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Scott_Y
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Contributor

Confused regarding which VMware products are necessary for Vmotion-capable enterprise plus VMView

I have four 2-socket DELL servers/32GB RAM & iSCSI storage, and I need to purchase the software to allow server and desktop virtualization with vcenter/vmotion, plus VMView. I've got reasonable ESX 2.5/3.x experience, but I've never had to purchase the software myself, that's been handled by others in the organization.I'll set up the vcenter server as the license server, and we already have a sql server to house the db.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but the minimum software required is:

- 4 VI3 Enterprise (includes HA/DRS/VMotion licenses, correct?)

- 1 Virtual Center

- 1 VMView

I got lost with all of the options and seemingly conflicting information on the web, and I spent over an hour on hold with VMware sales and was not able to talk with a rep. I was unsure if I could use VI3 standard and then purchase vmotion licenses, or some similar scheme. I cannot find an eval vmotion license to go with the 3.5 eval that we are currently running, and due to expire in 40 days.

Thanks!

Scott Y

JoeCo
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Texiwill
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Hello,

Enterprise licenses for ESX include all components. VMotion, etc. Other 'bundles' do not include VMotion.

VMware View can be bought with ESX. You may want to go this route as everything may be included. But you definitely need 'Enterprise' to VMotion.


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VMware Communities User Moderator

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Scott_Y
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Thank you.

JoeCo
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siglert
Enthusiast
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Scott,

Just FYI you should not manage your VMView and Desktop implementation with your Virtual Center that manages your ESX hosts. You need a seperate Virtual Center License for those.

Tom

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Rodos
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Expert

I think you need a bit more information.

First of all make sure you talk to a licensing expert at your VMware partner, and then check everything they say because this stuff is new (the View part).

Second. You need to decide if you are going to mix your work loads. You don't say how many desktops you are going to run but given you are only going to have 4 hosts for both servers and desktops its probably not to many. You can purchase View with the ESX licenses, but you can only run desktops and the servers required for View on them. Hence you would need to split that cluster and end up with islands of isolated resources. Or you can purchase ESX licenses and then "add-on" licenses for View (good for smaller sites that need/want to mix or for low consolidation ratios). For View you will need to decide if you want Premier or Enterprise version. View is sold as concurrent licenses, in packs of 10 or 100 (or there are starter packs to make it more complicated).

You can read the details here .

I would suggest that you want to get an Enterprise Acceleration Kit (4 hosts plus VC) and then add on your View Add-On Enterprise licenses in packs of 10 to give the concurrent quantity you want.

Tom has suggested you need a separate VC. At some point you will, it will depend on your scale and overall environment. Looking at the size you are talking about you are not there yet.

A few more details and we could help more. But find a good partner and get them to help, or VMware sales.

Keep us informed of your progress.

Rodos

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thaichi
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Tom,

can you explain why it's not advisable to use same vCenter to manage VMware View VM's ?

I thought Vmware View can be used with existing ESX hosts and vCenter ?

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TomHowarth
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It can, there is no requirement for a seperate VC, however remember that there is a 2000 VC limit on Guests per VC instance.

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Tom Howarth

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Blog: www.planetvm.net

Tom Howarth VCP / VCAP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: http://www.planetvm.net
Contributing author on VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment
Contributing author on VCP VMware Certified Professional on VSphere 4 Study Guide: Exam VCP-410
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thaichi
Contributor
Contributor

Tom,

just want to clarify does this means it's possible to create second database instance on same Vcenter -

-one instance to manage non-vmware view VM's and

-second instance just to manage vmware view desktops.

thanks for reminder that there is 2000 guest limitation/vCenter instance. I would prefer keeping >500 or >1000 VM per instance... not sure what implications it can have to run 2000 VM/instance.

Is there anything documetation on VCenter performance benchmark on number of VM's runnin/database instance.

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siglert
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You can certainly create a second database on the same SQL server and mount it with the other VC server. You can create a second instance as well if it's 2005 or higher. I'm not certain you can do this if your using the MSDE version (haven't ever tried it) but I wouldn't consider that for best practices.

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