VMware Licensing

[retals]

Hi,

 

Im currently looking into a summer project of virtualizing our servers with vmware. With this im also looking at VDI and maybe starting small and going with maybe a 100 vmware view licence. Does anyone have a similar setup? I've done a lot of reading and spoken to lots of compainies but currently im being told from half the companies that I should buy vmware enterprise edition licence which costs about £1100 per procesor and the other half say I will be fine with vmware essentials plus licence which costs only about £2000 and supports 3 hosts.

 

I know there are lots more features in the enterprise edition licence but do I really need them? One company have said when cloning virtual machines for vmware view it will take approx 20 minutes each machine on essentials plus licence but only take a few seconds with the essentials licence. I know there are lots more features I wouldn't get but I have to remember we are a school, not a bank. 15 minutes downtime is bad but not the end of the world if the cost is right.

 

Id appreciate any information anyone might have that would help.

Thanks for reading...

[Dave_O]

Hi,

 

Im currently looking into a summer project of virtualizing our servers with vmware. With this im also looking at VDI and maybe starting small and going with maybe a 100 vmware view licence. Does anyone have a similar setup? I've done a lot of reading and spoken to lots of compainies but currently im being told from half the companies that I should buy vmware enterprise edition licence which costs about £1100 per procesor and the other half say I will be fine with vmware essentials plus licence which costs only about £2000 and supports 3 hosts.

 

I know there are lots more features in the enterprise edition licence but do I really need them? One company have said when cloning virtual machines for vmware view it will take approx 20 minutes each machine on essentials plus licence but only take a few seconds with the essentials licence. I know there are lots more features I wouldn't get but I have to remember we are a school, not a bank. 15 minutes downtime is bad but not the end of the world if the cost is right.

 

Id appreciate any information anyone might have that would help.

Thanks for reading...

 

Server virtualisation, fine. As for Desktop virtualisation...

 

1. Read this first.

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/thin-client-virtual-machines/68166-my-conclusions-vdi-other-things.html

 

Not sure where you are getting your licensing information from but it seems way out. Have a look here for some realistic pricing:

http://www.greymatter.com/VMware/VMware-View-Enterprise-Bundle/672575

 

and that's without mandatory SnS

 

Licensing is based on number of clients you want to run, the cost of the ESX licenses is included but only if you go for the full version rather than the Desktop add ons (which is for people who already have spare ESX server capacity). Remember you cannot run server load on an ESX which is licensed for desktops (actually you can but it breaks, the licensing agreement - with one or two caveats). You will need 2 virtual centers as the licensing does not allow you to run servers and desktops on the same virtual center server (never really understood why, but then I've never really understood VMWare licensing or SnS). On a separate note we have stopped taking SnS on all of our VMWare stuff, I've seen the road map and there is nothing particuarly I think that will benefit school in the next year or so.

 

2. Read this for differing views on VDI.

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/thin-client-virtual-machines/95527-new-vdi-project.html

 

3. Read this for my views.

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/thin-client-virtual-machines/84498-virtualisation-other-stories.html

 

Dave O

Edited May 28, 2012 by Dave_O

[retals]

The prices I stated are accurate, I've had a proper quote from Grey Matter this morning and they are over priced.

 

The question im really interested in the answer to, which is why i posted the thread is - What are peoples opinion of the VMWare Essentials Plus bundle? Is it sufficient for the school environment or do we need to stump up the cash and buy Enterprise?

 

Thanks

[Gardinho]

Hi retals,

 

VMware Essentials Plus limits you to 3 physical hosts, and has no VMotion for failover. There is bound to be other things but these were the main draw backs when I was looking at this. I don't think there is an option to upgrade VMWare Essentials Plus to the Enterprise license easily.

 

Personally I think that VMWare essentials is well suited to the educational environment. It is a damn site cheaper, and provided you have good hosts with plenty of RAM, you can run more than enough VMs to cope with a school network of any size (with the exception of Universities).

[dave.81]

Essentials plus does include the VMotion for failover it's the base Essentials pack that doesn't have VMotion. We went with the basic Essentials package and has done us fine for 18 months with no need for the VMotion up till now.

 

I am tempted to upgrade to the plus pack at a later date but currently not need due to no SAN.

[localzuk]

The prices I stated are accurate, I've had a proper quote from Grey Matter this morning and they are over priced.

 

The question im really interested in the answer to, which is why i posted the thread is - What are peoples opinion of the VMWare Essentials Plus bundle? Is it sufficient for the school environment or do we need to stump up the cash and buy Enterprise?

 

Thanks

 

Sorry to be a bugbear here - but those prices do not seem accurate still. For the VMWare Server side, they look right, but for the VDI (ie VMWare View) licenses, you've not mentioned them - they are a separate licensable product and it is expensive, and is based on the number of clients connecting.

 

On the VMWare Essentials Plus bundle - it is probably the best one to go with for server virtualisation if you want to pay for something. It includes the failover parts (VMotion etc...) and covers 3 hosts.

 

Your original message is a little mixed up from my reading. VDI and server virtualisation should be treated as separate entities - they run different products to do their jobs. The VMWare Essentials bundle is a cut down version of the VMWare Essentials Plus pack. There is then VMWare View which comes in Enterprise and Premier editions, again with different functionalities between them.