Best route to move from Essentials Plus to vSphere Standard?

[ggathagan]

I currently have three licenses for the Essentials Plus kit of vSphere 5.5

In order to add storage vMotion, I will need to move to vSphere Standard.

It is my understanding that the vCenter Server from the Essentials kit differs from vCenter Server Standard, so in order to move all my existing environment to vSphere Standard, I will need to purchase vCenter Server Standard and 18 CPU licenses for vSphere Standard.

Is there an upgrade path for the move to vCenter Server Standard or are customers essentially forced to start from scratch?

If there is an upgrade path, does pricing differ than starting from scratch?

There was a post in early February about moving from Essentials to Standard, but in that particular case, the organization already had vCenter Server Standard, so all that was needed was the CPU licenses.

[a_p_]

I can't find this anymore on the VMware web sites, but in the past VMware offered an upgrade from Essentials or Essentials Plus to an Acceleration Kit, which included vCenter Server Standard as well as 6 CPU licenses (Standard, Enterprise or Enterprise Plus, depending on the selected option). I'd suggest you contact a VMware partner/reseller and ask for such options, e.g. one upgrade to a Standard Acceleration Kit plus 12 additional CPU licenses.

Btw. unless I'm mistaken Essentials Plus also allows to live migrate VMs including the storage using the vSphere Web Client. Maybe that's an option for you?

André

[ggathagan]

Thanks for the quick response, André.

Unfortunately, the acceleration kits move you to VMware vSphere with Operations Management.

Given the small size and static nature of my environment, I've no interest in Operations management or its extra cost.

Just based on the list pricing at the VMware online store, using the Acceleration Kit would cost about $7200 more than purchasing VMware vCenter Server Standard and 18 CPU licenses.

I know that I wouldn't have to pay that price, but it's indicative of the cost difference between those two options.

The Essential Plus kit allows you to use vMotion, but not Storage vMotion, so I can move my vm's between hosts at will, but cannot move them between datastores.

[ggathagan]

Whoops, I calculated incorrectly.

At least with regard to list price, going the Acceleration Kit route would actually cost about $400 less.
So even if I don't implement the Operations Management components, that might be still be the best path from a cost standpoint.

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

>>> The Essential Plus kit allows you to use vMotion, but not Storage vMotion, so I can move my vm's between hosts at will, but cannot move them between datastores.

Yes and no. The Essentials Plus Kit does not include storage vMotion, but you can use "Change both host and datastore" to live migrate VM's to other datastores. This is possible since vSphere 5.1 (see vMotion bug fixed in vCenter server 5.1.0a)

André

[ggathagan]

By golly, you're right!

I have been trying to just change the datastore, as opposed to both datastore and host.

As long as I change both, it works fine.

A thousand thanks for your help, André.

Regards,

Grant

[Jesse73127]

I have just upgraded to vSphere 5.5 from 4.1 and I am not able to use the "Change both host and datastore" option, it is greyed out. It has a message that the guest must be shutdown.

I have vCenter 5 Essentials and VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus license that was updated from the v.4.1 license.

What would I be missing that would keep your solution from working?

Thank you.

[Jesse73127]

I thought victory was in my grasp. I tried using the web client for the migration and the option to change host and datastore was available.

Then I received the following notification:

"License not available to perform the operation.

The VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus license for Host esx03 does not include vSphere Storage vMotion. Upgrade the license".

Ugh.

[ggathagan]

That makes little sense, unless host esx03 doesn't have the Essentials Plus license applied to it or it's a version of ESX that isn't supported by the 5.5 license.

The only vMotion option that does not come with Essentials plus is the ability to move the VM to different storage alone.

Moving to a different host or, as mentioned, to both a different host and storage are both specifically supported by Essentials Plus.

What version of ESX is running on that particular host?

I'm no expert, but if the host is not running 5.x, it may not support live VM movement under that license.

[Jesse73127]

Here are my versions for the VIC. All 5.5. The vCenter was bulit new for the upgrade.

ESX02 was upgraded from 4.1u3 to 5.5 using update manager.

[ggathagan]

The only other thing I can think is related to the version of VM itself.

It seems to me that the VM compatibility version has to be 7 or above to use vMotion in 5.x hosts, but I can't swear to that.

If you look at the VM's summary tab in the web client, what version is listed?

That said, the error message usually tells you if the machine version is at issue, whereas your error didn't mention it.

If that's not the issue, then it may be time to put that tech support you are paying for to work.

[Jesse73127]

Thanks,

All of my VMs are version 7. I have not upgraded the machine version or crated any new machines.

I may have to test that theory.

[Jesse73127]

So, I updated an inconsequential Windows 7 VM to the latest machine version and then I was able to move it across both host and storage.

Thank you.

[ggathagan]

Excellent!

It is, of course, faster to move a VM that is down than it is a live one.

Since you'll have to restart to update the machine version, it might be faster to shut down the VM, make the move, and then set the VM for a machine upgrade before powering it up again.

At any rate, I'm glad it's solved.