In short
VMware ESXi installation means installing Broadcom’s VMware hypervisor on a physical server, configuring datastores, virtual switches (vSwitches) and VLAN port groups, and building virtual machines from standard templates. It is for companies that want to run several servers on one piece of hardware. CybUp handles the compatibility check, installation, network and storage design, security settings and backup integration.
What should you check before installing VMware ESXi?
The first check is whether the server and its cards (RAID controller, network adapter, HBA) are supported on the ESXi version you plan to install. We verify this model by model and card by card in the Broadcom Compatibility Guide. A network adapter that is not on the list may not show up during installation, or its driver may be dropped in the next update.
The second check is licensing. After acquiring VMware, Broadcom moved its products to subscription licensing and stopped selling perpetual licences (Broadcom announcement). You may hold older licences with support still running, a new subscription or the free edition, and we establish which of these works for you before installation. Because Broadcom sets licence pricing and bundle contents, we confirm the current terms separately in the quote.
Is free ESXi 8 still available?
Yes, in a limited form. According to Broadcom’s knowledge base article, a free hypervisor option returned with ESXi 8.0 Update 3e. With this release you can run as many virtual machines as the hardware allows, but it supports at most 2 physical CPUs per host and 8 vCPUs per virtual machine.
The bigger restriction is this: free ESXi cannot be managed by vCenter Server, and it has no vMotion, DRS or High Availability. Broadcom positions it for home labs and dev/test environments. If you run more than one production host that has to stay up, you will need a paid licence and a vCenter Server setup. If the licensing terms do not suit you, we also give you a side-by-side comparison with migrating to Hyper-V.
“Broadcom makes available the VMware vSphere Hypervisor version 8, an entry-level hypervisor. No Broadcom support is available for this offering and it is for non-production use.”
How do you design ESXi networking and vSwitches?
The basic rule of ESXi networking is to keep traffic types apart: management, VM traffic, storage (iSCSI/NFS) and, where used, vMotion each get their own VMkernel adapters and port groups, ideally on separate physical NICs. We bind each port group to a VLAN and trunk the same VLANs on the physical switch.
On a single host, a standard vSwitch is enough; a distributed vSwitch (vDS) needs vCenter. We team the physical NICs with at least two uplinks (NIC teaming) so that traffic carries on over the other card if a cable or switch port fails. On a server with two 10 GbE and two 1 GbE ports, for example, a typical layout dedicates the 10 GbE ports to VM and storage traffic and the 1 GbE ports to the management network.
How should ESXi storage be configured?
Your storage design decides where virtual machines live and what happens when something fails. On single-server setups, local disks are protected with RAID and formatted as a VMFS datastore. With more than one host you need shared storage (an array connected over iSCSI or NFS, or vSAN); otherwise, when a host fails, its virtual machines cannot be moved to another host.
We split datastores by workload: database disks can sit on fast NVMe/SSD, while archive and file data go on larger-capacity storage. If thin provisioning is in use, we put datastore usage under monitoring, because when a datastore reaches 100 per cent, the virtual machines on it stop. Wiring that alert into Zabbix monitoring is the simplest safeguard.
How do you set up VM templates and secure an ESXi host?
Rather than building every new virtual machine from scratch, we deploy it from an up-to-date, hardened template. The template already contains OS updates, VMware Tools, time synchronisation, the monitoring agent and your corporate settings, so a new server comes up in minutes and always to the same standard. With vCenter, templates are kept in a content library.
For host security, we make the management interface reachable only from the management VLAN, keep SSH and the ESXi Shell disabled by default, store the root password in a vault and create separate accounts for day-to-day work. We configure NTP and syslog, and put the server’s out-of-band management controller (iDRAC, iLO and so on) on the same management network.
- Hardware and drivers verified against the compatibility list
- Separate management, VM, storage and vMotion networks
- VMFS/NFS datastores on RAID or shared storage
- Hardened virtual machine templates
- SSH disabled, separate admin accounts, NTP and syslog
How do you back up virtual machines on ESXi?
Virtual machines on ESXi are backed up with backup software that takes snapshots at hypervisor level; a snapshot on its own is not a backup. We use a Veeam Backup setup for this and keep at least one copy on separate storage in immutable form. Before installation, we confirm in the vendor’s documentation that your backup software supports the ESXi licence you have chosen.
Say a logistics company with two branches runs its DC, file server and warehouse management software on a single ESXi host. In that setup a host failure stops the whole business, so we either plan a second host with shared storage or, at the very least, test bringing the VMs back up quickly from backup on other hardware. We review your current setup free of charge and agree with you which risks are acceptable.
What you receive
- Compatibility check by hardware model and by card
- Side-by-side summary of licensing options
- Installed and hardened ESXi host(s)
- VLAN port groups, NIC teaming and storage configuration
- Virtual machine templates
- Backup and monitoring integration, plus network and host documentation
How we work
- 1
Discovery
We review your servers, existing virtual machines, network and storage infrastructure and licensing.
- 2
Design
We decide on network separation, datastore layout and the licensing option.
- 3
Installation
After updating the firmware, we install ESXi and configure networking and storage.
- 4
Templates and migration
We build the templates and, where needed, move existing servers onto virtual machines.
- 5
Handover
We connect backup and monitoring, run a restore test and hand over the documentation.
Frequently asked questions
Can we use free ESXi in our business?
Broadcom positions the free ESXi 8.0 Update 3e for home labs and dev/test environments. Because it has no vCenter, vMotion, DRS or HA support, for production we weigh it against a paid licence or an alternative hypervisor.
Is our old perpetual VMware licence still valid?
Perpetual licences with an active support contract can be used within the terms of that contract. We review your licence documents and confirm which versions you can run before installation.
How much does an ESXi installation cost?
We give you a written quote after reviewing the number of hosts, your virtual machine layout and your licensing; the review is free. Licence pricing is set by Broadcom.
Can you convert our physical servers to virtual machines?
Yes. We plan either a physical-to-virtual (P2V) conversion or a clean install of the application on a new virtual machine with the data moved across, and decide server by server which carries less risk.
Will there be downtime during installation?
Installing a new host does not affect your current environment. We schedule the final steps of virtual machine migrations out of hours.
Should we choose Hyper-V instead of VMware?
It depends. Licensing terms, in-house skills and backup software compatibility all come into it; we give you a written comparison of the two options.
Do you install ESXi remotely?
If we have access to the out-of-band management controller, we can install remotely anywhere in Türkiye. In Istanbul we work on site for physical mounting and cabling.