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VMware ESXi for ARM: make sense?

31 August 2018 Andrea Mauro

This post is also available in: Italian

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Four years ago I’ve written a post about the Virtualization with ARM based servers when some vendors announce the possibility to have new server’s series based on the ARM processor.

Now seems that there are more than rumors with the announce, during the latest VMworld US 2018, of VMware vSphere for ARM. To be honest, not exactly vSphere, but just ESXi… anyway an interesting announce.

But to be clear, limited to embedded and edge IoT systems, so not like a general purpose solution for ARM servers.

Just demoed ESXi on 64-bit Arm devices for embedded / edge OEMs. Crazy since 6.7 just dropped a WHOLE SLEW of older, slower processors, @Vmware now going after Arm. Live from @vmware #VMworld day one keynote in the blogger section for #EUCChampion #EUCChampions #vExpert #vExperts pic.twitter.com/Yv2zNovLUX

— Dane Young, MBA (@youngtech) 27 agosto 2018

VMware demonstrated ESXi on 64-bit ARM running on ARM hardware built to common industry standards; note that VMware demonstrates not just virtualization, but also resilient operations and ease of management at the Edge, via FT-protected 64-bit Arm VMs and vMotion in a high-availability DRS cluster…

Seems that VMware sees an opportunity to work with selected embedded OEMs to the scope and explore opportunities for focused, ARM-enabled offering at the edge.

But can make sense?

If we think about the specific use cases (embedded and edge IoT systems) the answer could be maybe yes. It’s a specific field and has this opportunity could be interesting.

For the general purpose server the answer actually it’s not. So what’s happening with all the existing VMs, all existing applications and services and OSes? Are they ported to an ARM platform? For Linux and most of OpenSource projects, the answer is yes, but with some effort (all must be recompiled to the new platform). For Windows Server systems actually the answer is no for Windows Server 2016, but in a future could be changed, considering the they already have Windows RT that is a porting of the Windows Client OS to the ARM platform (Windows 10 IoT already exist for ARM and the new Windows Server 2019, actually in Technical Preview, will cover also this platform).

But also having an OS for ARM, does not mean that the Intel application will work on ARM… so another layer of porting. And we are very far to have multi-platform applications, at least for non cloud-native applications.

But also we are very far to have good ARM based servers or good portfolio solutions. There are some servers on this platform (HPE was one of the first with the Monshoot platform), but still too limited. And most of the ARM board are actually for IoT or for small embedded systems.

Will we able to install ESXi on this baby?

[amazon_link asins=’B01CD5VC92′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’vinfrastructu-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’b2459463-ad30-11e8-9c53-1d9218f68274′]

Not sure that will be possible: VMware has announced this solution for selected OEM partners, so seems really a solution that will be available as an embedded pre-packaged box. But let’s see, maybe in the future, there can also appear a Flings version or a free hypervisor.

Anyway it’s a pity that VMware is still removing old processor for recent vSphere released when those kinds of processor still have a good performance level (at least at core level, but of course they have a limited number of cores), and on the other side they are trying to run ESXi for a small platform like Raspberry Pi. Why don’t rethink the ESXi and propose again also some old CPU that in the reality are not so old and not necessary obsolete?

Andrea Mauro

Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.

General ARM, ESXi

#1 | Written by Andrei Warkentin about 6 years ago.

What was demonstrated at VMworld is not just virtualization, but resilient operations and ease of management at the Edge, via FT-protected 64-bit Arm VMs and vMotion in a high-availability DRS cluster, on Arm hardware built to common industry standards (SBSA, SBBR, etc).

What is the Edge? Edge is purpose-built (not general purpose) infrastructure, deployed next to your data sources and sinks within the constraints of your specific environment, and running your business-specific workloads. The combination of workloads and environmental constraints will lead you to specific x86 or 64-bit Arm based solutions. There will be a large range of performance, memory, storage, accelerator, I/O and power requirements. Some verticals and use-cases may see lower-end CPUs than the one demonstrated in the keynote. Some verticals and use-cases may see higher-end CPUs than the one demonstrated in the keynote, but most certainly in form factors different from traditional or next-generation datacenter deployments. Because the actual combination of hardware and software is extremely individual to the customer’s deployment, an OEM distribution model lends itself well to easily building turn-key solutions. There were no product plans announced at VMworld.

Why virtualization at the Edge? Edge deployments run into the exact same set of operations problems that we solve well in the data center today, plus quite a few more arising from the distributed at-scale deployment nature of some verticals, the purpose-built nature of the workloads and hardware, and the typical lifecycle of deployed hardware.

Disclaimer: I work on ESXi-Arm.
- #2 | Written by Andrea Mauro about 6 years ago.
  
  Thanks for the clarification… Very interesting comments… So why don’t call vSphere for ARM to explain that it’s really more than a simple virtualization?
#3 | Written by Andrei Warkentin about 6 years ago.

The actual designed product(s), should there be sufficient interest, may differ significantly from the feature set expected and implied by an existing product name, such as vSphere.

And for anyone else trying to wrap their mind around the recent announcement concerning Arm: reach out to your TAM/VMware representative if you have interest in concrete PoCs or product definitions addressing your use cases.
#4 | Written by Alex about 6 years ago.

Your reference to Windows Server being a “no” is incorrect. Server 2019 is being built for ARM. Microsoft have also stated they have been running ARM Windows in their own datacenteres nd have been working with Qualcomm to develop it.

Also Windows IoT – you have been able to run this on the Pi for ages, which again is ARM of course.
#5 | Written by Richard Hughes about 6 years ago.

Almost no VMware employees knew anything about the ARM port. The booth next to the display did not know it existed. While this was in the Key Note speech, I consider it a tremendous fail. They have no web site, no beta, no way to track progress. They could not scan my badge and send me e-mail. :(

Now there are higher end ARM SBCs out there like the Odroid XU4, the RockPro64 that have 4 GIGs of RAM. It would be exciting if ESXi ARM ran on these affordable SBCs!
- #6 | Written by Andrea Mauro about 6 years ago.
  
  Interesting point… Announce something that is neither in beta maybe is not as soo good, but seems that at least there is a production team in VMware and there is something ready.
  But I agree… more information are welcome.
- #7 | Written by Andrei Warkentin about 6 years ago.
  
  Thanks, Richard.
  
  VMware is a large company, and VMWorld is a huge conference that spans many different groups, products and projects. We did indeed have a booth as part of the Office of the CTO Innovation Zone to highlight the general direction of our Virtualization at the Edge (not just Arm) efforts, and we were happy to address any questions, including yours. I regret that you had a negative experience navigating the conference to find out more, and we’ll be sure to factor your valuable feedback for future events. You do need to understand that the ESXi for Arm announcement was just a preview of technical capability, not announcement of concrete product plans (much less a beta). The technical announcement needs to be interpreted through the lens of VMware’s larger vision for the Edge, and that is a vision that will be slowly but surely filled-in with more exciting detail when the time is right.
  
  Thanks for your feedback (esp. on the SoC side).
  
  I’ve said this in the booth and I’ll say it again – as we are in the early stages of public engagement, the right way to engage at the moment is to reach out to your TAM.

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