add vcenter

[messher]

Hi,
i need to know if there's any issue trying adding a vcenter that is already target for replicas driven by a B&R Server, to another B&R Server completely different.
I need to add this to a Community instance for replicate a vm of another cluster that is managed on the same vcenter.
I already read that this is accepted, but i would ask you.
Thank You in advance.

[Mildur]

As far as I know, you need to have the same licensing for all VBR Servers which connects to the same source infrastructure. You are not allowed to mix license editions on the same vcenter or to use more than one community edition.

https://www.veeam.com/licensing-policy.html
Article 1.11

Customers can use multiple License Keys with different license terms, but only for separate backup infrastructures (which are defined as not sharing servers or storage between each other and are protecting different Source infrastructures).

Also using multiple community editions for the same source infrastructure is forbidden:

Article 3.22

Sharing of the Source Infrastructure between different Community Edition and Free Licenses is prohibited. This includes using multiple Community Edition deployments, or using both paid licenses and Community Edition deployments, to protect different parts of the same Source Infrastructure.

[messher]

Thank you for the answer...but i want to add an already added destination infrastructure that is not actually using any socket or instance license because is only a replica destination infrastructure.
And this would be my only Community Edition that i'm going to install.
Let me know.

[Mildur]

It should be possible. Technically. The same vcenter can be added to multiple vbr server.

But I am not sure if this is allowed. You cannot use the community edition for the same vcenter server, if your a paying customer. If you have a licensed version on the source infrastructure and want to add the destination infrastructure to the same vcenter, it‘s a little bit like a gray area. The entire vcenter is your source environment. It doesn‘t matter where the hosts are.

[messher]

But the vcenter that i want to ad to the community edition, is not a source of any payed version of B&R server.
It's only a vcenter added in the infrastructure inventory of an already installed and licensed B&R sever as a replica destination infrastructure (not using any socket or instance slots)
I think this is not conflicting or infringe any licensing rules.

[Gostev]

As the person behind the Community Edition:

The spirit and the intent of the Licensing Policy is to restrict the usage of CE alongside with paid installations in the same environment.

From the description above, it does sound like some ESXi hosts will be used by both backup servers, even if in different capacity. Which makes it the same environment.

But since the specific language can always be belabored, I also want to clarify that the whole idea behind CE is free backup for environments with under 10 VMs in total. These are the specific circumstances when we allow production usage. All other scenarios are really outside of the intended CE scope.

These restrictions are basically the only reason I've been able to keep CE afloat for so long as many quota-carrying folks at Veeam would love to see it shut down.