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SzosszeNET
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VMware ESXi 5 licensing

Hello,

I belive I have not too much choice, but someone who has greater experience on ESXi 5 licensing might have a better deal...

We have 2 branches at the moment, one runs 2 ESXi 5 servers the other branch does run 3 of the same.

Once more RAM on some hosts would be great, and of course centralized magagment would be excellent.

I found the essential packs, as at the moment HA is not essential - VMware vSphere Essentials Kit would be sufficient - offers more RAM, centralized management, but only for 3 hosts.

Seems that I need centralized managment for more hosts I have to choose Standard Acceleration Kit? But in that case I'm missing the RAM upgrade possibility - or not with the terms as in the Essentials Kit, and also is much more expensive...

What seems the best price/value deal is to buy two Essentials, but can I manage 5 hosts under the same vCenter server (guees not)?

Could anyone give advice on this question?

Regards,

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a_p_
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... where your I find some info?

In the Pricing and Licensing White paper at http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere_pricing.pdf (page 7)

.. the vCenter Server Standard starts from 6000 USD without RAM entitlement over 32 GB...plus the other licenses..

With the Standard Acceleration Kit you get one instance of vCenter Server Standard plus 8 Standard CPU licenses with 32GB vRAM entitlement each (256GB total) and you can add additional CPU licenses as needed. (see page 8 in the same document as above)

André

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a_p_
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If the features of the Essentials package is all you need then go for it. You will have to manage them separately (2 vCenter Server instances with a vRAM entitlement of 196GB each) but the alternative would be to purchase one instance of vCenter Server Standard plus the appropriate number of CPU licenses for your 5 hosts.

VMware offers an Essentials for Branch Offices package, where the hosts (max. 3 per location) may be managed in one vCenter Server Standard instance, but an initial purchase of ten packages is required. So this is probably no alternative for you.

André

SzosszeNET
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Hello André,

Thank you for your answer.

The fact is, that the 2 Essentials Kit would be 1000 USD, the vCenter Server Standard starts from 6000 USD without RAM entitlement over 32 GB...plus the other licenses...

Regarding the Essentials for Branch Offices where your I find some info? Just found few link, but regarding ESX 4.1.

Gabor

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a_p_
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... where your I find some info?

In the Pricing and Licensing White paper at http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere_pricing.pdf (page 7)

.. the vCenter Server Standard starts from 6000 USD without RAM entitlement over 32 GB...plus the other licenses..

With the Standard Acceleration Kit you get one instance of vCenter Server Standard plus 8 Standard CPU licenses with 32GB vRAM entitlement each (256GB total) and you can add additional CPU licenses as needed. (see page 8 in the same document as above)

André

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SzosszeNET
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Hello André,

Thank you, now I feel got all options I needed.

The main reason of this upgrade is low RAM so I think we'll choose the Essentials Kit.

Please correct me if I missed something, but this pack would mean 192 Gb RAM divided by any combination between up to 3 hosts, or 1 host with 192Gb RAM.

This would mean a CPU restriction to two phisical CPU per host (ESXi 5 can have unlimited CPUs as I remember).

This would mean a vCenter for the covered hosts. Not 100% familiar with vCenter, is that a vm or a software? Does it have to installed to windows or runs on free opensource OS - like debian?

As I checked in the vmware shop...this is a subscription?! So ~500 USD/year? Or the Kit is one-off fee? If one-off what is the subsrciption stuff? Smiley Happy

Anything to consider that I have not asked? Or anything I missed?

Thanks in advance.

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a_p_
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Please correct me if I missed something, but this pack would mean 192  Gb RAM divided by any combination between up to 3 hosts, or 1 host with  192Gb RAM.

The 192GB are the so called vRAM entitlement and is the sum of the assigned memory for all powered on virtual machines. No matter whether they run on just one or 3 hosts. The vRAM entitlement is pooled by vCenter Server, so you need to run an instance of it.

This would mean a CPU restriction to two phisical CPU per host (ESXi 5 can have unlimited CPUs as I remember).

Yes, the Essentials kits are licensed for up to 3 hosts with up to 2 processors each (no restriction on the number of cores per processor)

This  would mean a vCenter for the covered hosts. Not 100% familiar with  vCenter, is that a vm or a software? Does it have to installed to  windows or runs on free opensource OS - like debian?
vCenter Server 5 is available as a Windows application for Windows Server 2003 and 2008 R2 as well as a Linux based virtual appliance.

As  I checked in the vmware shop...this is a subscription?! So ~500  USD/year? Or the Kit is one-off fee? If one-off what is the subsrciption  stuff? Smiley Happy

The Essentials Kit is purchased once. However, the additional subscription is mandatory for the first year. With subscription you are entitled to upgrade to new major versions free of charge.

Anything to consider that I have not asked? Or anything I missed?

No sure, feel free to ask if you need more info.

André

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