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NeilH1
Contributor
Contributor
‎10-19-2022 08:43 AM

Witness Server License

New vSAN installation using ESXi 7.0.3, we have a VMware physical host that is hosting our witness appliance.

The appliance has the "vSphere 7 for Virtual SAN Witness for Embedded OEMs" license, however, do we need to license the physical server considering that it will only host a single VM, namely the witness appliance?

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IRIX201110141
Champion
Champion
‎10-19-2022 10:54 AM

Yes you need a license for that pyhs. ESXi Host which runs the Witness ESXi VM.

Yes.. the free vSphere Hypervisor license will be sufficient.

You dont need a license within that Witness ESXi and a vCenter will not count that virtual ESXi as a real one when it comes to vCenter Essentials or Foundation.

Regards,
Joerg

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TheBobkin
Champion
Champion
‎10-19-2022 11:05 AM

@NeilH1 , yes it does of course require an ESXi license as if it didn't, technically it would be permitted for one to just roll out infinite unpaid for ESXi and just throw an unused Witness Appliance on each one.

 

Think about the ESXi and the virtual ESXi that the Witness is registered as as completely separate independent entities (because essentially they are).

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