Additional software / license for running SRM ?

[TonyJK]

Hi,

We are currently running 2 sites with vSphere 5.1 Enterprise Edition.  There is 1 vCenter Server at the main site.

We plan to setup the remote site as DR site by using VMware SRM with SAN replication.

We would like to know what additional software / license we need to purchase ? >

1) Do we need to purchase another vCenter Server at the remote site ?

2) Which version of vCenter is required ?

3) Is VMware Site Recovery Manager licensed per VM ?

4) We are currently running vSphere Enterprise Edition, do we need to upgrade it to Enterprise Plus Edition ?

5) Is there any other VMware software we need ?

[abhilashhb]

1) Do we need to purchase another vCenter Server at the remote site ?

Site Recovery Manager requires that the customer purchase a vCenter Server license for the recovery site.  Note that the vCenter Server at the recovery site is not a passive instance, it is a fully active instance that can be used to manage the hardware and virtual machines running at the recovery site.

2) Which version of vCenter is required ?

You have to buy a standard vCenter license if you have more than 3 hosts. And since you have Enterprise license on the Primary site its better you buy vCenter standard license.

3) Is VMware Site Recovery Manager licensed per VM ?

Thsi doc will help you with licensing https://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/SRM/VMware-vCenter-Site-Recovery-Manager-FAQ.pdf

4) We are currently running vSphere Enterprise Edition, do we need to upgrade it to Enterprise Plus Edition ?

No Enterprise Edition will suffice.

5) Is there any other VMware software we need ?

Again,

The FAQ covers most of this too.

Let me know if you have more questions.

[jordanovi · Accepted solution]

Hi Tony

1) Do we need to purchase another vCenter Server at the remote site ?

  - Yes, you need vCenter Server at the remote site.

2) Which version of vCenter is required ?

  - It should be exactly the same version as your vCenter Server on main (protection) site. In your case - 5.1.

3) Is VMware Site Recovery Manager licensed per VM ?

  - SRM 5.1 can be purchased either as a stand alone product a-la-carte or as part of vCloud Suite Enterprise Edition.

• As a standalone product, Site Recovery Manager 5.1 can only be purchased on per–virtual machine basis and is available in two editions (Standard and Enterprise). Could check for details on the official SRM site: Buy VMware Site Recovery Manager for IT Disaster Recovery | United States
• SRM Enterprise can also be purchased as part of VMware vCloud® Suite Enterprise. In this case, SRM Enterprise is licensed on a per processor basis. For more information about vCloud Suite and its various editions - could check this doc: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vCloud-Suite-Pricing-Packaging-Whitepaper.pdf

- it is also important that:

• If SRM is configured only to fail over VMs from a protected site to the disaster site, you require SRM licenses only for the hosts at the protected site that are running the protected VMs.
• If SRM is configured to fail over a set of Vms from a protected site to a disaster site and is also configured to fail over a different set of VMs from the disaster site to the protected site, you require SRM licenses for the protected hosts at both sites.

4) We are currently running vSphere Enterprise Edition, do we need to upgrade it to Enterprise Plus Edition ?

- For SRM 5.1.x - this is not needed. You can check the SRM 5.1 compatibility matrix here: Compatibility Matrixes for vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.1

5) Is there any other VMware software we need ?

- No, it is not needed

I would also recommend to check SRM 5.1 Installation and Configuration guide (SRM Licensing section)

Hope this helps you

Ivan

[cjscol]

If you are going to protect more than 75 VMs then you will need the Enterprise edition of SRM.

[TonyJK]

Thanks for your advice.  We only want to protect around 10 VMs.