Free license for ESXi 5.0 Hosts Limit

[LeonardoPaolino]

Hi All,

We have a physical server in hosting with Esxi version 5.0 installed (with 64 GB RAM, and 1 CPU Intel Xeon E5-1620v2) and we can't upgrade the OS in any way.

- Esxi version 5.0 Free License has a Ram limitation of 32 GB?

- In case of that limitation for version 5.0, could we buy the the license VMware vSphere Essentials Kit EUR 445.50, without having the VMware vCenter Server Foundation at the cost of EUR 1,345.00.

vSphere Pricing for Server Virtualization & Cloud Infrastructure

Thanks a lot for your help,

Leonardo.

[JarryG]

ESXi 5.0 hypervisor (free) has indeed limit for 32GB RAM. But this limit has been removed in ESXi 5.5. So you could install and use 5.5-hypervisor on your server (check if hardware is supported, some of hw supported up to 5.1u1 is not supported in 5.5). But if you want to buy Essential kit, do not forget to add 1-year support & subscription for 58.45€...

[LeonardoPaolino]

Thank you JarryG,

do you know also if the license is per-year or just once for 3 physical server?

Leonardo.

[JarryG]

AFAIK the license (I suppose you mean "Essentials" or any other commercial) is permanent.

I think user is entitled for free upgrades to higher versions (i.e. 5.1->5.5) only as long as he has valid support contract (you'd have to renew support&subscription annually). Patches are always free. But I'm not so sure if it is still so. You have to check license agreement to be sure...

[admin]

The main difference between the free version and the paid version is the feature list. The free version is fully functional as a vm host with on host management, if you want centralized vCenter management, ESXi upgrade and patch management, vm client replication and backup, and vMotion you will need to go with the paid version (the vCenter Essentials or Essentials Plus is where most people start with the paid version).

  The only thing different between the free and the paid are the license keys the software contains all of the functions, but must be enabled with the keys