How many hosts could the free vSphere Hyperviser be installed to?

[dwsama]

I can't find description about the limitation of hosts.

Let's say I have two machines, can I install the free vSphere Hyperviser to these machines and use the same free serial number?

[Jitu211003]

Yes, infact free version of the ESXi will show the linces as evaluation and will expire after 60 days from the installation date.

Hope, it solves your query.

[a_p_]

I'm not aware of a limitation for the usage of free Hypervisor license key.

Unless I missed something you can use the key on any number of hosts.

André

[Jitu211003]

Yes you are right. You can use any number of evaluation ESXi host with 60days grace period.

Mark it as resolved if it really does.

[wila · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Jitu211003, the free Hypervisor is not the same as a "vSphere Hypervisor evaluation" although one could use the free Hypervisor to evaluate the  full product.

An evaluation version of vSphere is unlicensed while the free Hypervisor has a license.

Dwsama, As far as I can remember you can install the free Hypervisor license to multiple hosts, but cannot find the number or any details on it for the moment.

The support page for vSphere Hypervisor is here: VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi Support Center

The link on that page which appears to have the best info on this topic is: https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/products/vsphere/vmware-vsphere-vs...

The snippet in that pdf that has info on vSphere Hypervisor is:

VMware vSphere Hypervisor

VMware vSphere Hypervisor is a free product that provides a simple and easy way
to get started with virtualization at no cost. vSphere Hypervisor provides only basic
virtualization capabilities, allowing customers to virtualize servers and run applications
in virtual machines in a matter of minutes. vSphere Hypervisor cannot connect to
vCenter Server and therefore cannot be centrally managed. Users can remotely
manage individual vSphere Hypervisor hosts using the vSphere Client. There are no
restrictions on the number of cores per physical CPU, on the number of physical CPUs
per host and on the amount of RAM per server/ host. The maximum vCPUs per virtual
machine is eight.

Which quite frankly still does not really answer your specific question.

So I went and signed up for a free Hypervisor license myself and after struggling through reading the EULA (and not finding anything of my liking ehh.. relevant to this question in there) I got the download page that has the license to use.

On the download page there's this little snippet:

Terms and Conditions

This license key can be deployed on an unlimited number of physical hosts, but is restricted to deployment on less than or equal to  100 Physical Servers.

and that finally does seem to be the answer you had been looking for.

I remembered seeing it before, but couldn't recall where it was.

--

Wil