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SuperSpike
Contributor
Contributor

vSphere 5 Licensing

I took a minute to read the licensing guide for vSphere 5 and I'm still trying to pull my jaw off the floor. VMware has completely screwed their customers this time. Why?

What I used to be able to do with 2 CPU licenses now takes 4. Incredible.

Today

BL460c G7 with 2 sockets and 192G of memory = 2 vSphere Enterprise Plus licenses
DL585 G7 with 4 sockets and 256G of memory = 4 vSphere Enterprise Plus licenses

Tomorrow

BL460c G7 with 2 sockets and 192G of memory = 4 vSphere Enterprise Plus licenses
BL585 G7 with 4 sockets and 256G of memory = 6 vSphere Enterprise Plus licenses


So it's almost as if VMware is putting a penalty on density and encouraging users to buy hardware with more sockets rather than less.

I get that the vRAM entitlements are for what you use, not necessarily what you have, but who buys memory and doesn't use it?

Forget the hoopla about a VM with 1 TB of memory. Who in their right mind would deploy that using the new license model? It would take 22 licenses to accommodate! You could go out and buy the physical box for way less than that today, from any hardware vendor.

Anyone else completely shocked by this move?

@Virtual_EZ
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waynej
Contributor
Contributor

It isn't just you.  We just purchased ten dual-socket servers with 192GB RAM each (enterprise license level) and we'll need to triple our license count to be able to use all available RAM if allocated by VMs.   Ridiculous if this is true.

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jbonicki
Contributor
Contributor

I totally agree with you. The new licensing model is even worse on the SMB side:

Today:

2 x DL380 G7, 2 CPUs and 96 GB RAM each = Essentials Plus Kit

Tomorrow:

2 x DL380 G7, 2 CPUs and 96 GB RAM each = Standard Kit

That is about 300% (yes, THREE HUNDRED PERCENT) increase in price. Good luck explaining the added cost to your boss Smiley Happy.

Take care

jacek

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SuperSpike
Contributor
Contributor

It's true, I'm sad to say.

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere_pricing.pdf

@Virtual_EZ
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waynej
Contributor
Contributor

I've gotten confirmation from a sales rep over the pricing change.   On top of having to buy more Ent licenses (or upgrade my current licenses to Ent+ and buy additional Ent+ licenses) I will also have to pay up for the yearly SnS costs of all the additional licenses.  $$

I'm guessing the low number of replies means everyone is still in shock over the pricing changes.  I've already emailed my sales rep to show my feelings.

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gmitch64
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

> Anyone else completely shocked by this move?

Yes, I am totally floored by it... We're going to end up with 6 dual CPU servers with 1.5TB of memory (so 12 CPU Enterprise Plus licences). With the new scheme, it looks like we're going to have to purchase an additional 20 CPU licences just to use what we have.

We were looking to move an SQL over to ESXi - it's a 256GB monster, so we were going to dedicate a host for it (it's good for DR). Rather than the 2 CPU licences we would have needed, we're going to need 6 now - just for the one server. So three times as many licences now.

Absolutely crazy.

G

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SeanLeyne
Contributor
Contributor

I have been "digesting" the new license model for most of the afternoon, and it is giving me heartburn!  :smileyshocked:

According to a "Important VMware vSpere 5.0 Licensign Changes" PDF that I received from a supplier, VMware thinks that:

"Although it is impossible to predict the effects of the new moldel in every type of environment, the licensing model has been designed to minimize the risk of potential impacts in existing environments while also providing root for growth.  VRAM entitlements have been set to tprovide enough capacity to scale well beyond today's average consolidation ratios of 5:1.  In addition, thanks to pooling, customers will be able to share entitlements among multiple hosts, thereby making more efficient use of available capacity."

I don't know who VMware "surveyed" to determine "average consolidation ratios" but I have read a number of articles which refer to ratios from 8:1 to 12:1!!!

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SeanLeyne
Contributor
Contributor

Aside from the change, VMware has also got out the shotgun.

New licensing does not apply to existing 4.x or prior installs, you have 30 days to decide whether to upgrade to v5, after that you will have to pay $$$ to upgrade to v5.  When you upgrade to v5, you cannot follow the existing/4.x licensing, a new v5 EULA must be accepted.

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SeanLeyne
Contributor
Contributor

Wayne wrote:

It isn't just you.  We just purchased ten dual-socket servers with 192GB RAM each (enterprise license level) and we'll need to triple our license count to be able to use all available RAM if allocated by VMs.   Ridiculous if this is true.

It is very true

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TysonL201110141
Contributor
Contributor

This new licensing model is going to hurt small shops the most I think. We currently have over 40 VMs running a each dual CPU 128GB RAM host.  To fully use the RAM in our servers we will have to pay 50% more that currently budgeted. Seeing as I work at a public university that is going to be fun to try and justify.

Our team prefers vSphere over HyperV but with this new pricing we might be forced to switch.

I really wonder who VMware talked to about this to come up with the opinion that it isn't going to affect most of their users.

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DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

All licensing goes through adjustments as hardware and software capabilities change. This has happened repeatedly through the years.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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Rumple
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

welcome to the world of screwage that those of us running cloud environments have suffered with already.  Now you feel our pain.

With the introduction of VMware vSphere 5, VMware is evolving
the product’s licensing model to give customers the opportunity
to move to a more cloud-like, “pay for consumption” approach 
to IT.

Instead of realizing the Microsoft licensing is way way way cheaper to run a cloud on (and lets face it...good enough in 90% of the cases), they decided they figure those of us who use vmware might as well all pay the same.  its a way to have people running inhouse vmware environments realize its no cheaper and they might as well use someone else instead of doing it inhouse...

While that might benefit me..it still screws everyone when Microsoft is doing it cheaper.

EDIT - I've read through this and one interesting thing between VSPP and Traditional licensing stands out (at least until they update the vspp program guide).

VSPP is based on active UTILIZED memory...not ALLOCATED memory...therefore I could easily and cost effectively let the customers who want 24gb of ram on a server (but use 3 of it) actually have what they want and just oversubscribe their memory to hell.

Thats all about to change...however, with change comes opportunity...at least for microsoft because most people won't stomack these types of price changes for long.

I hope your watching vmware because you are about to see a flury of exodus coming your way...hope that new finance Manager you hired has a good resume...

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SeanLeyne
Contributor
Contributor

Mark Hodges wrote:

EDIT - I've read through this and one interesting thing between VSPP and Traditional licensing stands out (at least until they update the vspp program guide).

VSPP is based on active UTILIZED memory...not ALLOCATED memory...therefore I could easily and cost effectively let the customers who want 24gb of ram on a server (but use 3 of it) actually have what they want and just oversubscribe their memory to hell.

VSPP???

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waynej
Contributor
Contributor

VSSP = VMware Service Provider Program

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Rumple
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Vmware service provider program...basically the cloud program for multitenant environments...

They changed to this vram model last year...

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MauroBonder
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Discussion moved from VMware vSphere Hypervisor to VMware ESXi 5

*Please, don't forget the awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers. *Por favor, não esqueça de atribuir os pontos se a resposta foi útil ou resolveu o problema.* Thank you/Obrigado
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gmitch64
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I can see vmware doing some stiff volume in vSphere4 licences between now and 12th August. We're obviously all going to have to go and review, and it's still early, but my gut says to go buy some vSphere 4 licences, and sit out vSphere 5 till the licencing comes to its senses.

G

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cmbwml1
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

This licensing change is going to kill our sustainability efforts.  We have been changing our hardware refresh cycle to sustain a 100% annual growth rate of memory/CPU/Disk.  Currently we are refreshing all hardware components on a 2-3 year cycle in order to benefit from Moore's law.  A two socket blade server 2 years ago had 64GB memory.  The latest two socket blades we are ordering have 256GB memory at a modest increase in cost.  Our environment has 2TB of memory and will have 4TB next Summer.  The following Summer I was planning on 8TB of memory.  Using the quick hardware refresh we can maintain a static rack/power/cooling footprint while continuing to double our environment annually.  This 48GB memory limit per license is going to break our growth within 18 months.

Before the change we needed to spend $100,000-$160,000 annually per blade system to maintain 100% annual growth rate.    With this memory limit we will have to spend $140,000-$224,000 for the same growth.  By the next year the license change will cost us over $250,000 in licensing for 4 physical servers (512GB/blade).  This is not sustainable.  Will VMware increase their vRAM limit per CPU license annually to reflect memory DIMM size increases?  If not then they can't expect us to continue to perceive value in their product as compared to competitor products.

Thanks to this license change I am going to have to increase our hosting customer charge back prices by 49% this year.  Ouch!

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Rumple
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Thanks to this license change I am going to have to increase our hosting customer charge back prices by 49% this year.

While I agree that this licensing is going to get rediculously costly, one thing I do need to point out is that if you are hosting for customers you should have already been on this plan with the vspp since the eula of the regular licenses forbid using licenses for hosting.

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daferno
Contributor
Contributor

The new licencing model has shocked me. Seeing as we already have Windows Datacentre licences the cost to go to Hyper-V is $0 in licence fees! So guesss what I'm installing doing now...

I have already had to fight to justify getting vmware standard (most the benefits of vsphere 5 arent included in standard either) so no chance of  getting funding to keep the status quo by having to double our licences and support - with no room for growth.

There will be some interesting conversations with vmware licencing in the next few days unless vRAM limitations are raised to acceptable limits or a transition offer of 1:2 licences.

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