Broadcom ESXi free again

[Coffree]

Hi everyone!

Broadcom seems to made a 180 about the free esxi version.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/14/ ... /?td=rt-3a

Has anyone checked if there's any limitations in place on the new free version that hinders Veeam from connecting to the hypervisor.

And is there any inside information/thoughts from Veeam about this version?

Thanks in advance!

[Mildur]

Hi Kristoffer,

I expect that the "new free version" still lacks the required vStorageAPIs.
Without these APIs, backup products like Veeam Backup & Replication cannot run VM image-level backup jobs.
However, you can use agent-based backups to protect such VMs.

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml&ver=120

Free ESXi is not supported. Veeam Backup & Replication leverages vSphere and vStorage APIs that are disabled by VMware in free ESXi.

Best,
Fabian

[Coffree]

Ok, thanks for info Fabian.