Someone on the VMTN forums was able to use the Free ESXi license with ESX. Not sure if this is a bug or not, but as @mattliebowitz has pointed out, it is against the EULA.
Here is how it's done.
- Go get your Free ESXi4 License Key.
- Go download the ESX4 DVD as part of your vSphere Trial.
- Start Installing ESX4
- Enter the serial number later
- Complete your ESX installation
- Open Up the vSphere Client and enter your Free ESXi License
- Click OK and you will see your Free ESXi license show up on screen.
- You're done. And you still have your Service Console available
- And you have all the options in your ESX Firewall
What it can do:
- SSH is now available
- You can install the NetApp ESX Host Utility (or perhaps any other Storage or Server based ESX Utility)
- You can use Veeam FastSCP to transfer files.(which if you do enough scheduled copies to the right directories and a few scripts, you could have yourself another free ESX backup utility)
- Provides a web interface for administration via "Web Access"
- Easier to enable SNMP. (Busybox workaround for enabling SNMP of Free ESXi)
What it can't do:
- You cannot add it to vCenter
- Veeam Backup and Replication still doesn't validate it as Licensed version of ESX (thanks for testing Matt Leibowitz @mattliebowitz)
- No changes can be made via PowerCLI. But you can use the Get- cmdlets. fault.RestrictedVersion.summary
The added benefit?
If you're server or storage vendor has ESX utilities such as NetApp, you can install them through the Service Console. Other than that, you're still limited to the same features as Free ESXi.