VSphere Essentials max RAM / License upgrade?

[corky2004]

Hi all,

I've got an ESXi-5 version 3 node SAN backed cluster.

Each node has 2 proc's and 64GB RAM

It's licensed with VmWare Essentials Plus and a Windows Server Enterprise license for each proc.

The problem I'm having is that thanks to server 2008's large memory footprint,

we're not getting as many VM's out of 64GB RAM on each host as we would have like.

I could add an extra 48GB RAM to each host for a total cost of about €2k

But the Essentials Plus License won't allow me use it.

And upgrading to VmWare Enterprise would probably cost near €20k

Does anyone know if VmWare are planning to increase the VSphere Essentials license RAM entitlement beyond 192GB (64GB x 3)  ?

Maybe someone has come across this problem before and knows the next best license upgrade option?

[a_p_]

Does anyone know if VmWare are planning to increase the VSphere Essentials license RAM entitlement beyond 192GB (64GB x 3)  ?

Even if there were plans, I'm afraid VMware would announce anything in advance.

Regarding your resource usage. The physical memory is not restricted for the hosts (except for the free edition), so considering you reserve host resources for disaster/failover, you could add more memory to the hosts and even use the 192GB vRAM on a single host.

If the 192GB are exhausted at all you either need to upgrade the licenses or purchase a second Essentials Kit.

André

Message was edited by: a.p. - fixed typo: 192GB vRAM (instead of 129GB)

[corky2004]

Thanks Andre,

I never thought of a second VmWare Essentials license.

Would this simply double to vRAM entitlement from 192GB to 384GB

Are you sure this is possible to do on the same 3 node cluster?

Where's the best place to see how much vram is used (in terms of licensing)

Is it in vcenter > administration > license > reporting  ?

Cheers

[a_p_]

Would this simply double to vRAM entitlement from 192GB to 384GB

Unfortunately not. A second Essentials Kit has to be managed separately, resulting in two separate vSphere clusters with 192GB vRAM entitlement each. For how to monitor vRAM usage see e.g. http://www.petri.co.il/monitor-vram-usage-and-licensing-in-vsphere-5.htm

André

[corky2004]

Thanks Andre