Both VMware ESX and VMware ESXi are bare-metal management programs that are installed directly on the server hardware. Both have industry-leading performance and scalability, except that VMware ESXi employs a unique architecture and operations management approach. Although both are not dependent on the operating system for resource management, VMware ESX relies on the Linux operating system (known as the Service console) to perform the following two management functions: Execute scripts, and install third-party agents for hardware monitoring, backup, or system administration. The service console has been removed in ESXi, which greatly reduces the footprint of this hypervisor and enables the development of migration of management functions from the local command-line interface to remote management tools. A smaller ESXi code base means that the "attack surface" is smaller and requires less code to patch, resulting in increased reliability and security. The functionality of the service console is replaced by a remote command line interface that complies with the system Management standard.
VMware ESXi is the easiest way to get started with virtualization. By consolidating applications onto fewer servers, you can start saving money by reducing hardware, power, cooling, and management costs. VMware ESXi has been optimized and tested, and it can even run the most resource-intensive applications and databases with minimal performance overhead. With VMware ESXi, you can run multiple operating systems on a single server, reducing the cost of hardware to run a more eco-friendly data center, reducing energy costs making it easier to backup and restore your applications, running applications with the greatest resource footprint in a production environment.
According to VMware's engineers, in the production environment VMware ESX used more, VMware ESXi in the production environment with less, exsi is relatively small, and even can be done on the U disk. The latest version of VMware supports VLAN technology, the virtual machine inside the different operating systems can be in different VLANs inside, this function is very good!
VMware ESXi can be obtained free of charge from VMware's official website, and VMware ESX, Vsphare, vcenter, and a number of packages are expensive!
VMware ESX and VMware ESX differences