Licensing for test environments

[bevanbroun]

Hi

What are people doing for licensing of their testing and learning environments?

I work for a small vmware partner and Im a VCP. There are references to demo/lab licenses on the vmware partner site but nowhere does it say what we should get.

What about home test/learning environments? There was once a yearly license from vmware that allowed you to use almost any product in a test environment - I cant recall what this was called.

What about MS licenses required, eg windows server for virtual centre?

Thanks all

Bevan Broun

[AntonVZhbankov]

I suppose you should ask licensing team for VMware licenses.

All Microsoft licenses you have to get by yourself.

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VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[weinstein5]

If you wortk for a partner you can request a Not For Resale (NFR) license. The request form is available through partner central -

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[azn2kew]

If you're any type of VMware partner program, you should be granted with NFR license to use internally to your production systems as well as demo if you wish. I was able to download my NFR license and merged them online since ESX 3.5 but has not involved with renewing vSphere 4.0 NFR yet and I might be looking into it soon. Make sure to fill out the VAC NFR form and you will be granted with 1 vCenter server, 8 CPU hosts licenses and others along.

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Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

VMware vExpert 2009

iGeek Systems Inc.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Best solution is to get actual licenses that are exactly what you have in production. This what I do.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst[/url]
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'[/url]
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'[/url]
[url=http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll]SearchVMware Pro[/url]|Blue Gears[/url]|Top Virtualization Security Links[/url]|Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast[/url]

[bevanbroun]

Is reusing your prod licenses in test actually allowed? What about the windows sever licenses?

Thanks all

[DLeid]

I would not think so at all.

Are the evaluation/testing/learning period for both windows and vmware not enough to test out functionality?

Although I would like to see 90 days evals from vmware.

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[AntonVZhbankov]

No, you must buy licenses for all your ESX and Windows servers. The only allowed ESX licenses reuse is remote site for Site Recovery Manager and only if there is no workload there in normal state.

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VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Your test environment should be there to test patches, virtual machines, and anything else related to your virtual environment.

Given this it is best to just get enough licenses to do this for your test environment. Testing after putting things into production is a NORMAL behavior and requires the appropriate licensing.

While Evals could be used for crunch items, there is nothing like having the proper levels of licensing.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst[/url]
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'[/url]
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'[/url]
[url=http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll]SearchVMware Pro[/url]|Blue Gears[/url]|Top Virtualization Security Links[/url]|Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast[/url]