wikiVMware vSphere 5 Editions Overview
This article will describe all of the important differences between the various VMware vSphere 5 Editions. VMware vSphere 5 is the first version that provides ESXi as a hypervisor exclusively. ESX will no longer be supported by Version 5.
This article will show the differences between these licenses. The VMware License Configurator web page contains information about the pricing differences (Downgrade to vSphere 5 ist possible)[1].
VMware vSphere 5 Licensing
The vRAM model for licensing is being introduced along with VMware vSphere 5 Licensing. Following this licensing model, the amount of virtual RAM that can be assigned to the virtual machines in one environment will be licensed. The license model does not restrict the amount of vRAM, however technical boundaries will be set. Restriction according to the number of processor cores, as licensing was done under vSphere 4, will be eliminated by this new licensing model.
Update september 2012: starting with version 5.1 VMware repealed the vRAM model. Nor the amount of RAM, or the number of CPU cores matter. Licensing is now done simply by the number of CPU sockets.
VMware vSphere 5 Versions for Smaller Environments
The VMware vSphere 5 Essentials and Essentials Plus packages should be given special attention, because VMware views them as one unit. They can no longer be administered using one large vCenter (vCenter Server Foundation or Standard), but rather only by using vCenter Server for Essentials.
The Essentials packages can be upgraded with the various Acceleration Kits. Contact us regarding specific questions.
| Information/Feature | VMware Hypervisor (formerly ESXi Single Server) | Essentials |
Essentials Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| vRAM Entitlement[2] | siehe phys. RAM Limit |
Unlimited | Unlimited |
| phys. RAM Limit | 32GB[3] | na | na |
| vCenter Server Compatibility | None | vCenter Server for Essentials (up to three physical servers) | vCenter Server for Essentials (up to three physical servers) |
| Licenses | for one physical server | for three physical servers (max. two processors per server) | for three physical servers (max. two processors per server) |
| Unlimited Number of Virtual Machines? | No known limit | No known limit | No known limit |
| Eight-way vSMP | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| vCenter Server for Essentials Agent | Yes | Yes | |
| Update Manager | Yes | Yes | |
| vStorage APIs for Data Protection (previously VCB) | Yes | Yes | |
| High Availability Feature | Yes | ||
| Data Recovery | Yes | ||
| VMotion | Yes | ||
| vSphere Storage Appliance | Storage Appliance for Essential Plus | ||
| Cores per CPU | No more restrictions | No more restrictions | No more restrictions |
| Support and Subscription | By special (online purchase) | One-year subscription including (support that must be purchased on a case-by-case basis contained in the price (see Information about this from VMware). Basic or Production Level subscriptions will not be available. The subscription may be purchased for several years. | Requires special purchase |
| Upgrade Option? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Price | see the VMware License Configurator (Downgrade to vSphere 5 possible).[1] | ||
| Information/Feature | VMware Hypervisor (formerly ESXi Single Server) | Essentials |
Essentials Plus |
Additional Information:
VMware vSphere 5 Versions for Medium-sized Companies and Corporations
| Product | VMware Hypervisor (formerly ESXi Single Server) |
Standard |
Enterprise |
Enterprise Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cores per CPU | No more restrictions | No more restrictions | No more restrictions | No more restrictions |
| CPU Entitlement | Per CPU | Per CPU | Per CPU | |
| vRAM Entitlement | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | |
| vCPU Entitlement | 8-Way | 32-Way (V5.0: 8-Wege) | 64-Way (V5.0: 32-Wege) | |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware | yes | yes | yes | |
| vCenter Server Compatibility | None | vCenter Server Foundation & Standard | vCenter Server Foundation & Standard | vCenter Server Foundation & Standard |
| Thin Provisioning | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Update Manager (*) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Data Recovery (*) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| High Availability (*) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| vMotion (*) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Storage APIs for Data Protection | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Hot Add | yes | yes | yes | |
| Replication | yes | yes | yes | |
| vShield Zones (*) | yes | yes | yes | |
| Fault Tolerance | yes | yes | yes | |
| Storage vMotion (*) | yes | yes | yes | |
| Virtual Serial Port Concentrator | Yes | Yes | ||
| Storage APIs for Memory Integration | Yes | Yes | ||
| Storage APIs for Multi-pathing | Yes | Yes | ||
| Distributed Resource Scheduler + DPM | Yes | Yes | ||
| Storage I/O Control | Yes | |||
| Network I/O Control | Yes | |||
| Distributed Switch | Yes | |||
| Host Profiles | Yes | |||
| Auto-deploy | Yes | |||
| Storage DRS | Yes | |||
| Profile-based Storage Connection | Yes | |||
| Price | see the VMware License Configurator (Downgrade to vSphere 5 possible).[1] | |||
| Product | ESXi Hypervisor (only with ESXi) |
Standard (only with ESXi) |
Enterprise (only with ESXi) |
Enterprise Plus (only with ESXi) |
VMware vSphere Acceleration Kits with Operations Manager (vSOM)
The vSOM standard licenses from the vSOM Standard Acc. Kits can be combined with existing standard licenses without vSOM and managed by a vCenter. If you want, you can request vSOM be unlocked through an upgrade.
| Info/Funktion | Acc. Kit Standard mit vSOM |
Acc.Kit Enterprise mit vSOM |
Acc. Kit Enterprise Plus mit vSOM |
|---|---|---|---|
| vRAM | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| List of Features | vSphere Standard + vCenter Operations Management Suite for 6 Processors |
vSphere Enterprise + vCenter Operations Management Suite for 6 Processors |
vSphere Enterprise Plus + vCenter Operations Management Suite for 6 Processors |
| vCenter Server Version | vCenter Standard | vCenter Standard | vCenter Standard |
| Unlimited Number of Virtual Machines? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Price | see the VMware License Configurator (Downgrade to vSphere 5 possible).[1] | ||
| Information/Feature | Acc. Kit Standard |
Acc. Kit Enterprise |
Acc. Kit Enterprise Plus |
Table of References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Downgrading from vSphere 6.0 to a previous version of vSphere 5.x (www.vmware.com)
- ↑ this limit is GB of physical RAM per physical server, Changes to the vRAM licensing model introduced on July 12, 2011 (blogs.vmware.com, 03.08.2011)
- ↑ https://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere_pricing.pdf
Additional Information
- Compare vSphere 5.0 Kits (vmware.com)
- Maximalwerte für die Konfiguration (VMware® vSphere 5.1) (vmware.com)
- Product offerings for vSphere 5.x (2001113) (vmware.com)
Author: Florian Hettenbach
