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ncaio
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

the new type of licensing is cheaper?

Guys, I have some doubts, read and understood the http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere_pricing.pdf VRAM model, the less lines.
So come on, I will use what I have here as an example.

Today I have everything in my ESX 4.x infrastructure in all 44 CPUs are distributed in chassis / blades and with a total of 1280 RAM. so here we go:
If I buy 44 licenses vCenter Server Standard for vSphere 5, ie a total of 44 CPU * 48 = 2112 VRAM VRAM, I'm actually right? It will replace my current situation?

If I get the value you have on site, 5 vSphere VMware Enterprise Plus is a processor (with 96 GB per processor entitlement VRAM) = 3,495.00 USD, so I spend * 44 = 3,495.00 USD 153,780.00 confirms?

Separate question, the new type of licensing is cheaper?

Att

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ncaio
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I say "vCenter Server Standard for vSphere 5" correct is  "VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise Plus"

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mcowger
Immortal
Immortal

Thats about right - you'd need 44 licenses, and it would cover 2112 GB of allocated vRAM (allowing, for you about a 1.65x memory overcommitment).

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us
EdWilts
Expert
Expert

Whether or not it can be cheaper depends on the number of cores and the physical memory in the system.

There will still be some cases where the new license model will require you to purchase more licenses than you would have to purchase under the old model.

We're looking at some hosts with 4 4-core sockets and 256GB of memory.  Those definitely cost more money under the new model unless you subsidize the vRAM from other sites.

.../Ed (VCP4, VCP5)
Justin_King1
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Really what VMware hsa done is removed the licensing from the hardware. 

Remember the price is applied ot your guests, not your host.  Plus they removed the CPU count in vSphere 5.

I could, in theory, setup 10 HP DL580s with 512GB of RAM each, running 6 core procs in every socket, but if I only load up one VM in that farm I only need _ONE_ license.

VMware is charging by workload now, and THAT's why the model sucks.

A very popular model up until today has always been our physical to virtual core ratio.  We could always make a quick assesment on how we were doing cost wise by looking at the number of VMs, and seeing how we could over-subscribe those cycles.

VMware 5 removes that.  Now our entire cost savings is almost entirely based on how much memory ballooning we can get away with, which with tier one data will amlost always be about ... well 0%. 

So on one hand VMware says they want to be the Tier 1 go to guys, but on the other hand they are making tier 1 servers a complete waste of time to virtualize.

Use Exchange as an example:  If I want to virtualize an Exchange 2010 mailbox server .... 24GB is not uncommon.... and an "Average memory consumption" is even sillier, because everyone knows 64bit exchange will use every last MB of memory about 5minutes after it boots up.  So basically I _must_ dedicate a vsphere license to this box, and a vsphere license costs about as much as a physical server... so what's the point?  Maybe some soft savings if i use HA instead of setting up a DAG, but thats very debatable for other reasons (SAN costs for one).

The model is pointless and stupid.  nuff said.

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EdWilts
Expert
Expert

Justin.King wrote:

Really what VMware hsa done is removed the licensing from the hardware. 

Remember the price is applied ot your guests, not your host.  Plus they removed the CPU count in vSphere 5.

I could, in theory, setup 10 HP DL580s with 512GB of RAM each, running 6 core procs in every socket, but if I only load up one VM in that farm I only need _ONE_ license.

I believe you're mistaken.  VMware removed the *core* and *host memory* restrictions - they did not remove the socket restrictions.  Your 10 DL580 systems which have, I believe, 4 sockets each, will require no less than 40 licenses.    If you put Enterprise licenses on them, you'll be entitled to a vRAM total of 40*64=2560GB which still allows you to overcommit your 2048GB of memory.

Quoting the Pricing PDF (page 5 at http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere_pricing.pdf) from VMware's web site:

Licensing new hosts with vSphere 5
For this example, a user has two 2-CPU (each with 6 cores) hosts
with 128GB of physical RAM each that they wish to license with
VMware vSphere Enterprise edition. Each physical CPU requires
a license, so a minimum of four VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise
licenses are required.

.../Ed (VCP4, VCP5)
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Justin_King1
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ed Wilts wrote:

I believe you're mistaken.  VMware removed the *core* and *host memory* restrictions - they did not remove the socket restrictions.  Your 10 DL580 systems which have, I believe, 4 sockets each, will require no less than 40 licenses.    If you put Enterprise licenses on them, you'll be entitled to a vRAM total of 40*64=2560GB which still allows you to overcommit your 2048GB of memory.

Quoting the Pricing PDF (page 5 at http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere_pricing.pdf) from VMware's web site:

Licensing new hosts with vSphere 5
For this example, a user has two 2-CPU (each with 6 cores) hosts
with 128GB of physical RAM each that they wish to license with
VMware vSphere Enterprise edition. Each physical CPU requires
a license, so a minimum of four VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise
licenses are required.

Ahh so the socket is still there ... if so I believe its' two sockets per license purchased unless that's changed in vsphere 5, so it would be 20 licenses, but You have me there.  That means half of that memory then, or 1280GB, and no ... I'm not even getting CLOSE to coverbng my boxes, even if i upped to enterprise plus.

But you're right:  I misunderstood that socket limitations were there.

THat said sockets are such a meaningless variable now that we can safely ignore that and it doesn't impact my initial point at all which is this new model makes virtualizing tier 1 apps a 0$ cost saver and conter-intuitive to what VMware is claiming to be. 

Basically they want to charge by farm size and not host size, because they know hosts are getting too powerful and so density is just going up ... thus thier proffit margin is going down.

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EdWilts
Expert
Expert

Justin.King wrote:

Ahh so the socket is still there ... if so I believe its' two sockets per license purchased unless that's changed in vsphere 5, so it would be 20 licenses, but You have me there.  That means half of that memory then, or 1280GB, and no ... I'm not even getting CLOSE to coverbng my boxes, even if i upped to enterprise plus.

But you're right:  I misunderstood that socket limitations were there.

THat said sockets are such a meaningless variable now that we can safely ignore that and it doesn't impact my initial point at all which is this new model makes virtualizing tier 1 apps a 0$ cost saver and conter-intuitive to what VMware is claiming to be. 

Basically they want to charge by farm size and not host size, because they know hosts are getting too powerful and so density is just going up ... thus thier proffit margin is going down.

It's not 2 sockets per license - it's ONE socket per license.  Unlimited number of cores now per license and unlimited memory per host.  So it's not half the memory - it's 2560GB as I mentioned (for Enterprise Plus).

I won't say I like their new model because I don't. It is important, however, that we understand what we can and not can not do.

.../Ed (VCP4, VCP5)
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