vSphere High Availability with no shared storage? And General problems with VMware Partner Supplier

[munkyman]

Can HA work without shared storage?

Per the vSphere Availability manual it cannot.  However the VMware global partner that sold me on VMware as a solution said that shared storage is not required for HA.

This is the same guy that told me that I wouldn't need to purchase Windows Server licenses because it was all included in the package (vSphere Essentials Plus).  Now I have no Windows licenses, no shared storage and a customer that is not going to be happy that we didn't include those costs in the quote for this project.

[admin]

VMware HA will not work without shared storage. Also Vmware can give license for its product. For windows you need to buy it from microsoft.

Thanks,

DJ

[rcporto · Accepted solution]

Can HA work without shared storage?

No... you need shared storage for HA.

This is the same guy that told me that I wouldn't need to purchase Windows Server licenses because it was all included in the package (vSphere Essentials Plus).  Now I have no Windows licenses, no shared storage and a customer that is not going to be happy that we didn't include those costs in the quote for this project.

Maybe your partner is talking about the vCenter Server Appliance that is included on vSphere Essentials Plus and that you can use this appliance to manage your vSphere ESXi without need a Windows virtual machine (with Windows license) to install vCenter Server.

[ExpletiveDelete]

Also, shared storage can be a lot of things, and doesn't cost too much money. You can run a linux box and share out a bunch of space as NFS, and use that as your shared storage... it doesn't require big-name storage vendors. FreeNAS works too, assuming you've got a few old machines lying around that aren't in use. Its mostly in exactly how much storage you want/need.

[munkyman]

Thank you for your help.

Regarding the licensing, I explicitly asked about the multiple VMs running the business applications.  He said that Windows licensing was all included in the package.  I couldn't believe it so I even had him double check.  I should have done some digging myself but he was consulting his "VMware expert" so I took his word for it.  Oh well, it's just another part of the learning curve.