We looked into this too. We use a common server type across our systems, but in some applications we are power limited by either available electrical supply or thermals. So we reduce active core count to control the TDP of the servers. It would have been nice to be able to save some money by only having to license the cores we use. However, we were told "No" as well.
In my own opinion I believe this misses an opportunity, to allow users to procure the most capable hardware their budgets can support, and sale up the licensed active portion when further funds become available.
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 14, 2025 05:58 AM
From: Marcel Daube
Subject: Reduce cores on ESXi host to save Licensing Cost
From my point of view, this should not be possible. From a technical point of view, of course it will work. But from a contractual point of view, it's not okay.
"Each Core on the Server must be licensed, including Cores deactivated by the BIOS. The required number of Core
licenses equals the number of Cores on the Server, subject to the minimum of 16 Core licenses per Processor."
https://ftpdocs.broadcom.com/cadocs/0/contentimages/VCF_SPD_June2024.pdf
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 11, 2025 12:38 PM
From: kplmdn
Subject: Reduce cores on ESXi host to save Licensing Cost
We are running VXRail cluster on "VxRail P570F" with 1 CPU and 20 Cores and another cluster with Nodes running 1 CPU and 26 Cores.
Our Cluster CPU utilization from last 3 months is less than 10%.
We also have hardware warranty for our VXRail nodes due in some time and next renewal will be subscription based on number of Cores on the physical node.
We are thinking if we can reduce number of Cores (from BIOS) on VXRail node from 20 to 16 and 26 to 16 and only renew 16 core each node license.
Is this something that can be done to save on licensing cost?