Specifications

License Management and Reporting 7
vCenter Server provides licensing infrastructure that you can use for management and reporting of licenses
that apply to ESXi hosts, vCenter Server, and certain solutions such as vCenter Site Recovery Manager, vCenter
CapacityIQ, vCenter Chargeback, and so on.
Licensing in vCenter Server is implemented using license keys. You can assign one license key to multiple
licensable objects of the same type if the key has enough capacity. However, you cannot assign multiple license
keys to a single licensable object. For example, you can assign one license key to multiple vCenter Server
systems in a Linked Mode group, but you cannot assign multiple license keys to a single vCenter Server system.
ESXi 5.0 hosts, vCenter Server 5.0, and solutions have different licensing models.
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ESXi 5.0 hosts are licensed with vSphere 5.0 license keys that have per-processor capacity with pooled
vRAM entitlements. You can assign a vSphere 5.0 license key to multiple ESXi 5.0 hosts if the key has large
enough processor capacity to cover all physical processors in the hosts. When you assign a vSphere 5.0
license key to an ESXi 5.0 host, the amount of processor capacity of the key that is consumed is equal to
the number of physical processors in the host. vRAM is defined as the memory that is configured to a
virtual machine. vRAM entitlements are pooled across all in-use vSphere 5.0 license keys of the same
product edition for a single vCenter Server system or a Linked Mode group. A license key is in use if it is
assigned to at least one host. The amount of vRAM capacity that each in-use license key contributes to the
pool of its vSphere edition is equal to the processor capacity of the key multiplied by the base vRAM
entitlement of the corresponding vSphere edition. The vRAM capacity of the pool is consumed only by
powered-on virtual machines that run on ESXi 5.0 hosts. Each powered-on virtual machine consumes an
amount of vRAM that is equal to its configured memory. If a virtual machine is configured with memory
greater than 96GB, the vRAM usage for the virtual machine equals to 96GB. For details about vRAM and
how to apply the licensing model for ESXi 5.0 hosts, see “Licensing for ESXi 5.0 Hosts,” on page 69.
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vCenter Server 5.0 systems are licensed with vCenter Server 5.0 license keys that have per-instance capacity
type. A license key for vCenter Server determines the number of vCenter Server instances that you can
license with the key.
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Solutions are licensed depending on the specific usage and licensing needs of each solution. For example,
vCenter Site Recovery Manager, vCenter Capacity IQ, and vCenter Chargeback are licensed on a per-
virtual-machine basis.
The licensing infrastructure in vCenter Server provides functions that you can use to implement and monitor
the licensing models of ESXi hosts, vCenter Server, and solutions.
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Licensing Terminology and Definitions on page 68
The licensing infrastructure in vCenter Server uses specific terminology and definitions to refer to
different licensing-related objects.
VMware, Inc.
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