Licensed Operating Systems¶

You can deploy the following licensed Operating Systems on various standard server plans and workload optimized plans on Equinix Metal.

When you provision a server using one of our images, you get the most recent image we have published. Changelogs can be found in the equinixmetal-images/changelog repository. Once you have provisioned your server, we no longer have access to the system; it is your responsibility to keep the operating system up to date.

Windows Server on Equinix Metal¶

Equinix Metal offers Windows Server 2022. End user terms regarding the use of Microsoft Software.

Equinix Metal charges a flat $0.01/hr per core on single-socket systems and $0.02/hr per core on dual-socket systems 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 licensing costs will vary.

Default user: Admin

Note: The default user login for our Windows image is for a local administrator, not a domain login or administrator.

Operating System	Slug	Changelog
Windows 2022 Standard	windows_2022	x86_64

For an example Windows environment, see the Setting Up a Windows Server guide.

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services Access¶

You can access your Windows Server using Microsoft Remote Desktop Services at its assigned public IPv4 address. Our Windows image utilizes the default RDP port 3389. The credentials are visible on the server's Overview page for the first 24 hours after provisioning the server. After the first 24 hours, the root password will no longer be visible for security reasons. You need to save or change the password to maintain access to your server.

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.

VMware on Equinix Metal¶

Equinix Metal offers VMware Cloud Foundation on select Workload Optimized servers.

Default user: root

Operating System	Slug
VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1	vmware_vcf_5_1

ESXi 7 and 8 are available only to users with preexisting deployments for recovery, re-installation, and migration. You are responsible for bringing your own valid VMware license(s) and you must comply with all applicable VMware EULA and product terms.

Default user: root

Operating System	Slug	Changelog
VMware ESXi 8.0 L2 Hypervisor Mode	vmware_esxi_8_0_vcf	x86_64
VMware ESXi 7.0 L2 Hypervisor Mode	vmware_esxi_7_0_vcf	x86_64

Alternative VMware Options¶

There are several managed services companies that are part of the VMware Cloud Provider Program (VCPP) that can offer managed VMware on Equinix Metal, including Equinix Managed Services.