Today VMware announced….
Changes to what they announced on July 12th 2011…..
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Today – August 3rd VMware announced that they will:
- Substantially raise the vRAM entitlements per vSphere edition from 48/32/24/24/24Gb to 96/64/32/32/32Gb where the versions are Enterprise+, Enterprise, Standard, Essentials+, Essentials, and Free Hypervisor (Note that the free hypervisor is limited to 32Gb of physical ram per physical server) (not that vRAM is the memory configured to a virtual machine and not the amount of memory in a physical server – assigning a certain amount of vRAM is a required step in the creation of a virtual machine)
- Cap the amount of vRAM counted per VM at 96Gb
- Calculate a 12 month average of configured vRAM rather than a high water mark to allow for short lived spikes in dev/test and DR type situations where transient VM increases are typically seen
vSphere 4.x vs vSphere 5:
- Licensing Units = both versions are processor based
- Core per Proc & Physical Ram per host is now unlimited in vSphere 5
- Pooled vRAM entitlements – new licensing restriction in vSphere 5
vRAM Concepts:
- Each vSphere 5 processor license comes with a certain amount of vRAM entitlement (see above for that amount)
- Pooled vRAM Entitlement is the sum of all processor license entitlements
- Consumed vRAM is the sum of vRAM configured into all powered on VMs
- Compliance = 12 month rolling average of Consumed vRAM < Pooled vRAM Entitlement
- vRAM is pooled among all vSphere hosts managed by vCenter or linked vCenter instance
- The monitoring tool is built into vCenter Server 5.0
vRAM pool can be extended by:
- Upgrading all CPUs to higher end vSphere Edition
- Adding processor licenses to the same set of CPUs
- Adding a new host with new licenses
Before upgrading to vSphere 5, partners can help you by running a utility that analyzes VI3 or vSphere 4 environment and determine the amount of vRAM consumed
After upgrading to vSphere 5, vRAM license monitoring and reporting is built into vCenter 5
New product vSphere Desktop Edition that is licensed per user – which is a NEW edition for VDI deployments only. This new product:
- Can only be used for desktop virtualization
- Is for new purchases only
- Licensed on a total number of powered on desktop virtual machines
- Sold in pack size of 100 at a list price of $6,500.
- Unlimited vRAM entitlements
- All features and functions of vSphere Enterprise Plus
Existing VDI Customers with active vSphere licenses and SnS that is used for VDI may be upgraded to vSphere 5 and have unlimited vRAM entitlements that are managed by a different instance of vCenter
VMware View is still a Comprehensive end to end Desktop Virtualization Solution that is available as View Enterprise and View Premier
vSphere 5 licensing Model applies:
- For ELA Customers:
- With active ELA will continue to be subject to the terms of their contracts for the duration of their contract, independent of which vSphere version they deployed
- ELA customers may contact their VMware sales representatives (ME) to update the terms of their ELAs to the new vSphere 5 licensing model
- For customers without ELAs
- The new model applies only to vSphere 5 licenses.
- The new vSphere 5 licensing model will apply upon acceptance of the EULA
- Customers who purchase vSphere 5 and decide to downgrade to older versions of vSphere will be subject to the EULA terms and licensing of the model of the vSphere they downgrade to
- Users with 4.1 licenses and prior or users who buy 5.0 licenses and downgrade to 4.x versions are governed by 4.0 EULA
- vSphere 4.x Advanced licenses can be upgraded to Enterprise for Free if SnS is still active
vSphere 5 has 5 versions:
- Essentials $83 per processor (limited to 192Gb physical ram)
- Essentials Plus $749 per processor (limited to 192Gb physical ram)
- Standard $995 per processor
- Enterprise $2,875 per processor
- Enterprise Plus $3,495 per processor
vSphere 5 Kits:
- Essentials Plus + vSphere Storage Appliance $7,995
- Essentials $495 6 CPUs 192Gb MAX, 32Gb vRAM
- Essentials Plus $4,495 6 CPUs 192Gb MAX, 32Gb vRAM
- Standard AK $10,000 8 CPUs 256Gb per kit, 32Gb vRAM
- Enterprise AK $17,495 6 CPUs 384Gb per kit, 64Gb vRAM
- Enterprise Plus AK $21,995 6 CPUs 576Gb per kit, 96Gb vRAM
VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5:
- Full featured hypervisor
- Based on ESXi
- Provides same performance, reliability and robustness of the ESXi included with paid versions of VMware vSphere
- Can not be managed with vCenter Server
- Can be upgraded to paid vSphere for centralized management and advanced capabilities
- Limited to 32Gb of physical ram
