Xtravirt released a breakthrough for hosting ESX 3.5 Server as a VM on VMware Player. Xtravirt, known for their 'VI in a box' methodology whereby a full version of ESX Server 3.5 can be installed within a VMware virtual machine.
Xtravirt's CTO, Paul Davey comments about the great benefits of this new release. "'ESX on Workstation' was a very popular way of providing a learning and demonstration environment for VMware VI3. 'ESX 3.5 on Player' takes this to a whole new level - VMware Player is freely downloadable and utilises thin disk provisioning, so now the entire package is not only free, but incredibly lightweight.".
Paul also goes on to say, "Current indications from the ESX 4 BETA also look very promising for this to continue."
Additionally Xtravirt have written installer software which fully automates the deployment of the VM, making the process as simple as possible.
The white paper with installer can be downloaded from http://knowledge.xtravirt.com/white-papers/esx-3x.html.
