Should you buy VMware ESX5i from VMware vs. HP Branded

[chuckk281]

A good question from Hoa:

******************

My customer wants to why should they buy ESXi 5.x from HP vs. VMware.    Our bundle drivers may be out of date as we have seen or being maintained with the latest changes?   Also with HP branded, are we the default ESX support provider or VMware?     Thanks for any advice.

************

Input from Ron:

*****************

The decision of who to buy VMware licenses from is different from the decision of which image to use to install ESXi.

When you buy VMware from HP you get your support from HP, which allows you to get support for your server, infrastructure and software all from the same vendor (one throat to choke). When you buy the VMware license from VMware the OS support comes from VMware.

No matter who you buy VMware from you are allowed to use the HP image. We strongly recommend using the HP image as the best practice, and in some cases (including all Gen8 servers) you have to use the HP image to install.

************

Any other comments or questions?

[Server-Support]

Ron, what's the best suggested Vmware image to be installed in the HP Blade c7000 - BL 490c G7 servers ?