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Jafo232
Contributor
Contributor

Vsan License Liftetime?

Does a vsan license last a lifetime or does it require a yearly fee?   Is it transferable to a host if say one is retired and a new host is commissioned?

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marcelo_soares
Champion
Champion

The license for VSAN have no expiration. You may have a date limit for support subscription (SnS) from 1 to 3 years,but you can renew it.

As the license is purchased per processor (or per VM in case of a VDI deployment) you can have as much ESX servers in a cluster your license supports, does not matter what hosts are these - so yes, you can use the license code in any hosts,never having more CPUs on the cluster than the VSAN CPU count have.

Marcelo Soares
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Kisan_VMware
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

You can assign a valid license before evolution period (60days) expired  and subscribe for 1 to 3yrs.

Licensing for Virtual SAN

  

When you enable Virtual SAN on a cluster, you must assign the cluster an appropriate Virtual SAN license before its 60-day evaluation period expires.

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Kisan_VMware
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hence cost based on subscription duration so not for a lifetime you have renew it accordingly.

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JohnNicholson
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

VSAN licensing is perpetual unless you are the 1% of VMware users who are in the vCAN program (service providers, kind of like VSPP) or if purchased as part of EVO:RAIL (EVO:RAIL is OEM licensing and dies with the device).

If you want free updates, you will need to keep your S&S current. If you bought it today, and deployed it you could keep using it (without support or upgrades) as long as you wanted.

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mohdhanifk
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

VSAN License requirements:

  • Using Virtual SAN in production environments requires a special license that you assign to the Virtual SAN clusters. The capacity of the license must cover the total number of CPUs in the cluster.
  • The capacity of the license must cover the total number of CPUs in the cluster.
  • Depending on the disk group configuration in the cluster, you can assign one of two types of licenses: a license for hybrid configurations, and a license for hybrid and all-flash configurations.

For vSphere 5.5

Licensing for Virtual SAN
When you enable Virtual SAN on a cluster, you must assign the cluster an appropriate Virtual SAN license before its 60-day evaluation period expires.
Just like vSphere licenses, Virtual SAN licenses have per CPU capacity. When you assign a Virtual SAN license to a cluster, the amount of license capacity that is used equals the total number of CPUs in the hosts that participate in the cluster. For example, if you have a Virtual SAN cluster that contains 4 hosts with 8 CPUs each, you need to assign the cluster a Virtual SAN license with a minimum capacity of 32 CPUs.
The license usage of the Virtual SAN cluster is recalculated and updated in the following situations:
If you assign a new license key to the Virtual SAN cluster.
If you add a new host to the Virtual SAN cluster.
If a host is removed from the cluster.
If the total number of CPUs in a cluster changes.
You must maintain the Virtual SAN clusters in compliance with the Virtual SAN licensing model. The total number of CPUs of all hosts in the cluster must not exceed the capacity of the Virtual SAN license that is assigned to the cluster.
When the license or the evaluation period of a Virtual SAN expires, you can continue to use the currently configured Virtual SAN resources and features. However, you cannot add SSD or HDD capacity to an existing disk group or create new disk groups.
Virtual SAN for Desktop is intended for use in VDI environments, such as vSphere for Desktop or VMware Horizon™ View™. The license usage for Virtual SAN for Desktop equals the total number of powered on VMs in a cluster with enabled Virtual SAN.
To remain EULA compliant, the license usage for Virtual SAN for Desktop must not exceed the license capacity. The number of powered on desktop VMs in a Virtual SAN cluster must be less than or equal to the license capacity of Virtual SAN for Desktop.
For vSphere 6

Assign a License to a Virtual SAN Cluster
You must assign a license to a Virtual SAN cluster before its evaluation period expires or its currently assigned license expires.
If you upgrade, combine, or divide Virtual SAN licenses, you must assign the new licenses to Virtual SAN clusters. When you assign a Virtual SAN license to a cluster, the amount of license capacity that is used equals the total number of CPUs in the hosts participating in the cluster. The license usage of the Virtual SAN cluster is recalculated and updated every time you add or remove a host from the cluster. For information about managing licenses and licensing terminology and definitions, see the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
When you enable Virtual SAN on a cluster, you can use Virtual SAN in evaluation mode to explore its features. The evaluation period starts when Virtual SAN is enabled, and expires after 60 days. To use Virtual SAN, you must license the cluster before the evaluation period expires. Just like vSphere licenses, Virtual SAN licenses have per CPU capacity. Some features, such as all-flash configuration and stretched clusters, require a license that supports the feature.
To view and manage Virtual SAN licenses, you must have the Global.Licenses privilege on the vCenter Server systems, where the vSphere Web Client runs.
1
In the vSphere Web Client, navigate to a cluster where you have enabled Virtual SAN. 
2
On the Manage tab, click Settings.
3
Under Configuration, select Licensing, and click Assign License.
4
Select a licensing option.
Select an existing license and click OK.
Create a new Virtual SAN license.
a
Click the Create New License (Create license icon) icon.
b
In the New Licenses dialog box, type or copy and paste a Virtual SAN license key and click Next.
c
On the Edit license names page, rename the new license as appropriate and click Next.
d
Click Finish.
e
In the Assign License dialog, select the newly created license and click OK
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