Newbie with vSphere questions

[vmtgt]

Hello:

I am new to the vmware. Have some basic questions and any help appreciated.

I have 10 Windows physical boxes. Now I want to virtualize them using VMWare. So this is what I understand and help with the scenario.

I have to install ESX host software and then create VM guest of Windows. The vm guest will be located on the ESX host. Now the question is do I install 10 ESX hosts, if it is then we do not have funds for the licenses. I gather a ESX host can support multiple VMguest. So how can I pool/group all my physical boxes and still install one ESX host software, over which if I can place the VM guests.

The point is my Windows physical boxes are stand alone blade servers, how can I make them appear them as one single machine to ESX software so I can reduce my licence costs?

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

with the appropriate resources - CPU, RAM, HDD (space and IOPS) - you can run multiple VMs on a single ESXi host without issues. Just think of the ESXi host as a server rack. As for licensing, VMware offers a free license which only restricts the API (i.e. you cannot use most of the commercial image based backup applications), and the VMs are limited to a maximum of 8 vCPUs each. Microsoft offers their server licenses as either Standard or Datacenter edition, where - as of Windows 2012 R2 - you can run 2 virtual instances with one Standard license, or any number of instances with the Datacenter license.

The above said, ensure you have a proper backup, and the appropriate support level for the hardware. Remember that if you are going to run all servers on a single host/hardware and this hardware fails, you may be in trouble.

André

[frcouture]

Hello,

Yes, you will be able to host all your Windows boxes onto a single ESXi host. 

I would recommend to first install and setup an ESXi host (VMware vSphere Documentation).

Then do a P2V of your Windows physical boxes (VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Documentation).

Note that you will still need your Windows licenses for all your machines, even if they are physical or virtual.

Hope this help.

[vmtgt]

I think I did not explain the scenario properly.

i understand you can have multiple vms on a single ESX host. But my question is I will still  have 9 physical boxes if I use one of the boxes as ESX host. How can use them all of these physical boxes to create one "Super ESX host"? I do not want the hardware to go as waste.

[MBrownWFP]

If you want all of the physical servers to be logically "bundled" into one resource pool or cluster, you need vSphere.

Even with vSphere, the servers will not present as a single server but you will be able to logically interact with the vSphere environment as a single unit (rather than logging into each host individually).

Within vSphere you can create clusters to provide HA and vMotion/SvMotion functionality between select (or all) of your hosts.

[vmtgt]

Thanks. If I have 10 physical boxes bundled together , how many vSphere licenses should I be needing? Bcaus cost is what pulling us down

[BenLiebowitz]

vSphere is licensed by physical processor socket.  So it depends on how many sockets you have in your servers as to how many licenses you'll need. 

vSphere Pricing & Licensing

[vmtgt]

So my vSphere license costs are going to be same if I have machine with 10 processor or 10 machines with each one processor. right ? Hmmm.

[BenLiebowitz]

If the hardware for the vSphere server has 2 processors with 10 cores each, you have to buy two licenses for that server.  There is no limit to the number of VMs, it depends on how much RAM/CPU/Storage you have available. 

The link I provided should explain how the licensing works for each edition.

[BenLiebowitz]

I should mention that some editions have a limit to the number of cores you can use in a processor (vSphere Essentials)

This may be a better link to what you're looking for.

Compare VMware vSphere Editions and Kits Comparison | United States

[vmtgt]

Thanks BenLieBowtiz and all members of the forum. Good input.

MBrownWFP:

Is there any document that describes how multiple physical machines can be "bundled" so the vSphere ESX software would treat all the machines as "ONE"single physical machine?  My idea is to  try install the software and run a proof of concept.

[TomHowarth]

from what I have read here, I think that you may not quite understand the concept of virtualization.

virtualization takes a powerful machine and allows it to run multiple Guest operating systems.   From the perspective of the Guest machine the operation system believes it is running on a physical machine. any licensing requirement of your guest machines will not (some exceptions (Oracle mainly) change. if our application that runs on the guest is licensed per CPU then it is still licensed per CPU. but it is based on the number of vCPU you have in the guest. not the underlying Physical ESX host machine.

You have said that you do not want to waste the 10 physical host. This part I do not understand the major use case for Virtualization is to reduce physical headcount to reduce  infrastructure costs in terms of Rack Space, Cooling and power consumption.

[vmtgt]

Tom Howarth:

I agree with you. While having single BIG machine to host multiple VMs is ideal, we are not there yet. I get the basics of virtualization.

The 10 physical machines we have are not yet out of their life cycle. We do want to move to better hardware, but not yet. Moving to virtualization reduces our project duration. Here is how I see. The current physical build of a server takes us 15-20 days. With virtualization I can create a copy and deploy it in 2-3 days. While the build times are bit exaggerated, but that is what our infrastructure vendor projects. To me this is our chance to go to virtualization, then moving to NEW hardware down the line will be lot easier.