Does vCenter Server require a license?

Posted on by Dominique Stacey

Does vCenter Server require a license?

vCenter Server systems are licensed with vCenter Server licenses that have per-instance capacity. To license a vCenter Server system, you need a vCenter Server license that has the capacity for at least one instance.

How do I license my vCenter Server?

To assign the license to a vCenter.

  1. Select the Asset tab.
  2. Select vCenter Server Systems tab.
  3. Select the vCenter you want to license.
  4. Click Assign License.
  5. Select the license you want to use.
  6. Click OK.

How much is a vCenter license?

VMware or Hyper-V? Part 3: Virtualization Licensing Costs

vSphere Edition Cost Basic Support
vCenter Server Standard $6,175 $1,297
vCenter Server Foundation $1,535 $560
Standard -Remote Office $3,085 $648
Advanced -Remote Office $4,635 $973

How much does vCenter Server cost?

However, vCenter Server Standard can handle up to 2,000 vSphere ESXi hosts. In terms of cost, vCenter Server Foundation lists for $2,095 with one year of basic support and $3,282.68 with three years of production support.

Is vCenter a separate license?

vCenter Server Foundation It is sold as a separate license and only supports managing up to four vSphere ESXi hosts. This is true for vSphere starting with vSphere 6.5 Update 1 and above, older vSphere versions will support up to three hosts.

How many days you can use a demo version of vCenter server without a license?

The trial mode for vSphere and vCenter is 60 days. During the trial period, you can use all the features in the top license edition (vSphere Enterprise Plus and vCenter Server Standard). If you assign a license for vCenter, you can switch back to the evaluation mode within 60 days from installing the vCenter Server.

Is there a free version of vCenter?

At the very basic, a vSphere lab comprises of two ESXi hosts (the hypervisor) and vCenter Server. The ESXi hypervisor is free to use save for a few catches. Alternatively, just like vCenter, ESXi can be evaluated for a 60-day period with all its features unlocked.

How do I find my vCenter Server license?

Procedure

  1. Click Menu > Administration.
  2. Expand Licensing and click Licenses.
  3. Select a tab for the licensing information that you want to view. Tab. Description. Licenses. Lists all licenses that are available in the vSphere environment.

How do I get ESXi for free?

  1. Go to VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.5 Download Page.
  2. Login or create an account.
  3. Register for ESXi (Enter some personal information)
  4. Download VMware vSphere Hypervisor 6.5 – Binaries.
  5. Install ESXi to your Hardware (Create a Bootable ESXi Installer USB Flash Drive)
  6. Navigate to Manage -> Licensing.

Why is VMware so expensive?

So that cost is the same in your question. Where VMWare is generally more expensive is when you need additional features, like central management, backup APIs, clustering, storage migration, etc. Most of that is included with all versions of Hyper-V, and most of it requires additional (costly) licensing from VMWare.

What does ESXi stand for?

ESX integrated
ESXi stands for “ESX integrated”. VMware ESXi originated as a compact version of VMware ESX that allowed for a smaller 32 MB disk footprint on the host.

How many hosts can vCenter manage?

four
vCenter Server Foundation It is sold as a separate license and only supports managing up to four vSphere ESXi hosts. This is true for vSphere starting with vSphere 6.5 Update 1 and above, older vSphere versions will support up to three hosts.