VMWare ESX on 64-bit servers

[Aico]

Hi,

I've got a question which nobody is able to answer apparantly (even VMWare can't answer it).

We are currently investigating which hardware to use for our future VMWare ESX solution. I read on several forums and on the VMWare site itself that VMWare ESX doesn't support 64-bit processors yet.

Seeing that all new servers are fitted with 64-bit processors, this is quite a problem. Is there anyway to still use VMWare ESX on a machine with 64-bit processors?

Note: Our virtual machines don't require 64-bit capabilities yet.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Aico

[David Claypool]

While VMware ESX is not yet a 64-bit environment, current versions of VMware work just great in 32-bit compatibility mode on ProLiant servers with Intel EM64T and AMD64 technology. See http://www.hp.com/servers/manage --> SmartStart --> Support Matrices --> ProLiant Supported OS Matrix --> VMware for supported servers.

[Aico]

Ok, thank you for the reply.

Maybe a stupid question, but is the 32-bit compatibility mode something I have to enable in the system setup or is this a standard feature of the processor or application?

[pabel]

Hi Aico, you don't have to activate 32-bit compatibility. That's a built-in processor funcionality.

Regards.