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rajkn
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

VMWare VSphere licensing question

Hello,

Apologies if this is not the right forum. Please move this question to right forum if needed.

Here is the question -.

1. I work in Test Environment and I have 3 engineers who maintain separate ESX server pools. I am planning to get 3 separate vCenter licenses for them since they need to manage their pools separately. Is that a correct call?

2. One of the 3 engineers need to use VDIS and Storage VMotion. So I am planning to vSphere Enterprise Plus license for her. Will this be license be associated uniquely to her vCenter or can I use this license on multiple ESX servers for all 3 engineers if needed in future (even if they use different vCenters)?

3. The license requirement says 1 Processor or 12 cores. Does that mean that I can use this license for 1 ESX system with 12 cores or 12 ESX systems with single core? Or any combination?

~rajkn
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3 Replies
RParker
Immortal
Immortal

I am planning to get 3 separate vCenter licenses for them since they need to manage their pools separately. Is that a correct call?

Nope. You add their servers / VM's to a pool. Give them rights to their pool (or server). vCenter can manage 200 ESX hosts and like 5000 VM's, even from a VM, so you only need 1 vCenter license.

If you want to waste your money on more vCenter licenses, that's up to you, but you don't need it.

One of the 3 engineers need to use VDIS and Storage VMotion. So I am planning to vSphere Enterprise Plus license for her. Will this be license be associated uniquely to her vCenter or can I use this license on multiple ESX servers for all 3 engineers if needed in future (even if they use different vCenters)?

License is PER ESX host, vCenter doesn't care. It only needs a vCenter agent to MANAGE the ESX host.

The license requirement says 1 Processor or 12 cores. Does that mean that I can use this license for 1 ESX system with 12 cores or 12 ESX systems with single core? Or any combination?

Licenses are PER socket. Doesn't matter if you have 1 core socket or 12 (but I thought the current license was limited to 6 core, after that its 2 licenses per socket). You buy 2 licenses (assuming 2 sockets) per host. There is no mixing and matching.

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MattG
Expert
Expert

1. Typically you will buy 1 vCenter instance and Enterprise Plus per CPU socket for hosts that you add to it

2. I am not sure why you would want to use vNetwork Distributed switches if you are only using it for one server as it is a switch that goes across multiple hosts?

3. 1 ESX license entitles you to install ESX on one 1CPU socket. So if you have 2 CPU sockets then you get 2 licenses. Cores only matter with regard to how many core VMware will allow you to have in that 1 CPU socket.

-MattG

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-MattG If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
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Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal

Your post has been moved to the vCenter Server forum.




Dave

VMware Communities User Moderator

Now available - vSphere Quick Start Guide

Do you have a system or PCI card working with VMDirectPath? Submit your specs to the Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL.

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