VMware ESXi
VMware ESXi is Broadcom’s bare-metal hypervisor, managed by the Host Client web UI or by vCenter. Many homelabs have moved to Proxmox VE or XCP-ng since the Broadcom takeover.
Documentation: Broadcom TechDocs · Free ESXi KB 399823
See also: Hypervisors Compared · XCP-ng · Proxmox VE Overview and Install · Proxmox Storage · NFS
Versions and Licensing #
| FACT | DETAIL |
|---|---|
| Versions | 9.1, 9.0 and 8.0 (U3k) listed by endoflife.date (third party); the product is called “ESX” in 9.x (inferred) |
| Free edition | Broadcom KB: free vSphere Hypervisor is ESXi 8.0 U3e, limited to 2 physical CPUs and 8 vCPU per VM, no vCenter, vMotion, HA or backup APIs, no support |
| Download | Broadcom Support Portal, Free Software Downloads; still offered in Nov 2026 is unverified |
| Free ESXi 9 | Not found |
| Boot media | ESXi 8.0 needs a boot disk of at least 32 GB; SD or USB-only boot is being deprecated |
| Edition names | Not verified |
CLI #
Commands below come from a third-party backup guide (NAKIVO), not Broadcom docs, so all are unverified. Enable SSH from the Host Client or DCUI first.
| COMMAND | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/sync_config | Flush config to disk (unverified) |
vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/backup_config | Create a config backup bundle in /scratch/downloads (unverified) |
vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/restore_config | Restore a bundle, host in maintenance mode, then reboots (unverified) |
esxcli system maintenanceMode set --enable yes | Enter maintenance mode (unverified; no to leave) |
esxcli, vmkfstools, esxtop, PowerCLI and govc were not checked against Broadcom docs, so they are omitted.
Migrate to Proxmox #
Proxmox VE 8 or later has an ESXi import (Datacenter > Storage > Add > ESXi, then Import on the VM). Tested with ESXi 6.5 to 8.0; power the source VM off. vSAN and encrypted disks cannot be imported, snapshots slow it, and importing through vCenter is much slower. See Migrate to Proxmox VE.