VMware vSphere+™ is a workload platform that allows you to shift from license based management to a pay-as-you-expand subscription model. If you plan on deploying vSAN clusters in a vSphere environment converted to subscription, you can either continue to use vSAN license keys or purchase a VMware vSAN+™ subscription in addition to the vSphere+ subscription.
To learn more about how to convert your vCenter Server to subscription and start using the vSphere+ and vSAN+ features, see the VMware vSphere+ documentation.
vSphere+ and vSAN+ Subscription
You can convert your vCenter Server instances to vSphere+ before the license evaluation period expires or before the assigned licenses to the vCenter Server and ESXi hosts expire.
If the vCenter Server instances that you plan to subscribe to vSphere+ manage vSAN clusters, you can either continue to use vSAN license keys or purchase a vSAN+ subscription. Do not use a combination of vSAN+ subscriptions and vSAN license keys within the same VMware Cloud account Organization. Combining vSAN+ subscriptions and vSAN license keys results in the entire vSAN deployment being converted to vSAN+ subscription metering and billing, where the license keys would be ignored. This could result in unexpected subscription usage.
When you deactivate vSAN on a cluster with a vSAN+ subscription, the vSphere+ subscription is applied automatically to all ESXi hosts associated with that cluster.
In the vSphere Client, you can view whether your vCenter Server instances are subscribed to vSphere+ and vSAN+. You can view your current subscription usage in the VMC Console. See Subscription Information for Your vCenter Server.
Free Trial
VMware offers a free trial subscription period for vSphere+ and vSAN+. When you are ready to purchase a vSphere+ subscription, contact a VMware sales representative or a VMware partner to help you plan converting your on-premises workloads to subscription. Subscriptions can be purchased for a period of one or three years.
When the free trial expires, you can no longer access the vSphere+ and vSAN+ features.
