vCenter 4 Server licensing to enable HA

[L2wis]

Morning VMware gurus!

I'm trying to put together a quote for a vmware system to go into a live datacentre but i'm having trouble working out if i need vCentre Heartbeat to enable VMware HA?

Is the only package i need: VMware vSphere Enterprise Edition?

The setup I'm currently thinking of trying to set up is 2 hosts each with 24GB RAM and 1 or 2 cpu's (depending on the limitations placed on only having one cpu and the price on licencing) each cpu would have 4 cores.

The cpu i've been recommended by dell is: "Intel Xeon E5520 Processor (2.26GHz, 8M Cache, 5.86 GT/s QPI, Turbo, HT)"

Thanks in advance for any repsonses! I apprechiate my questions are probably quite basic and tedious to answer =/

Lewis

[weinstein5]

You do not need vCenter Heartbeat for HA and if the only advanced feature you want is HA and not vmotion or DRSthan all you need is the vSphere Standard license - I do not know if you have reviewed this doc but it has the informaiton you need - http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere_pricing.pdf. You can also contact VMware directly and they should be able to help with licensing questions as well -

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[L2wis]

Hi weinstein5 Thanks for your response! I have reviewed quite a few bits of documentation on licensing before but not that particular pdf so thanks for that :-). I would be needing

• VMware VMotion

• VMware Storage VMotion

• VMware DRS

• VMware DPM

I'm still not sure what i need though... I've seens some pretty different figures for what i think i need to buy.

*Edit: "I'm not sure if it's important to know but i'm planning on using iSCSI for storage."

[azn2kew · Accepted solution]

I would call VMware Support for free on licensing questions and confirm if vSphere 4.0 Enterprise edition is available as I've heard they will discontinue that edition but call to double check. If yes, then the only option is Enterprise Plus which will include everything you need. Sadly, the Advance edition doesn't give you Storage VMotion, but wondering if Andrew Kutz has seperate plugin for vSphere or its part of VMware asset by now! How many VMs are you trying to virtualize and are there critical enough to spent a lot on VMware licensing, if not I would use the Advance or Standard version to save money!

What types of iSCSI storage are you using and you're looking at Dell Equallogic, FalconStor, EMC, IBM, NetApp, or virtual solution Lefthand Network, Datacore SANMelody! Almost all of these vendors has created best practices guide how to implement iSCSI with VMware nice and easy for you to read so just logon to their site for best practices guide if not post back here if you have storage questions.

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

VMware vExpert 2009

iGeek Systems Inc.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[azn2kew]

For some reasons, this posting always delayed and I don't see it so I have to repost the whole process see below almost same info:

If you only have 2 hosts and if the VMs aren't critical I would use the standard or Advance version to save some money but if you want you may have to contact VMware Support on license question for free. For the features you wanted, the Enterprise or Enterprise Plus would do it but comes with a price for high end features. I'm wondering if Andrew Kutz has seperate plugin for vSphere standard/advance version for public use or its part of VMware asset now.

iSCSI configuration best practices is depends on your network infrastructure and all requires multiple paths to iSCSI targets and switches need to stack them up or two seperate stacks to prevent downtime during firmware upgrade. Dell Equallogic PS series are pretty solid and great iSCSI solution along with EMC, Netapp, IBM, Lefthand Network, Datacore etc..if you want some free solution I would look at Openfiler, FreeNAS, Starwind, StorMagic, Xtravirt VSA these are pretty good for small environment like yours. Each vendors have created best practices guide how to implement with virtualization so logon and read for details.

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

VMware vExpert 2009

iGeek Systems Inc.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant