Vsphere Enterprise Plus License Cost
Sometimes even experienced administrators get confused of VMware licensing peculiarities, available options and features. Regular changes (from one vSphere version to another almost every year) in VMware licensing policy add some extra mess. Let’s try to consider the available VMware vSphere editions, their features, differences, licensing costs and procedures on the example of VMware vSphere 6.5 (released in October, 2016).
- Vmware Vsphere Enterprise Plus License Cost
- Vmware Enterprise Plus Cost
- Vsphere 6 Enterprise Plus License Price
- Vsphere Enterprise Plus License Cost Calculator
- Vsphere Enterprise Plus License Cost 2017
- Enterprise Plus For Travel Agents
VMware vSphere 6 Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus Run applications with confidence and respond faster to your business needs with VMware vSphere. At a Glance VMware vSphere empowers users to virtualize any application with confidence, redefines availability and simplifies the virtual data center. The result is a highly available. Buy a VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus (v. 6) - license - 1 processor or other Server Virtualization Software at CDW.com. VSphere Enterprise Plus If you have the correct vSphere license, there is no limit on the number of virtual machines that you can replicate by using vSphere Replication. You cannot use vSphere Replication to replicate virtual machines on ESXi hosts that do not have the correct vSphere license. VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus includes the full range of vSphere features for transforming datacenters into dramatically simplified cloud computing environments providing the next generation of flexible, reliable IT services. VMware vSphere 6 Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus Run applications with confidence and respond faster to your business needs with VMware vSphere. At a Glance VMware vSphere empowers users to virtualize any application with confidence, redefines availability and simplifies the virtual data center. The result is a highly available.
VMware vSphere Licensing Rules
Let’s highlight the main rules to bear in mind while planning and purchasing VMware vSphere 6.5 licenses.
- A server is licensed according to the number of physical processors (CPU). Each server CPU requires a separate vSphere license (cores are not physical processors and are not taken into account when licensing).
- The available functionality of an ESXi server is determined by the installed vSphere license (see the list of editions in the next section).
- Each vSphere license requires a service support package (at least for a year).
- VMware does not impose any restrictions to the size of memory (RAM) installed on the physical server or the number of running virtual machines.
Comparison of vSphere Standard 6.5 Editions
Vmware Vsphere Enterprise Plus License Cost
In VMware vSphere 6.5 the number of vSphere editions has reduced compared to the previous versions. In summer, 2016, VMware announced the elimination of its Enterprise edition. Thus, the following three VMware vSphere editions are now available (earlier there were 6 different editions):
- VMware vSphere Standard
- VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus
- VMware vSphere with Operations Management (vSOM) Enterprise Plus
The next table shows the main features available in different editions:
vSphere | vSphere+ Operations Management | ||
Standard | Enterprise Plus | Enterprise Plus | |
vMotion, Storage vMotion and Cross-Switch vMotion | + | + | + |
High Availability (HA) and Fault Tolerance(FT) | 2 vCPU | 4 vCPU | 4 vCPU |
Data Protection (VDP) and VM Data Replication | + | + | + |
Virtual Volumes and Storage-Policy BasedManagement | + | + | + |
APIs for Storage Awareness | + | + | + |
Multi-VC Content Library | + | + | + |
APIs for Array Integration, Multipathing | + | + | + |
Virtual Machine Encryption | + | + | |
Proactive HA | + | + | |
vSphere Integrated Containers | + | + | |
Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and Distributed Power Management (DPM) | + | + | |
Big Data Extensions | + | + | |
Distributed Switch | + | + | |
Storage DRS | + | + | |
I/O Controls (Network and Storage) and SR-IOV | + | + | |
Host Profiles and Auto Deploy | + | + | |
Flash Read Cache | + | + | |
Cross-vCenter and Long Distance vMotion | + | + | |
vGPU | + | + | |
Predictive DRS | + | + | |
vSphere Monitoring | + | ||
Capacity Optimization | + | ||
Operations Visibility | + |
Let’s briefly describe the most interesting features available in different editions:
vSphere Standard offers the following features:
- HighAvailability – reduces downtime due to automatic VM restart
- FaultTolerance – provides continuous VM (app) availability in case of hardware failures
- vMotion, Cross-SwitchvMotion – an online migration of VMs between servers or virtual switches
- Storage vMotion – an online migration of virtual disk files between storage devices
- DataProtection – an integrated backup
- VM Data Replication – an optimized data replication using WAN
- Virtual Volumes (VVOLs) – a virtualization of SAN and NAS storage devices
- Storage-Policy Management (SPBM) – an automatic storage management
- APIs for Storage Awareness(VASA) – vCenter and disk array integration
- Multi-VCContentLibrary – centralized management of VM templates, vApp, IOS and scripts
- APIsforArrayIntegration, Multipathing – API storage interfaces to integrate arrays and manage alternative paths
In addition to Standard features, vSphere Enterprise edition offers the following options:
- Distributed Resource Scheduler – balancing the workload between hosts
- DistributedPowerManagement – optimization of power consumption due to switching off idle hosts
- ReliableMemory – optimal placement of VMkernel blocks in the memory
- DistributedSwitch – centralized management of the network configuration
- StorageDRS – automatic balancing of disk resource workload
- I/OControls (StorageandNetwork) – access prioritization due to continuous I/O workload monitoring
- SingleRootI/OVirtualization (SR-IOV) – virtualization of a single PCIe device into several virtual devices
- Host Profiles and Auto Deploy — host profiles and automatic deployment
- Cross-VC vMotion – migration of VMs between vCenter servers
- vGPU – an opportunity to share a graphic adapter (GPU) by several VMs
- VM Encryption − encryption of virtual machine files and vMotion traffic using AES-NI
vSphere with Operations Management Enterprise – in addition to these options, Standard and Enterprise editions offer means of automatic analysis, resource and performance management.
When purchasing any of the licenses described above, you also have to buy a vCenter Server Standard license.
VMware vSphere 6 Essentials: Small Business Editions
As separate editions for small businesses, VMWare offers VMware vSphere 6 Essentials editions.
Two editions are available:
- VMware vSphere 6 Essentials
- VMware vSphere 6 Essentials Plus
These editions allow to license up to 3 physical servers having up to 2 CPUs each. Here is the comparison of the main features of these editions.
vSphere Essentials | vSphere Essentials Plus | |
Update Manager | + | + |
Data Protection | + | + |
High Availability (HA) | + | |
Data Protection | + | |
vMotion and Switch vMotion | + | |
vSAN | + | |
Replication | + |
In general, the difference between Essentials and Essentials Plus edition is that the latter has vMotion and High Availability (HA) features. In vSphere Essentials, you will be able to move a VM between servers or storages only if it is switched off.
All vSphere Essentials sets have vCenter Server Essentials that allows to centrally manage three ESXi servers.
It’s worth to note that if you buy several sets of vCenter Server Essentials, say, for 6 servers, one vCenter Essentials server can manage up to three servers, so you will have two independent vCenter infrastructures.
Vmware Enterprise Plus Cost
Pricing of VMware vSphere 6 and vCenter Licenses
We remind that when purchasing any VMware vSphere 6 or vCenter licenses, it is required to buy support as well. Support includes the opportunity to update your product version, contact VMWare customer service and get remote help.
The next table shows the price of different VMWare licenses and the cost of minimal annual support, Basic Support/Subscription vSphere 6 -1 year.
vSphere Standard (1 host) | vSphere Enterprise Plus | vSphere Enterprise Plus with Operations Management | vSphere Essentials Kit (3 hosts) | vSphere Essentials Plus Kit (3 hosts) | |
License Price | 995$ | 3495$ | 4395$ | 495$ | 4495$ |
1 Year Basic Support | 273$ | 734$ | 923$ | 65$ | 944$ |
When purchasing a Standard, Enterprise Plus or EP with OM license, you have to buy vCenter Standard license as well.
- VMware vCenter Server Standard – 5995$ + the cost of 1 Year Basic Support (1259$)
It’s also worth to note that if you buy a lot of licenses, you should consider the purchase of 1 year kits (bundles) of VMware vSphere Acceleration Kit that include 6 vSphere licenses of the corresponding version + 1 vCenter Standard license.
Vsphere 6 Enterprise Plus License Price
Here is the price of vCenter Acceleration Kit for 6 physical processors.
Vsphere Enterprise Plus License Cost Calculator
vSphere Standard Acceleration Kit | vSphere Enterprise Plus Acceleration Kit | vSphere with Operations Management Enterprise Plus Acceleration Kit | |
Price of 1 Kit | 10995$ | 22995$ | 24995$ |
1 Year Basic Support | 2515$ | 5665$ | 6800$ |
Thus, the cost of 6 separate vSphere Enterprise Plus licenses and 1vCenter Standard license including support is:
6*(3495+734) + (5995+1259) = 32628$
The cost of vSphere Standard Acceleration Kit containing the same licenses is 22995+5665=28660$. It means it is 3968$ cheaper (you save about 10%).