If you use HP Proliant servers and want the HP-ized version of ESXi 4.0 update 1 you can now download it from here. The ISO image is about 380MB. The only difference between the HP download and the vanilla VMware ESXi 4.0 U1 ISO image is the inclusion of Proliant specific CIM providers that provide ESX and vCenter with Proliant health status information about array controllers, network cards, temperature, and also uses the iLO watchdog timer to verify the machine hasn’t frozen. Couple this with the Veeam nWorks Management pack for Microsoft Systems Center 2007 (SCOM), and you get full end to end physical, virtual, OS and application health status within SCOM. Very cool!
In case you didn’t know, any future patches to the HP version of ESXi 4.0 U1 can be directly downloaded from VMware’s web site. There are no HP specific patches, as VMware distributes vendor specific CIM updates in their regular patch bundles. If the updater detects you are using a vendor specific ESXi installation, it will preserve and/or update the CIM providers as needed.
Finally, don’t use the HP version of ESXi on non-HP hardware. It will purple screen on you after a few minutes since the iLO ASIC isn’t present and the watchdog timer will freak out and crash the system.
