Disaster Recovery Licensing Advice (Essentials Pack)

[parneye]

I'm looking for some advice on licensing...
I've pre-read the FAQ and did some searching, and can't seem to pinpoint what I'm after.
Apologies if this is the incorrect forum, but I think it fits.
Also, one of the questions relates to vSphere and I'll go ahead and post that on a vmware forum somewhere if it is not known.

Basically, we have a client that currently has 3 vSphere hosts on the essentials licensing as well as a host with veeam essentials.

They are getting a new server, but only 3 will be production servers...
We would like to use the 4th server to be a replication host...

IE:
4 servers with vSphere installed, 3 are production, the 4th would just have replicas stored on it and would only be used if one of the physical machines died.

2 questions:

1) Will the vSphere essentials license allow the addition of the 4th server if there are no virtual machines being played on it.
2) Will the Veeam essentials license allow the addition of the 4th server if there are no virtual machines being played on it.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[vbussiro]

As far as I understand licensing rules, if the 4th Vsphere is connected to the vcenter and/or veeam backup, then no, it breaks the limit.
One way would be to let the 4th shut down, and replicate to a shared datastore. In case of DR, power on the 4th host, connect it to this datastore, eventually restore/power on veeam VM replica, and proceed to other VM failover.

*edit : you could even let this 4th host powered on, if it's not connected to vcenter or veeam.

[J1mbo]

VMware Essentials is 6 socket / 3 host limit and cannot be expanded. So the solution is to buy another VMware Essentials pack (only needs to be the basic) and create a new cluster, albeit with only one host. Create VMs for vCentre (for that cluster) and Veeam B&R. There is no Veeam licensing implication since only SOURCE hosts are licensed.

The limitation here is that backup and replication functions can occur only FROM the primary cluster; i.e. you cannot backup nor replicate VMs running on the SECONDARY cluster.

Hope that helps.

[Gostev]

We have just made some changes to Veeam Essentials. They no longer require VMware Essentials (any VMware license is OK), and they are now sold in 2-socket bundles up to 6 sockets (to help reduce costs for smaller organizations). However, Veeam Essentials are limited to 6 sockets per organization, so if you have more than 6 sockets collectively across your 4 hosts, you cannot use it. Thanks!

[J1mbo]

Hi Gostev, is this a V6 change? This is the reply I received on this exact question last year:

"We don’t require to license target host for replicas (if you mean this host in Secondary site), but you need to license all your live hosts with virtual machines you would like to backup. In your case you have to license 3 hosts with 6 sockets. Veeam Essentials is exactly what you need."

[dellock6]

I think is a recent modification in the Licensing, do not know if it came out along with v6 or some time later, but it's defenitely a recent news.

Luca.

[Vitaliy S.]

This reply is still applicable to v6, there is no need to license target host if you do not backup/replicate VMs located on that host. The v6 change removes VMware Essentials requirement and is now offered in 2 sockets bundle (with 6 sockets max).

[J1mbo]

OK, so which reply [to the OP] is right then?

[Vitaliy S.]

1) Will the vSphere essentials license allow the addition of the 4th server if there are no virtual machines being played on it.

No.

2) Will the Veeam essentials license allow the addition of the 4th server if there are no virtual machines being played on it.

Yes, if you do not exceed 6 sockets limit.

[J1mbo]

Sorry but this is still conflicting, even between replies 6 & 8. Can someone post a link to the current EULA for Backup & Replication please!

[parneye]

hi guys... thanks for the interest in the post.

I too, like J1mbo, am confused.

Vitaliy: You seem to have said that target hosts do not require a veeam license, yet then say you cannot go over the 6 socket limit. Or are you saying that a vSphere license is not required for the target host?

J1mbo: If what you said in your first post turns out to be true for v6 then this is a perfect solution... I wonder if it would allow a proxy to run on a non-veeam-licensed target host.

vbussiro: What you said would be okay, but the storage I want to use is local to the host.

[foggy]

Guys, all the Veeam B&R licensing regards to the SOURCE hosts only. Only hosts you are backing up VMs on are licensed and, with Essentials, you need to be under the 6 sockets limit across all of them. That's all. This allows you to have extra hosts that do not fall under this limit if you are not backing VMs residing on them.

You can run a proxy on a non-licensed host, proxies are not licensed and can also be physical.

[J1mbo]

OK, so for the avoidance of doubt, where does this fit in:

...Veeam Essentials are limited to 6 sockets per organization, so if you have more than 6 sockets collectively across your 4 hosts, you cannot use it

In the proposed scenario the customer has 8 sockets on four hosts (say), 2x separate VMware Essentials bundles (3 hosts on PRIMARY, 1 host on SECONDARY), and is backing up and replicating VMs running on PRIMARY cluster to the SECONDARY cluster. From a vCentre perspective of course the clusters are unrelated.

[foggy]

Again, SOURCE hosts only. Do not count target ones. Anton meant that even if you backup from 4 hosts which are together under the 6 socket limit, you are still eligible.

[J1mbo]

Thanks for the confirmation.

BTW - please can someone post a link to the B&R EULA; I can't find it anywhere.

[foggy]

http://www.veeam.com/eula.html

[J1mbo]

Thanks, but that doesn't have anything whatsoever about the licensing basis (sockets), Essentials, or the limitations thereon.

[Gostev]

I have covered all of that earlier in this topic, see on the previous page.

There is also a dedicated web page for Veeam Essentials on our website:
http://www.veeam.com/smb-vmware-management-tools.html

We have too many licensing models, bundles and SKUs to list all of them in the EULA.
So instead, this information is now included in the actual purchase contract.

[parneye]

Thanks again everyone...
So looks like I am all good to go...

Just one last post as there was a bit of confusion before:

As mentioned the vSphere host will be used purely as a destination for the replicas... and as such falls under no restrictions.

As such it will be fine to add this vSphere replica host to my veeam essentials package, even though there are already 3 hosts (6 sockets) added to it.
This is because pure destination hosts don't count towards sockets.

[J1mbo]

Correct. It can't be connected to your existing vSphere cluster though (needs it's own vSphere Essentials license and vCentre Server, the latter of course can run on the one host as a VM).

[J1mbo]

I have covered all of that earlier in this topic, see on the previous page. There is also a dedicated web page for Veeam Essentials on our website: http://www.veeam.com/smb-vmware-management-tools.html We have too many licensing models, bundles and SKUs to list all of them in the EULA. So instead, this information is now included in the actual purchase contract.

To be fair the information available is at best patchy and imprecise. Whilst it pains me to suggest it, Microsoft have this well sorted with their EULA pages; this is something I would urge Veeam to strengthen, particularly as the EULA provides you with audit rights (but it seems, against what?).

[parneye]

Hi J1mbo...

Purchasing the extra vSphere Essentials license is no problem...

I have one further question though which you may also know the answer to...

This new host will actually be taking the place of one of the original 3...
So do I need to do a transfer on the original vSphere Essentials license to the new host,
or if I simply remove one of the old hosts from the current virtual centre,
I can add in the new host even though it has a different essentials license code?

Cheers.

[J1mbo]

Sorry I'm not following what's going on..., is it that you have 3 hosts currently and are wanting to add 1 new host (for the DR site)?

[dellock6]

the licenses are managed by vCenter, you can reclaim the license from the old ESXi and assign it again to the new ESXi once it's added to vCenter.

[Vitaliy S.]

vSphere Essentials only allows to manage three hosts maximum, so you need to revoke 1 existing licence and assign it to the host you want to add to vCenter Server.

[parneye]

dellock6 and Vitaliy S. answered my question...
Only thing left now is I need to figure out is how to revoke the existing license from the server being replaced...
I've had a look through the menus can't seem to find any revoke key option...
Maybe I just remove the host from virtual centre, assign it a new key, and this automatically frees up the old key for me to use for the new server?
I'll do some googling.

[dellock6]

The licensing wizard has three stesp, first for loading new licenses, second to assign them, third to revoke. You can run the wizard and do next-next till the last part. Before this, better to remove the node from vCenter.