BREAKING: VMworld Announces Super-Thin ESX 3i

Looks like VMware is taking virtualization another step -- into the world of thinware. This I just saw from TechTarget:

As SearchServerVirtualization.com first reported back in June, VMware has developed a version of its ESX bare-metal hypervisor that fits into a mere 32 MB of flash memory, down from 2 GB for the previous version of ESX.

VMware achieved this feat by stripping out the entire service console -- an optimized and hardened version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 3 -- and leaving behind only the core ESX kernel, explained Bogomil Balkansky, VMware senior director of product marketing.

Separating the kernel and service console has numerous benefits, Balkansky said. "32 MB is a lot smaller of an attack focus in terms of security," he said. Also, embedding the hypervisor frees VMware from a dependency on a general-purpose operating system and eliminates the possibility of reliability breaches introduced by third-party agents.

Perhaps more to the point, VMware believes that embedding the hypervisor will expand virtualization's reach to the mainstream. "We believe that with ESX Server 3i, the startup experience, will make virtualization available to pretty much everyone," Balkansky said.

More after the jump...

Of course, the service console has traditionally played an important role in ESX, Balkansky said. With traditional ESX, the service console is used for three basic functions: to execute command line management and run scripts; to house agents that monitor the health of the hardware; and to run third-party agents to provide enhanced functionality for applications such as backup and replication.

Now, with the service console gone, management will be performed through a remote command line interface, Balkansky said. "That shouldn't represent a major change for customers, as the syntax remains the same," he said. The hardware agents that today monitor system health will be replaced by the Common Information Model (CIM) from the Data Management Task Force (DMTF). Rather than placing agents in the service console, VMware is working with its partners to help them leverage application programming interfaces to connect to 3i.

Although no server OEMs had announced server hardware based on ESX Server 3i by press time, Balkansky said he expected most large server vendors to be part of this announcement. Server manufacturers that offer an embedded hypervisor capability will set pricing and disclose packaging themselves.

But going forward, VMware also plans to sell ESX Server 3i itself, as an alternative to the full-scale ESX. "Our expectation is that maybe newer workloads will go on 3i, but there's no reason for [customers] to go back and change things that are already running," Balkansky said. VMware plans to wait to disclose details of VMware-branded ESX Server 3i until after its partners announce their offerings. He added that ESX Server 3i nodes would be fully compatible with existing ESX nodes, making it possible to live migrate VMs between them using VMotion. "There's no change to VMFS [the virtual file machine system]," he said.

But VMware isn't the only virtualization player to offer an embedded hypervisor. XenSource Inc., recently acquired by Citrix Systems Inc., announced an embedded version of its hypervisor, XenExpress OEM Edition, last Wednesday. It too expects several OEM vendors to offer its hypervisor, said John Bara, XenSource vice president of marketing, although again, none had yet publicly come forward. Most server vendors, Bara predicted, would offer end customers a choice between the VMware and XenSource platforms.