License Merge CPU and Instance

[crackocain]

Hello everyone

Customer want to buy 10 socket and 30 instance. (VDPA) CPU and Instance licenses can be merged if they have the same terms and conditions.

They want to backup via Vmware Snapshot for all workloads.

Can a customer back up some VMware hosts with a CPU license and other VMware hosts with an Instance license using the same console?

For example: One ESXi host has 80 VMs on 2 sockets and wants to back them up with a CPU.
The other ESXi host has 5 VMs on 2 sockets and wants to back them up with an Instance.

They want to use same backup console for single CDP and single Immutability backup target. They don't want different veeam console.

Is this a manageable situation? Is it possible?

[Gostev]

Hello!

No, it's not technically possible. In presence of a Socket license, VMware protection will use Sockets exclusively.

Also, please be aware that it is against Veeam Licensing Policy to work around this by splitting the same production VMware environment between two different backup servers, each with its own license.

Thanks

[crackocain]

Thanks, Anton. Your detailed explanation encouraged me to ask more detailed questions

How is the distinction made between "same production environment"?
Is this when these two environments are managed by separate Vcenters?

Vcenter 1: 4 socket license
Vcenter 2: 30 VM instances
Both vcenters are in the same datacenter location.
Are we stuck with a license violation this way?

[Gostev]

Clear IT infrastructure ownership separation is required for production environments to be considered different. The easiest check is whether the two environments are managed by separate, dedicated IT teams. While physical location does not matter, as many different companies can be co-located in the same data center.