HPE VM Essentials – Part 2
Part 1 covered where VME stood in mid-February. A few weeks on, a fair amount has changed, and we built a three-node VME cluster in our lab.
HPE VM Essentials, an alternative hypervisor, part 2
In part 1 I wrote about where VME stood in mid-February. A few weeks have passed, a fair amount has changed, and we have not been idle either.
At the start of April we installed a three-node VME cluster in our lab. The installation is still a bit hands-on, but the VME installer is announced for Q3 2025. I expect that to bring the installation experience in line with what other hypervisors offer today.
For our test we built the three-node cluster as virtual servers. Shared storage is attached over iSCSI to a Nimble storage array.
The VME documentation helps, though it leaves out quite a bit around configuring the Ubuntu Linux host, particularly networking and the iSCSI part. It assumes you know that already. As an HPE partner we have access to internal training material, and those documents and demo videos explain it in detail. Once the hosts are installed and configured with Ubuntu, a supplied VME package installs everything needed, so that part goes quickly. Installing the VME Manager is very simple: the VME installer puts it on one of the hosts, and within a few minutes it is ready, so the remaining configuration steps, such as creating the cluster, happen in a browser through a clear HTML5 interface. With the cluster created, we configured the shared datastore.
Features
HPE does not intend to simply reproduce every function of other hypervisors. The functions being implemented are the ones that bring customers the most. That mostly means straightforward management and workload automation. Alongside automatic load balancing (DRS), high availability and moving VMs between hosts or datastores, host affinity is coming soon.
Would you like to know whether the functions you use are already in VME? We are happy to evaluate that for you.
My conclusion
The installation still takes a fair amount of manual work and Linux knowledge. The integrated installer should simplify that. Installing the VME Manager is very simple. Configuration such as creating the cluster, datastore and network is done comfortably through a browser. You do have to hunt around for functions here and there, but let us be honest: is that not always the case the first time you do something?
VM Essentials 8.0.5, what’s new
Reading through the April 2025 compatibility matrix, these stood out:
- Support for Ubuntu 24.04
- Fibre Channel support for Alletra MP B10000
- MSA2070 support over iSCSI
Further technical detail is in the release notes for VM Essentials 8.0.5.
HPE VM Essentials compatibility matrix
VM Essentials 8.0.5: June 2025
VM Essentials 8.0.5: May 2025
VM Essentials 8.0.5: April 2025
VM Essentials 8.0.4: March 2025
What’s next for us?
Over the coming period we will work through the detailed configuration and get to know VME properly. What the networking side offers interests us in particular.
Our installation used Ubuntu 22.04 and VM Essentials 8.0.4. We want to update to Ubuntu 24.04 and VM Essentials 8.0.5 and see what a cluster update of that kind involves.
If you would like to install VM Essentials yourself, we are glad to help. You can request a 60-day trial here: 60 days of VM Essentials
Next step
Would you like to know more about HPE VM Essentials, see it live, or test it yourself? We have years of experience from countless virtualisation projects and an excellent line to HPE, so we can help and advise you too.