Veeam v10 Licensing Change

[redhorse]

Hello,

I‘ve found the this on page 15 of the release document of v10:

Mandatory socket license usage for VM protection: In presence of a Socket license, protecting vSphere or Hyper-V VMs with agents or enterprise application plug-ins requires and consumes a socket license. This is the existing Veeam licensing policy that is now enforced at the product level. To avoid backup interruption after v10 upgrade, please ensure your socket license is sufficient to cover all hypervisor hosts where protected VMs reside, no matter of which Veeam product is used for protecting those VMs.

In our environment we have a Hyper-V host in each of our branch offices with two VMs (DC+File) on each host. Today we use Veeam agent with instance license to backup these VMs as it is much cheaper than buying a socket license for each Hyper-V host. Did I understand the change correctly that this is not possible anymore as I have to buy socket licenses? (We have socket licenses for our ESXi environment in the headquarter)

If so, what covers this socket license on a Hyper-V host? Also the backup of the host with an agent?

Thanks.

[HannesK]

Hello,

Did I understand the change correctly that this is not possible anymore as I have to buy socket licenses?

Correct. If you have many branch offices, I recommend to contact your Veeam sales representative to discuss alternative licensing options that may fit your case better, for example VUL.

If so, what covers this socket license on a Hyper-V host?

Everything included in your socket license for VMware and Hyper-V VMs. You can create multiple backups of the same VM using different approaches (host-based, agent-based and using application plug-in), and only socket license will be consumed.

Also the backup of the host with an agent?

An agent installed directly on the Hyper-V host is a different machine not covered by the socket license. Please note that we do not recommend or support doing image-level backups of Hyper-V hosts themselves.

Best regards,
Hannes

[Mildur]

You can convert your socket license to veeam universal licensing (subscription based).
This will give you the possibility to backup all vms, no matter how much hypervisor/sockets do you have.

Each VM will costs you one license. You have to buy at least 10 licenses.

https://www.veeam.com/universal-licensing.html

[Gostev]

Correct, VUL is the recommended license due to its portability and support for all workloads that Veeam can protect.

Socket licenses can be converted to VUL at no extra costs, by paying your regular sockets renewal price. By converting, you will get access to all product features regardless of your current sockets edition (since VUL has Enterprise Plus edition capabilities level), as well as the Production support program (even if you have Basic support contract now).

You can convert your sockets at any time, no matter when does your contract expire. The rest of your current contract will also be converted to VUL + you will get additional years of VUL at your current socket renewal price.

The default conversion ratio is 7:1 for everyone. So if your VM per socket density is lower than that value, then you will get some "free" instances on top of what you need, to use for protecting any other workloads. And if your density is higher than that, then we will provide the matching number of VULs to cover all your VMs regardless of how high the actual density is.

[ferrus]

I'm confused by this change too ...

Mandatory socket license usage for VM protection

In presence of a Socket license, protecting vSphere or Hyper-V VMs with agents or enterprise application plug-ins, requires and consumes a socket license

We currently have socket licenses, which cover all of our VMware hosts.

Following endless issues with our Exchange VMs and VMware snapshots, we stopped taking VM backups of these servers - and used in-guest Agent backups instead. These were covered by the gifted Agent licenses, included with the socket based licenses.

I'm not sure whether its the way the change above is worded, but it reads as though backing up those VMs with an Agent would reduce our overall socket licenses- as the those VMs would consume licenses.
Or am I reading it wrong, and it just means that every host socket needs to be licensed - and we'll continue to be able to backup the few VMs with Agent backups?

I'm due to upgrade to v10 this morning, but this could be a showstopper.

[Gostev]

It just means that every host socket needs to be licensed, no matter how you're backing up its VMs (host-based, agent-based, or application-level backup).

Also, you will be able to re-purpose those gifted instances to something else now, because of the next bullet after the one you quoted:

Expanded socket license coverage: VMs on hypervisor hosts licensed with a Socket license can now be
protected with any Veeam product without requiring additional Instance license, so long as the protection
is managed by the same backup server. For example, protecting a Windows failover cluster vSphere VM with
Veeam Agent for Windows no longer requires an Instance license for the agent, as the VM protection
is already covered by the socket license for the corresponding host. Again, no double charging.

[ferrus]

That's a relief - thanks for the clarification.
On with the upgrade now ...

[Crashinit]

Can someone please advise if my assumption is correct below.

When Converting my Sockets to VUL licensing, I get a ratio of 7:1 which is fine. It is what it is.
Now factoring in growth for the next year, additional additional Packs will be purchased to cater for backing up these new workloads.

My question is this:
We are in a state of alot of change where predicting future vm deployments is a bit tricky.
What is the process and Pros/Cons in needing to purchase additional packs to cater for the additional workloads (Not catered for at renewal time) that require backing up?

Do I purchase new packs, merge them with my existing VUL licence and the subscription is then set to expire at the earliest end date of the two merged licences? (Same when merging sockets with different support end dates).

I have read through the licence terms and I can't see anything about adding additional VUL licences to an existing one before the subscription ends.

Thanks,

Craig

[HannesK]

nothing changed from "support end" perspective. subscription licenses that were not renewed, do not work after expiration date.

normally it's no problem to get "same expiration date" if you contact your Veeam sales rep / Veeam partner.

[Gostev]

Also, keep in mind that unlike with a Socket-based license, Veeam Universal License comes with the hefty buffer that allows you to exceed the licensed consumption significantly. For example, you can exceed usage of a 1000 instances license by up to 100 instances! So, if your environment grows at a reasonable pace, typically you won't need to worry about purchasing more licenses until your next renewal at all.

[perjonsson1960]

Folks,

We have 21 socket licenses and 20 instances. We are currently using all 21 socket licenses for backing up the VMs in VMware, and 13 of the instances for backing up physical Windows and Linux servers using the agent. Will anything be changed for us, license wise, when I upgrade to v10 of B&R?

Best,
Per Jonsson
Sweden

[HannesK]

Hello Per,
no - everything stays the same in your situation. The change is when backing up VMs with agents running on hosts that are not covered by sockets.

Best regards,
Hannes

[perjonsson1960]

Thanks!

[bhnelson]

And if your density is higher than that, then we will provide the matching number of VULs to cover all your VMs regardless of how high the actual density is.

How accurate is this statement today? You had previously stated an upper limit of 15:1. We're *ahem* significantly higher than that, and I just want to know the official line before I go back to our sales folks about the renewal/conversion quote we got.

Thanks!

[Gostev]

Yes, it's still accurate with the current Migration Policy. There's no longer any density thresholds though: migration gives you the VUL license based on the actual number of VMs you have. This is the reason why as a part of the process, you will be requested to provide a Veeam log file that contains your infrastructure details. Let me know how it goes!

[bhnelson]

@Goestev thanks for the quick reply! We're actually already going through it. Sales rep requested our log file stating that we'd need to convert to VUL. Didn't offer any other option. Told him we likely weren't interested in migrating our socket licenses at this time but would entertain comparing both quotes to make an informed decision. Then ultimately received only a migration quote for 3x (!) the cost of our usual annual renewal. That's obviously wrong based on this lengthy thread (which, for others, has a TON of info on this topic). I've already reached out to them to ask about the numbers and re-request a non-migration quote but wanted to be informed myself before getting into an argument

[Gostev]

I checked the current migration policy and as far as I understand it, the discount tiers are capped at 25:1 density. So if you have a higher density then the current non-disruptive migration concept falls apart. At this point the only option would be to work with your sales rep on a custom quote aka NSQ. Although honestly I don't see too many reasons for you to migrate to VUL, if you truly have such a high number of VMs per Socket. If I were you, I would just stick with the Socket license (and perhaps even bought a few more sockets to cover any future infrastructure growth, while they are still available for purchase).