vSphere Essentials Kit Questions

[TacITum]

I am trying to understand this particular product to make sure it is the best for my needs. I have 2 physical servers. I use one to host my "production" vms. The second to host my lab vms. I do not need to be able to vmotion between the 2 hypervisors. Storage is internal drives with the possibility of procuring a NAS in a few months for NFS. I need to be able to snapshot vms. I would like to clone as well, but that is not a deal breaker. Would the vSphere Essentials Kit work for my needs? How does the 1 year subscription term work? Will the software stop working after 1 year?

Any information would be appreciated.

[rcporto]

vSphere Essentials Kit will fill your needs... and about license, don't worry, the license is perpetual and will not expire... everything will continue to work... but the support will end up after the 1 year.

[a_p_]

With an active Subscription you are entitled for all minor and major updates/upgrades at no additional cost. It's not related to support, which needs to be purchased separately.

from http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere_pricing.pdf

vSphere Essentials Kit is an all-in-one solution ideal for small offices. It enables consolidation and management of applications to reduce hardware and operating costs—all with a low upfront investment. Essentials must be purchased along with an one-year subscription to software patches and updates. Support is optional and available on a per-incident basis.

André

[TacITum]

Thank you very much for the answers. They are appreciated.

Javier

[kluken]

Keep in mind that if you grow there are limitations for the Essentials versions. Essentials can NOT be manged by a standard vcenter, it has to use a vcenter essentials and vcenter essentials can not mange more than 3 hosts, so if you so yourself growing past 3 hosts you may need to reconsider.