Licensing and Subscription in vSphere

To apply the licensing models of vSphere assets correctly, you must understand how the type of asset, for example ESXi hosts or vCenter Server instances, consume the license capacity.

If you have other VMware products with assigned licenses in your vCenter Server, you can view and manage their licenses in the vSphere Client.

Starting with vSphere 8.0 Update 2b, you can use a Solution License and assign it to all components of a solution. For example, you can license Supervisor Clusters and vSAN cluster with the VMware vSphere Foundation Solution License. For more information, see VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) Licensing.

If you use VMware vSphere+, you leverage several cloud capabilities while you manage your on-premises vSphere infrastructure. For more information, see the VMware vSphere+ documentation.

Licensing for ESXi Hosts

ESXi hosts are licensed with vSphere licenses. Each vSphere license has a certain capacity that you can use to license multiple physical CPUs on ESXi hosts.

There are four main licensing models for vSphere:

Per core licensing with a minimum of 16 cores licensed per CPU.
Per virtual machine licensing.
vSphere+ subscription capacity based licensing.
Per CPU licensing that covers one CPU with up to 32 cores.

To license an ESXi host, you must assign to it a vSphere license that meets the following prerequisites:

The license must have sufficient capacity depending on the licensing model.
The license must support all the features that the host uses. For example, if the host is associated with a vSphere Distributed Switch, the license that you assign must support the vSphere Distributed Switch feature.

If you attempt to assign a license that has insufficient capacity or does not support the features that the host uses, the license assignment fails.

Per Core Licensing Model for vSphere

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 environment. Each core requires a single license, and the minimum license capacity you can purchase is 16 cores per CPU.

For example, if you have 1 ESXi host in your inventory, with 1 CPU, and 8 CPU cores per CPU, you must purchase the subscription capacity of 16 cores per CPU because it is the minimum license capacity.

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.

Per Virtual Machine Licensing Model for vSphere

The license use equals the total number of powered on desktop virtual machines running on the hosts that are assigned such a license.

Subscription Based Licensing Model for vSphere

If you currently use the vSphere+ workload platform, you have a subscription capacity based model for management of vSphere. For more information about your subscription model, see the VMware vSphere + documentation.

Per CPU Licensing Model for vSphere

If you use the per CPU licensing model, one CPU license covers one CPU with up to 32 cores. If а CPU has more than 32 cores, you need additional CPU licenses.

Number of CPUs	Cores per CPU	Number of CPU Licenses
1	1-32	1
2	1-32	2
1	33-64	2
2	33-64	4

When you assign a vSphere license to a host, the amount of capacity consumed is determined by the number of physical CPUs on the host and the number of physical cores in each physical CPU.

If you use the licensing model with up to 32 cores, you can assign a vSphere license for 10 32-core CPUs to any of the following combinations of hosts:

Five 2-CPU hosts with 32 cores per CPU
Five 1-CPU hosts with 64 cores per CPU
Two 2-CPU hosts with 48 cores per CPU and two 1-CPU hosts with 20 cores per CPU

Dual-core and quad-core CPUs, such as Intel CPUs that combine two or four independent CPUs on a single chip, count as one CPU.

Evaluation Mode for ESXi Hosts

After you install ESXi, it operates in evaluation mode for up to 60 consecutive days. Evaluation mode provides all features of vSphere.

After you assign a license to an ESXi host, at any time before the evaluation period expires, you can set the host back to evaluation mode to explore the entire set of features available for the remaining evaluation period.

For example, if you use an ESXi host in evaluation mode for 20 days, then assign a vSphere Standard license to the host, and 5 days later set the host back to evaluation mode, you can explore the entire set of features available for the host for the remaining 35 days of the evaluation period.

License and Evaluation Period Expiry for ESXi Hosts

For ESXi hosts, license or evaluation period expiry leads to disconnection from vCenter Server. All powered on virtual machines continue to work, but you cannot power on virtual machines after they are powered off. You cannot change the current configuration of the features that are in use. You cannot use the features that remained unused before the license expiration.

Note:

When there are expiring licenses, a notification appears 90 days before the license expiration.

Licensing ESXi Hosts After an Upgrade

If you upgrade an ESXi host to a version that starts with the same number, you do not need to replace the existing license with a new one. For example, if you upgrade a host from ESXi 8.0 to 8.1, you can use the same license for the host.

If you upgrade an ESXi host to a major version that starts with a different number, the evaluation period restarts and you must assign a new license. For example, if you upgrade an ESXi host from 7.x to 8.x, you must license the host with a vSphere 8 license.

Licensing for vCenter Server

You can license a vCenter Server systems with a vCenter Server license that has a per-instance capacity or with a Solution License.

Evaluation Mode for vCenter Server

When you install a vCenter Server system, it is in evaluation mode. The evaluation mode of a vCenter Server system expires 60 days after the product is installed no matter whether you assign a license to vCenter Server or not. You can set vCenter Server back to evaluation mode only within 60 days after its installation.

For example, suppose that you install a vCenter Server system and use it in evaluation mode for 20 days and assign the system an appropriate license. The vCenter Server evaluation mode expires after the remaining 40 days of the evaluation period.

License and Evaluation Period Expiry of vCenter Server

When the license or evaluation period of a vCenter Server system expires, all hosts disconnect from that vCenter Server system. The virtual machines running on the disconnected hosts remain intact. Until you assign a new license to the vCenter Server system, you can manage the virtual machines on the disconnected hosts by logging into each host separately. After you assign a new license key to vCenter Server, all disconnected hosts reconnect to the vCenter Server system.

Note: When there are expiring licenses, a notification appears 90 days before the license expiration.

Licensing vCenter Server After an Upgrade

If you upgrade vCenter Server to a version that starts with the same number, you can keep the same license. For example, if you upgrade a vCenter Server system from vCenter Server 8.0 to 8.1, you can keep the same license on the system.

If you upgrade vCenter Server to a major version that starts with a different number, the evaluation period restarts and you must assign a new license. For example, if you upgrade a vCenter Server system from 7.x to 8.x, you must license the system with a vCenter Server 8 license.

If you upgrade the edition of the license, for example, from vCenter Server Foundation to vCenter Server Standard, replace the existing license on the system with the upgraded license.