VMware Licensing – vSphere Enterprise will not be available

Recently VMware announces some changes to their licensing policy for vSphere – http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vsphere/VMware-vSphere-vSOM-Pricing-FAQs.pdf.

The main change is that vSphere  Enterprise will not be available after June 30, 2016. After that date, partners and clients can purchase only vSphere Standard, vSphere Enterprise Plus and

vSphere with Operations Management Enterprise Plus licenses. They also slightly increased the retail prices for all range of their vSphere licenses.

Existent clients with vSphere Enterprise have two options to choose from, as follows:

  • use this version till it reaches the End of Support date on March 12, 2020
  • upgrade to vSphere Enterprise Plus with 50% discount (that will be available till June 25, 2016). VMware just recently published the information about 50% discount on their web-site – http://www.vmware.com/promotions/2016-vSphere-vSOM-upgrade.html.

The benefits that vSphere Enterprise Plus can bring to the virtual environment help further automate and standardise it – https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2109507.

In my opinion, these features are :

The good news is that VMware gives 25 Operating System Instance (OSI) pack of vRealize Log Insight for vCenter Server is now available for free to all vCenter Server Standard customers. This product allows to centralise the log files collection from hosts and vCenter, and it helps a lot to troubleshoot issues with the virtual environment – http://www.vmware.com/au/products/vrealize-log-insight.

For the productive environment, I would suggest upgrading to a special type of vSphere license called “vSphere Remote Office Branch Office Advanced” (or ROBO) – https://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vsphere/VMware-vSphere-Remote-Office-Branch-Office-Editions-Datasheet.pdf.

Instead of licensing hosts by number of sockets, ROBO is licensed by pack of 25 VMs / per one site. One pack can be redistributed among many sites. However, only one pack can be used per site. So, three packs will be enough to license all productive sites, and it gives the same benefits as Enterprise Plus license – http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/compare.html

Prices in AUD

Vendor Part#DescriptionUnit RRP
   
ST6-RB-25VM-CVMWARE VIRTUAL SAN 6 FOR REMOTE OFFICE BRANCH OFFICE (25 VM PACK)$16,850.00
ST6-RB-25VM-P-SSS-CPRODUCTION SUPPORT/SUBSCRIPTION VMWARE VIRTUAL SAN 6 FOR REMOTE OFFICE BRANCH OFFICE (25 VM PACK) FOR 1 YEAR$4,204.06
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