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ESXi embedded (USB/SD) vs ESXi installable (disks)

 
chuckk281
Trusted Contributor

ESXi embedded (USB/SD) vs ESXi installable (disks)

Chris had a VMware media question:

 

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I am wondering what are the relative advantages and disadvantages of using ESXi embedded (on USB stick or SD card) versus ESXi installable (installed on disk) on ProLIant blades.

 

Obviously a pair of disks + BBWC for the built in SmartArray controller cost real money. But I get flexibility of patching and have media redundancy (RAID0).

 

Any comments when one approach fits better than the other and generally what is the best practice today and why?

 

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Oliver joined the chat:

 

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I think you already mentioned all relevant pros and cons.

 

USB/SD:

  • cheaper
  • no redundancy (can be covered by HA if you accept short service disruption but you may have inconsistent applications due to the crash)

 

hard disk:

  • much more expensive
  • proven redundancy

 

Performance is not relevant here. If you deploy ESXi on both media then patching is the same.

 

It would be wonderful to have USB/SD redundancy J  … already discussed on the blade PDL which I have added to the thread.

 

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Ron also added his voice:

 

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Also note that with hard drive based systems there are metrics in place to monitor the health of the drives.

 

With a flash device we do not get the same health monitoring capability.

 

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What do you think? Do you one over the other?

1 REPLY 1
Jags_21
HPE Pro

Re: ESXi embedded (USB/SD) vs ESXi installable (disks)

The Main difference b/t the ESXi Embedded and ESXi Installable

 

ESXi Embedded (USB/SD) : Image provided by the OEM like HP along with the HP CIM bundled and HP latest drivers

 

ESXi Installable : Image provided VMware itself and default CIM bundled and there will not be any specific drivers (for eg: HP flex 10 nic drivers) users need to doenload and install them manually.

Any personal opinions expressed are mine, and not official statements on behalf of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
I work for HPE

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