[SOLVED] ESXi vs VirtualBox

Hi All,

Could anyone pinpoint the advantages/disadvantages of:

• Running unRaid within ESXi
  
• Running VBox within unRaid
  

I'm in the process of building a new server and have though of building an ESXi machine, but maybe this is too much??? Hardware is not an issue since I already bought the Supermicro X9SCM-F (for the IPMI capabilities, I want a truly headless server). I haven't bought yet the CPU mainly because I can't make my mind on which option to build.

What are the pros and cons of an ESXi server?

You asked me, in this thread http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=20604.0 why i build an ESXI server. I've no particulary reason, other than i found it possible to passthrougt the M1015 controller, and i needed an windowsinstallation for my Mediaportal TV server installation. Instead of having several pc's turned on, i've only one now

Thomas

Hi All,

 

Could anyone pinpoint the advantages/disadvantages of:

 

• Running unRaid within ESXi
  
• Running VBox within unRaid
  

ESXi gives you enterprise level feature set (even without the additional license features) and reliability (hardware dependant). Though you might not want or care for half of them.

Nice simple interface.

Easy lightweight installation of esxi and guests.

'Bare metal' virtualisation for guests.

Downsides :

Can be picky on hardware

Remote management options are limited if you're not on windows (* may not be true these days, it changes alot!)

You need a boot media that probably won't be part of the unraid array. So less one sata port and drive bay.

Have to jump through some (relatively trivial) hoops to pass through your usb key for unraid licensing.

Involves more though 'pre deployment' as to how you are going to have things work / hardware.

Virtualbox in unraid pros :

You don't have an additional 'base' OS to worry about like you would with ESXi. Just unraid, so no difference day to day.

Virtualbox is very good (understatement) and has more than enough of a feature set to satisfy most.

Alot of the features ESXi brings you could do in virtualbox / within the unraid OS with a bit of manual legwork.

Cons :

Not baremetal. Whether or not this impacts performance would be the question especially if used in conjunction with any paravirtulisation available.

Has to be installed inside unraid. You have the same problems as you do with any other unraid addon - this can be a pain.

Relies on a kernel module(s) which will need to be rebuilt each time unraid version bumps it's own kernel.

They're two very different approaches given the baremetal versus not argument. Personally I think ESXi will perform better than virtualbox. But that's really personal opinion, I have no metrics and it's a statement very open to attack.

The real bonus of ESXi is that I can just install vanilla unraid and leave it be. I don't need to tinker with unraids packaging etc etc to get virtualisation. Management etc is trivial as well. If unraid is upgraded I can just install and reboot the vm. It won't affect my other vm's and I don't then need to spend time making virtualbox work on the new unraid kernel with the consequence that all my other vm's are down until I do.

In summary (I've done both approaches) virtualbox was fine when it worked. But when it didn't it was a pain.

ESXi 'just works' and has given me even more flexibility given unraid itself is now virtualised alongside my other vm's.

Other than the performance questions for me it's really just the management issues. Having it run under ESXi takes away all the hassle of installing and maintaining virtualbox inside unraid. True, it's not a huge problem but it all adds up and at some point I decided, given the esxi alternative, to ask myself why I was jumping through those hoops when there was no need to.

I haven't looked back.

The other way to look at it is when I was running virtualbox inside unraid my eye was caught by ESXi and led me down the 'what if' path. Now I'm running ESXi there has never been a single moment I've missed virtualbox or regretted the move.

I'm in the process of building a new server and have though of building an ESXi machine, but maybe this is too much??? Hardware is not an issue since I already bought the Supermicro X9SCM-F (for the IPMI capabilities, I want a truly headless server). I haven't bought yet the CPU mainly because I can't make my mind on which option to build.

 

What are the pros and cons of an ESXi server?

It's a hard question to answer really as it will likely depend on your individual requirements and position.

Given I've taken the step myself I would say 'go ESXi' but what suits me may not suit you.

If you're seeing benefits and advantages of running virtualised guests in virtualbox inside unraid - ask yourself the questions if the benefits you're getting there would also apply if you virtualised unraid itself. If the answer is yes then you have your answer.