wikiVMware vSphere 6 Editions Overview
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This article describes all the important differences between the various VMware vSphere 6 editions.
VMware vSphere 6 Editions for Smaller Environments
VMware vSphere 6 Essentials and VMware vSphere 6 Essentials Plus packages must be considered separately. They have been specifically designed for small businesses and can virtualize up to three physical servers. Central management of these servers is only possible via vCenter Server for Essentials. vCenter Server Standard, which allows central management of any number of physical host servers, can only be used with regular vSphere licenses with or without vSOM.
The essential packages can be upgraded to the various Acceleration Kits! Please contact us for specific inquiries.
| Feature | VMware Hypervisor (prev. ESXi Single Server) | Essentials |
Essentials Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phys. RAM limit | Host limit 12TB | Host limit 12TB | Host limit 12TB |
| vCenter Server compatibility | None | vCenter Server for Essentials (up to 3 physical servers) | vCenter Server for Essentials (up to 3 physical servers) |
| Licenses | For 1 physical server | For 3 physical servers (max. 2 processors per server) | For 3 physical servers (max. 2 processors per server) |
| Unlimited number of virtual machines? | No known limit | No known limit | No known limit |
| vCPU limit | 128 |
128 |
128 |
| vCenter Server for Essentials Agent | Yes | Yes | |
| Update Manager | Yes | Yes | |
| vStorage APIs for Data Protection (prev. VCB) | Yes | Yes | |
| HA functionality | Yes | ||
| Data recovery | Yes | ||
| vMotion | Yes | ||
| vSAN | Yes, optional | ||
| Cores per CPU | No limits | No limits | No limits |
| Support and subscriptions | Can be acquired separately | One-year subscription included in price (Support is acquired on a per incident basis, more information available from VMware) – No Basic or Production Level subscriptions possible – multi-year subscriptions can be purchased | Must be acquired with min. 12 months Basic or Production Support |
| Upgradeable? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Feature | VMware Hypervisor (prev. ESXi Single Server) | Essentials |
Essentials Plus |
VMware vSphere 6 Editions for Larger Companies
| Product | VMware Hypervisor (prev. ESXi Single Server) |
Standard |
Enterprise |
Enterprise Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of licensing | Per CPU | Per CPU | Per CPU | |
| vCPU limit |
128 |
128 |
128 |
128 |
| vCenter Server compatibility | None | vCenter Server Standard | vCenter Server Standard | vCenter Server Standard |
| Thin provisioning | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| vSAN | Yes, optional | Yes, optional | Yes, optional | |
| 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 storage integration | Yes | Yes | ||
| Storage APIs for multipathing | Yes | Yes | ||
| Distributed Resource Scheduler + DPM | Yes | Yes | ||
| Big data extentions | Yes | Yes | ||
| Reliable memory | 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 Driven Storage | Yes | |||
| SR-IOV | Yes | |||
| Flash read cache | Yes | |||
| AppHA | Yes | |||
| vSOM | Not available | The individual licenses are available with and without vSphere Operations Management | ||
| 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 via vCenter. Should one wish to add vSOM, this can be activated on request via an upgrade.
| Info/feature | Acc. Kit Standard with vSOM |
Acc. Kit Enterprise with vSOM |
Acc. Kit Enterprise Plus with vSOM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 VMs? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Info/feature | Acc. Kit Standard with vSOM |
Acc. Kit Enterprise with vSOM |
Acc. Kit Enterprise Plus with vSOM |
VMware vSphere Remote Office Branch Office Editions
| Info/feature | vSphere Remote Office Branch Office Standard |
vSphere Remote Office Branch Office Advanced |
|---|---|---|
| vMotion | Yes | Yes |
| Storage vMotion | Yes | Yes |
| High availability | Yes | Yes |
| Data protection | Yes | Yes |
| Fault tolerance | Two vCPUs | Two vCPUs |
| vShield Endpoint | Yes | Yes |
| vSphere Replication | Yes | Yes |
| Hot add | Yes | Yes |
| Host Profiles and Auto Deploy | Yes | |
| Distributed switch | Yes | |
| Info/feature | vSphere Remote Office Branch Office Standard |
vSphere Remote Office Branch Office Advanced |
References
Additional Resources
- VMware vSphere Pricing (vmware.com)
- vSphere Configuration Maximums (vmware.com)
- vSphere Editions Compared (vmware.com)
Author: Benjamin Bayer
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