Veeam Licensing for VSphere HA Dedicated Failover Host

[slmacquarie]

VSphere has the concept of a dedicated failover host, and I'm hoping that this forum can shed some light on whether this host (which would only have VM's running on it if another host died) requires a license, or whether it would be considered licensed in an ephemeral transfer from the failed host?

As an example, three dual socket hosts in a VShpere Cluster (all licensed for VSphere), one of which is dedicated to failover. Can Veeam be licensed (without any dramas) on only two of these (4 sockets) or must all three be covered, despite one not hosting any VM's to be backed up?

Assuming a license transfer is possible in the above, what are the constraints (for example, only one license transfer permitted every 90 days), if any?

[foggy]

You do not need to license hosts that you're not backing up/replicating VMs from. In case of DR, you can revoke the license from the licensed host and apply it to the one you're going to use as source for your backup jobs, no limitations here.

[Shestakov]

Hello Shane,

Veeam Backup & Replication is licensed per physical CPU socket of "source" hypervisor host (where protected virtual machines reside). Destination hosts for replication and migration jobs do not need to be licensed. Hosts running virtual machines which are not being processed by Veeam do not need to be licensed, even if they are a part of the same cluster.

More information about licensing can be found in a relative FAQ Topic. Thanks!