What happens to perpetual licenses when you subscribe?

[Mike Bishop]

I would like understand what happens when you have perpetual licenses then move to the new subscription model.  Here's an example of what I want to understand:

Let's say I'm running ESXi 8 under perpetual licensing then I go ahead and go with a VMware subscription.  Do those perpetual licenses get "converted" to subscription then essentially go away?  Or, at the end of my subscription if I decided not to renew could I revert back to the perpetual licenses that I had to begin with then run unsupported?  I do realize that I'd have to stay at version 8 during the subscription for this to even possibly work.

Thanks for input in advance.

Mike

[Kent Wicker]

Perpetual means just that, you are entitled to run them forever, there is no conversion.  However, as you stated, you would have to remain on 8 and you would not be entitled to support nor updates without the subscription.

Keep in mind with the old liceses you are also stuck at whatever keys you have.  You can't upgrade, downgrade, divide, nor combine keys.

Also, I would image at some point an update to vCenter and/or ESXi would prevent the old keys from being applied but that's just a theory.

[Mohammed Viquar Ahmed]

Hi Mike,

Let me tell what i know as i have worked on VMware subscription license  , Perpetual license and Broadcom subscription license.  

VMware by broadcom is sending notification to customer who are under VMware subscription to convert them to perpetual license . so if u have a VC or ESXI or VSAN or VCF under VMware saas , u will have to remove convert them from saas to perpetual license which u will get new license with new keys .  u can combine , downgrade , upgrade then only if u are the account owner. 

If you are having a perpetual license which is expiring , then u will have to renew your contract , u will get new Broadcom subscription license in terms of VCF or VVF . u can combine , downgrade , upgrade then only if u are the account owner. 

if you are buying new license that is VCF or VVF , u will get them with Broadcom subscription license  . 

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Regards
Mohammed Viquar Ahmed
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[Mike Bishop]

"If you are having a perpetual license which is expiring"

Perpetual license that is expiring?  I don't understand this as I thought perpetual was forever.

[Mike Bishop]

Thanks.  I actually had a company that provides third-party support tell me that if I went subscription for one year then decided not to renew after that year that they would not be able to provide support at that point.  That the original perpetual licenses would no longer be valid/usable. 

I've upgraded the keys to 7, documented them then upgraded them to 8 and documented those as well then downloaded all software just in case the powers to be decide to only subscribe for one year.

[NickDaGeekUK]

As far as I can see, based on comments all across this forum, your existing perpetual products if you didn't have a valid subsrciption to support at the cutoff date are not and will never be added to a new subscription account i.e. the licence keys will not be shown.

As everything in the portal is based on Site ID and licence keys assigned to it this has consequences.

This means you will not be entitled to downloads related to them despite what Broadcom is stating publicly. To all intents and purposes your perpetual licences, if they were not transferred to an existing subscription before cutoff date, have ceased to exist according to Broadcom. If you no longer have install media and need to reinstall then kiss them goodbye.

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IT Manager. That person just about managing to keep the IT going with no budget or staff despite the effects of Senior Management and End Users.

IT Worker. A biological system for turning caffeine into code.
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[Mike Bishop]

You said this "To all intents and purposes your perpetual licences, if they were not transferred to an existing subscription before cutoff date".  What happens to the old perpetual licenses when transferred to a subscription?  This is what I need to know.

What I'm basically trying to be prepared for is we run for a year under a subscription then management says we're not renewing.  Can I then remove the subscription licenses, put my old pre-subscription licenses back in and all is good assuming I don't upgrade beyond version 8?  And will this be in alignmment with licensing agreements or would that be considered illegally licensed?

My old, pre-subscription licenses licenses have been upgraded to 8 and stored locally where I'll have them until I choose to delete the text file containing them.

[NickDaGeekUK]

Hi Mike

Theoretically and according to the propaganda from Broadcom what you are suggesting to do is in line with their licencing policy and public announcements to the effect that you may continue to use any Perpetual Licences you currently have but that there never will be any support for them again regardless of your subscription status. I base this on the fact that you can no longer purchase support for Perpetual.

In practice the question will be if they honour the activation of the old Perpetual Licences when you switch versions from Subscription back to Perpetual. As they have botched every single bit of the platform switch so far to date my gut reaction is that if they have in any way changed the activation portal URL or functionality then the activation may not work and if it fails, because you have no support, you are up the brown creek minus a canoe let alone paddles.

I hope that my logic makes sense, it is as usual a hectic day in IT and I am juggling multiple simultaneous workloads like most of us. Forgive me if I have missed anything.

Cheers
NickDaGeek

[Mike Bishop]

Thanks NickDaGeek.  I appreciate your input.

I suppose I've done what I can do as far as mitigating the risk of not being able to go back to perpetual licensing.

Mike