vSphere 5 Licensing

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.

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 .

Take care

jacek

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.

> 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

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

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!!!

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.

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

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.

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

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...

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???

VSSP = VMware Service Provider Program

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

They changed to this vram model last year...