VMware vSphere 5 Licensing: Per-Processor with vRAM Entitlements
VMware vSphere 5 is licensed on a per-processor basis with a vRAM entitlement. Each VMware vSphere 5 processor license comes with an entitlement to a certain amount of vRAM capacity, or memory configured to virtual machines. Unlike in vSphere 4.x where core and physical RAM entitlements are tied to a server and cannot be shared among multiple hosts, the vRAM entitlements of vSphere 5 licenses are pooled, i.e. aggregated, across all vSphere servers managed by a vCenter Server instance or multiple vCenter Servers instances in Linked Mode.
Licensing Unit: Per Processor (CPU)
Like VMware Sphere 4.x, VMware vSphere 5 is licensed on a preprocessor basis. Each physical processor (CPU) in a server needs to have a least one vSphere 5 processor license key assigned to be able to run vSphere. vSphere 5 license keys can be purchased, deployed and managed in the same way they were with vSphere 4.x.
No Limits on Physical Resources
VMware vSphere 5 licensing removes all restrictions on physical cores and physical RAM. This change eliminates barriers to deploying VMware vSphere on new multicore server configurations, improving customers’ ability to choose server hardware that best meets their requirements.
vRAM Entitlements
Each vSphere 5 license provides a vRAM capacity entitlement. vRAM is defined as the memory configured to a virtual machine. When a virtual machine is created, it is configured with a certain amount of memory (vRAM) available to the virtual machine.
The vRAM entitlements of VMware vSphere processor licenses are pooled—that is, aggregated—across all CPU licenses managed by a VMware vCenter instance (or multiple linked VMware vCenter instances) to form a total available vRAM capacity (pooled vRAM capacity).
There are no restrictions on how vRAM is configured across virtual machines and CPUs. At any given point in time, the amount of vRAM configured by powered on virtual machines on a CPU could exceed the base entitlement of the VMware vSphere 5 license assigned to that CPU. There are also no restrictions on how many VMs can be run in a pool. As long as the total configured vRAM across all virtual machines managed by a VMware vCenter instance or multiple linked
VMware vCenter instances is less than or equal to the total available vRAM, VMware vSphere is correctly licensed.
vRAM per VM
When a virtual machine is powered on, the vRAM configured to that virtual machine counts against the pooled vRAM capacity up to a maximum of 96GB (i.e. a virtual machine with 128GB of configured vRAM will only use 96GB from the pooled vRAM capacity). All powered on VMs, including virtual appliances or service VMs created by vSphere features or solutions running on vSphere, count against the vRAM pool capacity in the amount equal to their configured vRAM up to a maximum of 96GB.
Compliance
To maintain licensing compliance, at any given point in time the following conditions must be met:
- Each active physical processor (CPU) must have at least one license assigned
- The 365-day moving average of daily high watermark of vRAM configured to all powered-on virtual machines in aggregate cannot exceed the pooled vRAM capacity. This is the same algorithm used for VMware’s management products licensed on a per VM basis.
Customers must purchase vSphere licenses in advance of use.
Increasing the Pooled vRAM Capacity
If necessary, the easiest way to expand pooled vRAM capacity is to add more VMware vSphere CPU licenses of the same edition to the vRAM pool. Alternatively, customers can upgrade all CPU licenses in the vRAM pool to a VMware vSphere edition with a higher vRAM entitlement.
Monitoring of Pooled vRAM Capacity
Available and configured vRAM capacity can be monitored and managed using the licensing-management module of VMware vCenter Server. Customers can create reports and set up alerts to obtain automated notification of when the level of vRAM used surpasses a specified level of the available pooled capacity.
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Description
Acer TC.344EU.002 software license/upgrade 1 year(s)
VMware vSphere 5 Standard for 1 CPU (with 32 GB vRAM entitlement per CPU) 1 year Subscription incl.
Acer TC.344EU.002, 1 year(s)
Acer TC.344EU.002. License term in years: 1 year(s)
Specification
License
License term in years
1 year(s)
System requirements
Compatible operating systems
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware
Software
Windows operating systems supported
Mac operating systems supported
Other features
Management platform
vCenter Server Foundation, vCenter Server Standard
Number of devices supported
1