vSAN clusters are licensed differently with the per TiB, per CPU, and per Core licensing model.
In a vSphere environment converted to VMware Cloud-connection based vSphere+ subscription, you can continue to use vSAN CPU license keys. For more information, see the VMware vSphere+ documentation.
Per TiB License for vSAN
The per Tebitbyte (TiB) license for vSAN in VMware Cloud Foundation is subscription based.
You can assign a vSAN per TiB license to a single vSAN cluster or multiple vSAN clusters. If multiple vSAN clusters share a single per capacity license, the capacity gets shared by multiple vSAN clusters. To calculate the capacity that you need for your vSAN environment, you need enough TiB licenses for the total physical device capacity in tebibytes on all the ESXi hosts in each vSAN cluster.
For example, consider a vSAN cluster with 3 ESXi hosts, 1 CPU per host, and each host has 4.7 TiBs of storage per CPU. With a total of 14.1 TiBs (3 * 1 * 4.7) of storage, the cluster rounds up the license usage to 15 TiBs vSAN capacity.
The vSAN clusters reflect the total raw storage capacity available. For more information about calculating the license capacity that you need for your environment, see the VMware knowledge base article at https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/95927.
VMware Cloud Foundation License for vSAN
The license for vSAN in VMware Cloud Foundation is subscription based.
| Number of ESXi Host (in vSAN cluster) | CPUs per ESXi Host | Cores per CPU | Number of Core License | Entitled vSAN Capacity (GiB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | 6 (minimum 16 cores required) | 48 | 48 |
| 3 | 2 | 16 | 96 | 96 |
| 3 | 2 | 24 | 144 | 144 |
- If you assign a new license to the vSAN cluster
- If you add a new host to the vSAN cluster
- If a host is removed from the cluster
- If the total number of TiBs in a cluster changes
You need to purchase a vSAN add-on license if you need additional capacity. For capacity larger than the total entitled vSAN capacity in tebibytes, you can purchase additional vSAN capacity. When you purchase additional capacity, you receive a vSAN capacity license. You can combine multiple license keys and apply the resulting license key to vSAN clusters.
VMware vSphere Foundation Capacity License for vSAN
With vSAN 8.0 Update 3 release, you do not need a separate vSAN license to deploy the vSAN clusters with VMware vSphere.
With the VMware vSphere Foundation license, you receive 100 gibibytes (GiB) of free vSAN storage per vSAN host licensed core. The 100 GiB of vSAN per core is only available if you license every host in the vSAN cluster with a VVF Solution License.
You can use a Solution License to license all the components of VVF. For more information on applying the Solution License to the VVF components, see VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) Licensing.
To calculate the capacity that you need for your vSAN environment, you need the total number of licensed CPU cores for each CPU on all the ESXi hosts in your environment. For example, consider a vSAN cluster with 3 ESXi hosts, 1 CPU per host, and each host has 8 licensed cores per CPU. You can use up to 100 GiB of included vSAN storage per vSAN host licensed core. You must purchase a VVF license with the subscription capacity of 16 cores per CPU because it is the required minimum license capacity. With a total of 48 (3 * 1 * 16) licensed cores per CPU, you receive 4800 GiBs (100 GiB * total cores in the vSAN cluster) capacity.
| Number of ESXi Host (in vSAN cluster) | CPUs per ESXi Host | Cores per CPU | Number of Core License | Entitled vSAN Capacity (GiB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | 8 | 48 | 4800 |
| 4 | 2 | 16 | 128 | 12800 |
| 4 | 2 | 24 | 192 | 19200 |
You need to purchase an add-on license if you need additional capacity. The vSAN clusters with more than 100 GiB core of storage requires a vSAN add-on license for the entire storage capacity of the cluster. For more information about calculating the license capacity that you need for your environment, see the VMware knowledge base article at https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/95927.
Per CPU License for vSAN
After you enable vSAN on a cluster, you must assign the cluster an appropriate vSAN license.
Similar to vSphere licenses, vSAN licenses have per CPU capacity. When you assign a per CPU vSAN license to a cluster, the amount of license capacity used equals the total number of CPUs in the hosts participating in the cluster.
- vSAN CPU license with a maximum 32 physical cores per CPU that needs one vSAN license for every 32 cores of CPU.
- vSAN CPU license without a maximum physical core that needs one vSAN license for each CPU.
For example, if you have a vSAN cluster that contains 4 hosts with 2 CPUs each, assign the cluster a vSAN license with a minimum capacity of 8 CPUs assuming the quantity of physical cores on each CPU is less than or equal to 32 cores.
The license use of the vSAN is recalculated and updated in the following cases:
- If you assign a new license to the vSAN cluster
- If you add a new host to the vSAN cluster
- If a host is removed from the cluster
- If the total number of CPUs in a cluster changes
You must maintain the vSAN clusters in compliance with the vSAN licensing model. The total number of CPUs of all hosts in the cluster must not exceed the capacity of the vSAN license that is assigned to the cluster.
Per Core License for vSAN
The per core licensing model is subscription based.
To calculate the capacity you need for your environment, you need the total number of the physical CPU cores for each CPU on all ESXi hosts in your vSAN cluster. Each core requires a single license, and the minimum license capacity you can purchase is 16 cores per CPU.
| Number of ESXi Hosts | Number of CPUs | Cores per CPU | Number of Core Licenses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 8 | 16 |
| 2 | 2 | 8 | 64 |
| 2 | 2 | 16 | 64 |
For more information about calculating the number of licenses you need for your environment, see the VMware knowledge base article at https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/95927.
License and Evaluation Period Expiry
When the license or the evaluation period of vSAN expires, you can continue to use the currently configured vSAN resources and features if you have an active license. However, you cannot add SSD or HDD capacity to an existing disk group or create new disk groups.
vSAN for Desktop
vSAN for Desktop is intended for use in VDI environments, such as vSphere for Desktop or Horizon ™ View™. The license use for vSAN for Desktop equals the total number of powered on VMs in a cluster with enabled vSAN.
To remain EULA compliant, the license use for vSAN for Desktop must not exceed the license capacity. The number of powered on desktop VMs in a vSAN cluster must be less than or equal to the license capacity of vSAN for Desktop.
