VMware Revises vRAM Entitlements

[andrew-virtusolve]

Am amazed and massively happy that VMware has responded to the comments across the blogosphere and the pressure placed on them by partners by revising the vRAM entitlements and making a few changes to the model.

"We’ve increased vRAM entitlements for all vSphere editions, including the doubling of the entitlements for vSphere Enterprise and Enterprise Plus. This change addresses concerns about future-looking business cases that were based on future hardware capabilities and the previous vSphere licensing model. Below is a comparison of the previously announced and the new vSphere 5 vRAM entitlements per vSphere edition:

NewvRAMEnts.jpg


vSphere edition Previous vRAM entitlement New vRAM entitlement
vSphere Enterprise+ 48 GB 96 GB
vSphere Enterprise 32 GB 64 GB
vSphere Standard 24 GB 32 GB
vSphere Essentials+ 24 GB 32 GB
vSphere Essentials 24 GB 32 GB

• We’ve capped the amount of vRAM we count in any given VM, so that no VM, not even the “monster” 1TB vRAM VM, would cost more than one vSphere Enterprise Plus license. This change also aligns with our goal to make vSphere 5 the best platform for running Tier 1 applications.
• We’ve adjusted our model to be much more flexible around transient workloads, and short-term spikes that are typical in test & development environments for example. We will now calculate a 12-month average of consumed vRAM to rather than tracking the high water mark of vRAM.

Finally, we introduced the vSphere Desktop edition to address vSphere licensing in a desktop environment. The vSphere Desktop edition does not have any vRAM entitlements, and allows customers to purchase vSphere for VDI use case on per user basis. Our price books are being updated and will be distributed shortly."

Am both amazed and delighted at how fast they have responded to this - I mean there will still be some people annoyed at the concept as a whole, but it is a step in the right direction and really good to see a big company responding to the needs and admitting they got it a bit wrong!

[FN-GM]

Do you have any idea as to when it will be out please?

[andrew-virtusolve]

Do you have any idea as to when it will be out please?

Very probably in line with VMworld 2011 Vegas - which would be the end of August-1st week in September.
Some of our launch materials state 6th August though which might mean orders can be taken then.

We have binaires now, but only because we were in beta, we are expecting release versions of all of the new software within the next two weeks.