vsphere essentials, upgrade only vcenter

[gdavid]

I currently have a vsphere essentials bundle which includes

1 x vcenter (with a max of 3 hosts)

3 x esx servers

I want to be able to add more hosts to vcenter.

Question: Can i just upgrade the vcenter server to the full version of vcenter?

Do I need to purcahse new licenses for esx as well? (ouch)

GD

[Dave_Mishchenko]

You need to upgrade the vCenter edition and vSphere licenses for new hosts. You don't have to get licenses for your existing hosts unless you want to upgrade to another edition of vSphere to be able to use additional features.




Dave

VMware Communities User Moderator

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[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Question: Can i just upgrade the vcenter server to the full version of vcenter?

No, the only upgrade possible with Essentials is from Essentials to Essentials Plus.

Do I need to purcahse new licenses for esx as well? (ouch)

Yes, you will have to get vCenter Standard as well as the CPU licenses (Standard, Advanced, Enterprise or Enterprise Plus) for the hosts.

from the EULA at http://www.vmware.com/download/eula/esx_esxi_eula.html

VMware vSphere Essentials and VMware vSphere Essentials Plus

If you have licensed VMware vSphere Essentials or VMware vSphere Essentials Plus, the following additional license terms apply:

VMware licenses VMware vSphere Essentials or VMware vSphere Essentials Plus editions (collectively "Editions") to you solely for managing up to three (3) server hosts and your use of these Editions is limited to servers with up to two processors. For these Editions, the server hosts must be managed by the VMware vCenter Server that is provided with these Editions , and that same VMware vCenter Server cannot be used to manage other server hosts not included with these Editions

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

André

[gdavid]

hmm. I thought the same thing, but according to :

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

But as I was just looking I found this (which may have answered my own question)

vSphere Essentials Kits

VMware vSphere Essentials kits are all-in-one solutions that

combine virtualization for up to three physical servers (up to two

processors each) with centralized management capabilities. The

kits are self-contained solutions and may not be decoupled or

combined with other VMware vSphere editions.

Also shows the only upgrade path for essentials is essentials plus (page 8).

However it seems that is all out of date because I just found this forum which shows an upgrade path from essentials plus via acceleration kit.

(VS4-ESPL-AD-AK-UG-C)

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/216400

That still is not so great because I have to upgrade to essentials plus which has features I don't really need right now. eh. we'll see.

GD

[ealaqqad]

Hi,

Actually since the release of vSphere and you start being able to upgrade VMware Essential & Essential plus kits to other acceleraion kits & in turn to other vSphere editions. For more information & upgrade kits numbers please look at my following post:

VMware vSphere Essentials Kit & Essentials Plus Kit upgrade path

I hope this help some one, if it does please reward points.

Enjoy,

Eiad Al-Aqqad

System X & Storage Technical Specialist

Founder of http://www.VirtualizationTeam.com

Founder of http://www.TSMGuru.com