vSAN on vSphere essential plus ESXi hosts

[suhag79]

Hi,

Is vSAN compatible with ESXi hosts having essential plus kit licenses. We know we can have 3 hosts max with essential plus kit but want to make sure if vSAN can be installed on essential plus kit hosts.

Can any one have any references for this ?

Thanks,

[TheBobkin]

Hello suhag79​,

Yes, you can use vSAN with Essential Plus licensed ESXi hosts - the only real caveat I can think of is Witness counting as a host in the 3-hosts per Essentials vCenter but if you are not using this type of set-up then it shouldn't matter:

https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/products/vsan/vmware-vsan-66-licen...

[suhag79]

Hello TheBobkin

Thanks for the response. We will be installing three ESXi essential plus hosts at remote site and vCenter 6.5 appliance will be part of the same three node ESXi cluster.

Hope, this should work and we can use all three ESXi hosts in vSAN cluster...Right ?

Thanks again.

[RickVerstegen]

Hello suhag79​

vSphere Essentials Kit or vSphere Essentials Plus Kit licensing limits the number of hosts managed by vCenter Server Essentials to three. The vSAN witness host—virtual appliance or physical—is considered a host in these Essentials licensing bundles.

Here is an example of where this would have an impact:
• One physical host at the main data center managed by vCenter Server that is licensed with vCenter Server Essentials
• Two physical hosts at a remote office running a 2-node vSAN configuration managed by the same vCenter Server
• The witness host virtual appliance deployed at the main data center.

Even though there are only three physical hosts, a warning message is generated when attempting to add the witness host to the vCenter Server Essentials environment as this is considered four hosts—three physical hosts plus the witness host.

Check the licensing guide for more information:
https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/products/vsan/vmware-vsan-66-licen...

[TheBobkin · Accepted solution]

Hello suhag79​,

This should be fine - there is no issue with using vSAN on Essentials Plus licensed ESXi hosts (provided you have valid vSAN licensing applied to the cluster).

So yes, you can run a 3-node cluster like this but you won't be able to add any more hosts past this limit.

Bob

[IT_pilot]

suhag79

You can add an additional host to a limited license for vCenter Foundation and vSphere Essentials.

Adding a fifth (virtual) ESXi host to vCenter Foundation - Yellow Bricks

[TheBobkin]

Hello IT_pilot,

vCenter Essentials and vCenter Foundations are not the same - Suhag mentioned Essentials above which still has 3-node limitation.

Bob

[IT_pilot]

Hi, TheBobkin​

Yes, the limit is three hosts. BUT! On three PHYSICAL hosts. witness host when it is appliance does not consume vCenter Essentials license.

Licensing Issues

• Cannot add witness virtual machine to vCenter Server with Essentials license

When the witness host for a stretched cluster is an appliance that resides in a virtual machine, it incorrectly consumes a host license. This problem occurs because the vCenter Server considers the witness appliance to be a physical host. If your license does not cover an additional host, you cannot add the witness appliance to vCenter Server.

Workaround: Add the witness appliance VM to vCenter Server before you add the physical hosts.

VMware vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2 Release Notes

And that's great news!

[TheBobkin]

Hello IT_pilot,

Sure, not disputing that - but this isn't really much good unless you want a lopsided 2+1+1 cluster

Bob