Licensing queries vsphere5

[suhag79]

Dear All,

Request to solve my below very basic queries on licensing part.

Scenario1) Suppose i install ESXi free version on two physical box having configuration of 4*hexa core E7500 series processor and 96 GB RAM.

                 THen i purchase only one license for vcenter (Enterprise Plus) and install vcenter on any physical or on VM.

Will i able to use all the features included in Enterprise plus like HA/VMOTION/DRS/and all new features of ESXi5, if yes, then what is the purpose of buying ESXi host licenses?

Scenario2) Suppose i want to run 30 no of Linux VM on vcenter cluster then how many Linux RHEL OS license shoud i purchase?

Scenario3) Suppose i want to run 30 no of Windows 2008 Ent/STD on vcenter cluster then how many Windows 2008 Ent/Std OS license shoud i purchase?

Scenario4) Lets say, i have one BOX having 4*quad core 3.10 GHz and 96 GB RAM.

So total i have 12400 MHz (4*3.10=12.4GHz=12400MHz)

So does it mean than if i have Virtual Machine with 1 CPU then i can only allocate CPU resrvation upto 3100 MHz ??? Please carify.

Thanks and Regards,

Suhag Desai

[weinstein5]

Scenario 1) No you will need to purchase Enterprise Plus licenses for your  two physical ESXi hosts to be able to use the enterprise plus features

Scenario 2 & ) The answer is the same you will need sufficient licenses to cover the number of running Ooerating Systems

Scenario 4) No - a virtual CPU can only run on one core at a tiime -

[suhag79]

Please find below my response in-line

Scenario 1) No you will need to purchase Enterprise Plus licenses for your  two physical ESXi hosts to be able to use the enterprise plus features..

So what you mean to say that i must have to purchase license for ESXi host as well as vcenter.....what is the license policy for vcenter..is it per cpu or per host?

Suppose i purchase,,,,Enterprise license for one ESXi host , Enterprise plus license for another host

and for vcenter i purchase ent plus........in this case,    what happen,,,will i able to use all the features of ent plus?

Scenario 2 & ) The answer is the same you will need sufficient licenses to cover the number of running Ooerating Systems

Can you let me know what is the license policy to run Windows VM and Linux VM on vsphere5?

Scenario 4) No - a virtual CPU can only run on one core at a tiime -

I understand that vCPU can run on one core at a time,,,but my query was on maximum CPU reservation i want to set on VM.......

so if i set i cpu for 1 virtual machine......then how much max CPU reservation i can set for this Virtual machine in my scenario?

thanks,

suhag

[a_p_]

As mentioned by weinstein5, it's not that easy.

To run vSphere in a cluster, you need to license the vCenter Server instance as well as each physical CPU/socket. If you just start with VMware you may purchase e.g. an "Enterprise Plus Acceleration Kit" (which includes vCenter Server Standard as well as 6 CPU licenses) plus two additional Enterprise Plus CPU licenses to cover all 8 sockets.

Regarding the guest systems, you need to make sure you license these according to their EULAs. In case of Windows Server, you may want to consider to purchase the Datacenter Edition. With the Datacenter Edition you have to license by sockets (8 licenses in your case) and then you can install as many Windows Server instances as you like.

About question 4, don't configure any reservations manuall unless theres a special requirement. ESXi does a relly good job in resource scheduling.

André

[weinstein5]

Licensing of vCenter is per host -

If you purchase enterprise licensing for the Hosts and vCenter you will be able to use all features of enterprise plus - this might be helpful http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere_pricing.pdf

The licensing for the guest OS is not a vmware requirement but is licensed by OS publisher so they are the final authority - but my experience is that VMs are treated like physical machines - I do know with Microsoft ifyou were to buy a datacenter license for your esx host you can run unlimited number of MS VMs on that host - but as I said it will be up to Red Hat and Microsoft on the final say on the licensing

I assume by Maximum reservation you are referring to CPU Limit - it is one of the misleading but I think if you try to set it to the total cycles avaialble it will cap it at the number of cycles a single core will provide

[suhag79]

Thank you very much to both of you....

So here i am concluding this discussion with below notes......correct me, if i am wrong...

1) vCenter5 license is based on per HOST not per CPU.

2) we have to (should) purchase uniform license for ESXi host and vcenter license as a best practice and to avoide confusion.....so in my case enterprise plus for both ESXi host and vCenter5...

3) Suppose i purchased 8 license of Windows Datacenter edition......then i can run even 30 Windows Datacenter Virtual machine... Right?

Can anybody let me know the policy for Windows 2008 R2 enterprise and RHEL Linux Virtual Machine policy?

4) One should not manually configured CPU reseravation but technically speaking in may case... if i configured one CPU virtual machine...then i can only set CPU resevation upto 3100mHz only...right?

Please confirm.....

Thanks....

Suhag Desai

[weinstein5]

1 & 2 you are correct -

3) As I understand MS licensing if you were to buy 8 Windows 2008 datacneter licenses your would be able to install an unlimited number of Microsoft windows 2008 enterprise and standard operating systems on 8 esx hosts -

4 that is correct

[a_p_]

1) vCenter5 license is based on per HOST not per CPU.

No, it's licensed per instance. You usually need 1 vCenter Server instance unless you have special requirements.

2)  we have to (should) purchase uniform license for ESXi host and vcenter  license as a best practice and to avoide confusion.....so in my case  enterprise plus for both ESXi host and vCenter5...

vCenter Server is sold as "Foundation" edition which supports up to 3 ESXi hosts or as "Standard" edition without this limitation.

The ESXi hosts need to be licensed by CPU sockets. "Standard", "Enterprise" or "Enterprise Plus" depending on your needs.

(There are also Essentials licenses. However they are onyl good for up to 3 hosts with a maximum of two CPUs each)

3)  Suppose i purchased 8 license of Windows Datacenter edition......then i  can run even 30 Windows Datacenter Virtual machine... Right?

Can anybody let me know the policy for Windows 2008 R2 enterprise and RHEL Linux Virtual Machine policy?

AFAIK when you use Datacenter licensing you can install any edition of Windows Server, even older versions. You may double check this in the Microsoft EULA. Sorry, can't help you with RHEL.

4)  One should not manually configured CPU reseravation but technically  speaking in may case... if i configured one CPU virtual machine...then i  can only set CPU resevation upto 3100mHz only...right?

1 vCPU will only use 1 core at a time. No need to make reservations.

André

[weinstein5]

Here is the official line from MS - http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/c/a/fcab58a9-ccad-4e0a-a673-88a5ee74e2cc/windows_server_200...

[suhag79]

Thanks you..

I already gone through the same..but its last update date is jan-2009 tha's why i have some dought on it....