Licensed Operating Systems
Users can deploy the following licensed Operating Systems on various on-demand or reserved configurations on Equinix Metal. A server compatibility comparison of our supported Operating Systems, including licensed OS's, can be found on the Supported Operating Systems page.
Note: Not all users or organizations have access to 2nd Generation hardware, and not all 2nd Generation hardware is available in all locations. If you have questions about 2nd Generation hardware, please reach out to support.
VMware ESXi
Equinix Metal™ offers VMware ESXi 6.5, 6.7, and 7.0.
Availability and Pricing
Equinix Metal does not offer licensing for ESXi at this time. By default, the OS comes with a 60-day evaluation license. If you would like to utilize it beyond the 60-days you will need to acquire a license from VMware and activate it on your servers(s).
| Operating System | 3rd Generation | 2nd Generation |
|---|---|---|
| VMware ESXi 7.0 | c3.small, c3.medium, s3.xlarge | c2.medium, m2.xlarge, n2.xlarge |
| VMware ESXi 6.7 | c3.small, c3.medium, s3.xlarge | m2.xlarge |
| VMware ESXi 6.5 | c3.small, c3.medium, s3.xlarge | c2.medium, m2.xlarge, n2.xlarge, x2.xlarge, g2.large |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Equinix Metal
Equinix Metal offers Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
Availability and Pricing
Licensing charges for Red Hat Enterprise Linux are a fixed rate of $0.15/hr regardless of server type, core count, or socket count. Fees are added to your invoice on the 1st of each month.
| Operating System | 3rd Generation | 2nd Generation |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | c3.small, c3.medium, s3.xlarge, m3.large | Not available |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | c3.small, c3.medium, s3.xlarge, m3.large | c2.medium, m2.xlarge, n2.xlarge, x2.xlarge, g2.large |
Windows Server on Equinix Metal
Equinix Metal offers Windows Server 2016 Standard and Windows Server 2019 Standard.
Availability and Pricing
Equinix Metal charges a flat $0.01/hr per core for all the versions of Windows Server. Fees are added to your invoice on the 1st of each month. Since servers have a different number of cores based upon their processor(s), the additional licensing costs will vary.
3rd Generation Servers
Windows Server 2012 R2 is not available on the newest servers.
| Server | Processor | Windows 2016 Standard | Windows 2019 Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| c3.small.x86 | 1x Xeon E 2278G 8-Core Processor @ 3.4Ghz | $0.08/hr | $0.08/hr |
| c3.medium.x86 | 1x AMD EPYC 7402P 24-Core Processor @ 2.8GHz | Not Available | $0.24/hr |
| m3.large.x86 | 1x AMD EPYC 7502P 32-Core Processor @ 2.5Ghz | Not Available | $0.32/hr |
| s3.xlarge.x86 | 2x Xeon 4214 24-Core Processor @ 2.2Ghz | $0.48/hr | $0.48/hr |
2nd Generation Servers
| Server | Processor | Windows 2012 R2 | Windows 2016 Standard | Windows 2019 Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| c2.medium.x86 | 1x AMD EPYC 7401P 24-Core Processor @ 2.0GHz | Not Available | $0.24/hr | $0.24/hr |
| m2.xlarge.x86 | 2x Intel Scalable Gold 5120 28-Core Processor @ 2.2GHz | $0.56/hr | $0.56/hr | Not Available |
| n2.xlarge.x86 | 2x Intel Scalable Gold 5120 28-Core Processor @ 2.2GHz | Not Available | $0.56/hr | $0.56/hr |
| g2.large.x86 | 2x Intel Xeon Gold 6126 24-Core Processor @ 2.6 GHz | Not Available | Not Available | $0.48/hr |
Windows Server Feature Compatibility
Using User Data with Windows - PowerShell is a supported executable target for cloud-init, allowing you to configure a host at provisioning time. More about User Data on Equinix Metal can be found here.
Accessing Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) - Once the server you deployed is Active, you can RDP in as Admin using the password on the server's details page. Our Windows image utilizes the default RDP port 3389.