vCenter Foundation license question

[plato98]

Can vCenter Foundation manage 4 VMware ESXi Hosts? I'm looking to purchase 4 VMware ESX Standard Licenses and vCenter but I can not figure out what licenses I need to buy. I'm considering using the HA feature, but I have no need for vMotion.

[SuryaVMware]

vCenter should be able to manage any no. of servers with in it's max limit as long as you have a agent license for ESX server, which is part of ESX foundation edition.

Hope this answers your question.

-Surya

[plato98]

I guess I still don't get it. Can I purchase (1) vCenter Foundation license with 4 ESX Foundation licenses and manage all 4 ESX hosts? I understand how the ESX licneses are grouped (Foundation -no HA or vMotion, Standard - HA, Enterprise - HA & vMotion), I just don't unstand how to purchse the vCenter licenses. For example, what is the differrence between vCenter Enterprise and vCenter Standard or Foundation?

[SuryaVMware]

vCenter License is per VirtualCenter instance you run. It dosen't count howmany ESX servers are you going to manage with it. there is a compnent called VMware vCenter Server Agen, which is part of Foundation license.

So you will be able to install a VirtualCenter server with one license and install as many foundation server as you want and be able to manage. The componect that will license you to be managed by vCenter is bundled with the foundation license.

for your requirement you need to buy 4 ESX foundation + 1 vCenter Server.

ESX Foundation.

http://store.vmware.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayPage&Env=BASE&Locale=en_US&SiteID=vm...

vCenter.

http://store.vmware.com/store/vmware/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.83605200

Hope this answers your question.

-Surya

[plato98]

I think I get it now. Am I correct to say there is only one version of vCenter? I believe the features are based on the individual esx licenses.

[SuryaVMware]

Yes, that is correct. there is only one version of VC and the featurs depends on what you buy with the ESX server.

The options that you see with VC purchases is the level of support and period for support.

-Surya

[Craig_Baltzer]

No, there are two versions of vCenter Server:

• vCenter Server Foundation - Can manage up to 3 ESX hosts -

• vCenter Server - No limit on the number of managed ESX hosts -

Regardless of the vCenter Server edition you use, you still need vCenter Server Agent licenses per ESX host.

So a quck summary:

• The edition of vCenter Server (foundation or "regular") determines how many ESX(i) hosts can be supported

• The edition of ESX license (and the features contained in it) determine if you have HA, DRS, VMotion, et

• Foundation gets you the basics, no HA, no DRS, no vMotion

• Standard gets you HA

• Enterprise gets you HA, DRS and vMotion/Storage vMotion

You can also buy HA, DRS and vMotion/Storage vMotion individually, though it usually doesn't make sense from a price perspective (i.e. to get vMotion + HA you could buy Foundation ($1430) + HA add-on ($3019) + vMotion add-on ($4024) = $8473 but it would be cheaper to just buy Enterprise for $6958).

[Primetime_de]

One question to your answer:

It's correct that the free version of the ESXi can't be managed by VC because the VC agent is missing.

I had to licensed the ESXi to get the VC agent.

Correct?

Best regards,

Christian

[Craig_Baltzer]

Correct.

[weinstein5]

No it can not VMware® VirtualCenter Foundation can only manage 3 ESX Servers - From page 5 of http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vi_pricing3.pdf

VMware® VirtualCenter Foundation is functionally equivalent to VMware VirtualCenter, except that it is limited to managing three nodes of any size. For example, managed instances can be VMware® Infrastructure 3 Foundation, Standard or Enterprise and can be on two, four, eight or 16 CPU servers.

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct

[tariqali]

Is it possible to upgrade from a vCenter Server Foundation (which can only manage 3 ESX(i) servers), to a regular vCenter Server license?

And if I was to get the full vCenter Server license, does that mean I could manage the 3 licensed ESX servers I have (under the acceleration kit I purchased), and any additional free ESXi servers as I add them?

I know the ESXi servers won't have any added functionality, but I'd like one interface to manage all my ESX(i) servers, I'm hoping getting a full vCenter server license will allow me to do that?

Thanks,

T.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

You can upgrade your VC license from foundation to a regular copy - see page 6 - http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vi_pricing3.pdf. For any additional ESXi hosts, you would have to purchase VI Foundation licenses as ESXi free does not include a VirtualCenter agent license which is required to manage them.

[wksantiago]

Craig,

I have a small problem related to the above.

I have licensed the ESXi to get the VC agent but it fails...

Network failed for file.

c:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\upgrade\vpx-upgrade-eesx-1-linux-119598.sig

My vc is Licensed as follows:

LICENSE TOTALS:

License Count

VC Management Server 1

VMotion 2

VC Agent for ESX Server 2

VMware HA 2

VMware DRS 2

ESX Server Enterprise/Standard 2

VMware Consolidated Backup 2

The ESXi host is using the License server above.

Am I missing a license? Is there a different ESXi download I need to get?

When I try to manually install the agent on the ESXi it tells me there is not enough space on the device.

Any ideas would be great.

Thanks,

William K. Santiago

Advisory IT Specialist, VCP, TVSP

Phone. (599-9)516-8056

http://www.linkedin.com/in/wksantiago

Skype Me: callto://wksantiago

http://www.jaxtr.com/wksantiago

E-mail: mailto:william@wksit.com

Web Site: http://www.wksit.com

[wksantiago]

Craig,

OK I was able to copy it to the vmfs:

/vmfs # ls

devices vpx-upgrade-eesx-1-linux-119598

volumes vpx-upgrade-eesx-1-linux-119598.sig

/vmfs # sh vpx-upgrade-eesx-1-linux-119598

/vmfs # ls

devices vpx-upgrade-eesx-1-linux-119598.sig

volumes vpx-upgrade-installer

/vmfs #

/vmfs # /etc/init.d/hostd restart

watchdog-hostd: Terminating watchdog with PID 40931

/vmfs # 54892 Begin 'hostd ++min=0,swap,group=hostd -a /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml', min-uptime = 60, max-quick-failures = 5, max-total-failures = 1000000

/vmfs #

Yes this worked i was able to add the ESXi in the VC

So it does not matter where you place the file, it does not have to be in the /tmp directory.

Thanks Samir,