyper-V installed files or, more accurately, against the default partitioning of the WS2008 Setup routine.

By: Twitter Trackbacks for VMware ESXi 4 disk footprint is 59MB | VCritical [vcritical.com] on Topsy.com

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:04:24 +0000

[...] VMware ESXi 4 disk footprint is 59MB | VCritical http://www.vcritical.com/2009/08/if-vmware-esxi-4-is-so-small-why-is-it-so-big – view page – cached Although VMware ESXi 4 requires a 1GB flash device to install, the core hypervisor functionality is fully contained in less than 60MB. Most of the remaining space is for a downloadable vSphere Client or simply unused., Don't believe everything you read. — From the page [...]

By: Eric Gray

Eric Gray — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:39:55 +0000

Aharden, The installed size of ESXi is not 1.5GB. Even if you count all of the guest OS tools and the downloadable vSphere Client, the size is still under 300MB.

What would be your recommendation on how to measure the footprint of a hypervisor?

By: How to create and run VMware ESXi 4 on a 64MB USB flash drive | VCritical

How to create and run VMware ESXi 4 on a 64MB USB flash drive | VCritical — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:29:57 +0000

[...] PASS Syndication by Eric Gray | No comments In a previous article, I answered the question: If VMware ESXi 4 is so small, why is it so big? It’s quite clear now that the disk footprint of VMware ESXi 4 is less than 60MB. But to [...]

By: aharden

aharden — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:09:40 +0000

Eric, I think we’re talking past one another. The concentric circle picture on the VMware blog post directly compares the ESXi hypervisor size (not the ESXi installed size of ~1.5GB) against the installed size of both Server Core and Full installs of WS2008 with Hyper-V. It’s not a fair comparison.

I feel I have to couch my response here – I’m a Windows Server admin and huge VMware fan managing 20+ ESX hosts with no logical reason to switch gears to Hyper-V at this time. MS and VMware are both guilty of inaccurate comparisons in this case.

By: tonyr08

tonyr08 — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:29:18 +0000

dang knew that about the licensing vmotion part, what I really meant to ask is does the in memory footprint stay the same wether vmotion is licensed or not? Or does another module load when it sees the valid license?