VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus License ?!

[TryllZ]

Hi,

 

We currently have an vSphere Essentials license (for 3 hosts). We now have new hardware (8 hosts) and are looking to upgrade the license to Enterprise Plus. Unlike Essentials license, I'm unable to find out how many ESXi host licenses are available with Enterprise Plus as its not mentioned anywhere.

 

VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus

 

I know each ESXi license is for up to 32 cores per CPU (unless I misunderstood). Each new server has 2 physical CPU, and each CPU is 22 cores, so 44 cores per host.

 

Can anyone advise.

 

Thank You

[Scott Vessey]

Licenses such as Enterprise Plus aren't limited to certain numbers of hosts like the Essentials and Essentials Plus licenses, you buy as many as you require.

 

[TryllZ]

Thanks, I still did not understand.

Does the Enterprise license not come with license keys for ESXi hosts, or is it just 1 key for any number of hosts or how is it ?

In other words when I buy Enterprise license what do it get in the pack ?

[Scott Vessey]

This page has an example: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/8.0/vsphere-vcenter-esxi-management/GUID-710CD935-DBF4-4AF6-A4F7-ED35E552DE4C.html#GUID-710CD935-DBF4-4AF6-A4F7-ED35E552DE4C

So, 1 key which you can assign to multiple hosts - you're buying licenses for a total number of CPUs (up to 32 core each) across all of your hosts, not for a specific number of hosts.

It seems to me you need 16 licenses, as you have a total of 16 CPUs.

 

[TryllZ]

Thanks  

So now the question becomes that if I need 16 licenses then do I need 1 Enterprise pack or 2 since its not specified how many CPU licenses are in the pack.

[Scott Vessey]

No idea.

Don’t forget the vCenter Server Standard license too.

 

[a_p_]

With 8 hosts, and 2 sockets (not more than 32 cores/socket) each, you need 16 Enterprise Plus CPU licenses. In addition to this - as Scott already mentioned - you also need 1 license for vCenter Server Standard for management.

If you didn't previously purchase an "Acceleration Kit", you can get one of these, which help lower the total cost.
An Acceleration Kit is basically a starter kit that comes with 1 instance for vCenter Server Standard, and 6 CPU licenses. These Kits are available as "Standard", and "Enterprise Plus" kits, so make sure you get the right one.

Putting this together, what should cover licensing for your new environment is 1 "Enterprise Plus Acceleration Kit" plus 10 additional "vSphere Enterprise Plus" CPU licenses.

André

[TryllZ]

Thanks  

Thanks for making it easier to understand.

Basically its 1 CPU license in the Enterprise Pack, I could not find any Enterprise Plus Acceleration Kit in the VMware online store.

In this case it would cost £4,162.35 (License Per CPU) x 16 (CPU) = £66,597.6

Thanks all for the input..

 

[a_p_]

The "vSphere 8 Enterprise Plus Acceleration Kit" SKU is VS8-EPL-6AK-C.

Regarding cost: Please remember that it is required that you also purchase at least 1 year "SnS" (Support and Subscription) for the new licenses!

I'd recommend that you reach out to a VMware partner to get a quote. You may even get a better price that way.

André

[jc296]

Yiou purchase a 1 licence (approx £4500) last time i looked per CPU; so if you have a server that has 2 sockets and say 32 vCPU cores you will pay 2 x licences eg £9k.  Make sense?  It took me a while to learn about VMWare licencing over the years. You might also be pleased to know that if you have a VDI only environment, you might not need to purchase a separate ESXi licence as a vCenter and ESXi Ent + licences will be thrown in for free with your 10 or 100 Horizon Pack.

[jc296]

You would need 3 ESXi ENT Plus licences for your use case I believe.

 

[Scott Vessey]

3 licenses won't work for 8 new hosts with 2 physical CPUs each.

 

[jc296]

Sorry, I misunderstood.