Specifications

A vRAM pool aggregates all vRAM entitlements of vSphere 5.0 license keys of one edition that are assigned
to ESXi 5.0 hosts. A vRAM pool for one license edition is available for one vCenter Server or a Linked Mode
group. The amount of vRAM that is available in a vRAM pool for a license edition determines the total amount
of memory that you can provision on powered-on virtual machines running on ESXi 5.0 hosts.
For example, you assign license key A of vSphere 5.0 Standard to an ESXi 5.0 host. The key has a capacity of
six processors and entitles 32GB of vRAM. The vRAM pool that is created for vSphere Standard contains 192GB
of vRAM that license key A provides. Later, you assign license key B of vSphere Standard to another ESXi 5.0
host. License key B has a capacity for 10 processors and entitles 32GB of vRAM. License key B adds 320GB of
vRAM to the vRAM pool for vSphere Standard. The total amount of vRAM that is available in the vRAM pool
for vSphere Standard is the sum from the vRAM entitlements of license key A and license key B, which is
512GB. In this example, you can provision up to 512GB of memory on the virtual machines that run on the
ESXi 5.0 hosts that are licensed with vSphere 5.0 Standard license keys.
Calculating the vRAM Usage
The vRAM usage equals the sum of memory that is configured on powered-on virtual machines that run on
ESXi 5.0 hosts. The vRAM usage is calculated for every vRAM pool that is available in a vCenter Server system
or a Linked Mode group.
For example, suppose that the vRAM pool for vSphere Standard contains 320GB of vRAM. On the ESXi 5.0
hosts that are licensed with vSphere 5.0 Standard, you can create and power on 50 virtual machines each with
4GB of configured memory. The total amount of memory that is provisioned on the new virtual machines is
200GB, and the vRAM usage for the vRAM pool for vSphere Standard is 200GB.
NOTE If any of your virtual machines have more than 96GB of configured memory, the amount of memory
above 96GB does not count against vRAM. For example, if you power on two virtual machines each with 100GB
of configured memory, the vRAM usage for the virtual machines is 192GB.
Compliance Rules
No restriction exist for the number of virtual machines that can consume the available capacity in a vRAM
pool. No restriction exists on how virtual machines are distributed across all hosts in a vRAM pool either.
However, you must maintain the ESXi 5.0 in your environment in compliance with the vSphere 5.0 licensing
model.
Two requirements must be satisfied to maintain compliance with the vSphere 5.0 licensing model.
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Every physical processor in an ESXi host that runs vSphere 5.0 must be licensed.
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The 365-day moving average of daily high watermark of the vRAM usage for a vRAM pool must be equal
to or less than the amount of available vRAM capacity in the pool.
The 365-day moving average of daily high watermark for a vRAM pool is calculated by using the maximum
usage for the pool for each of the past 365 days to calculate the average value. You can track the 365-day moving
average by using the license reporting function in vCenter Server. To view the value of the 365-day moving
average for a vRAM pool, you can view the vRAM usage for the corresponding vSphere product edition for
a period of one year. Using the license reporting function, you can also set custom thresholds for the license
usage of particular products to get notifications when the license usage for the products exceeds certain limits.
For details about using the license reporting function in vCenter Server, see “Viewing License Use,” on
page 81
Because licensing compliance for vSphere 5.0 is based on the 365-day moving average, temporary peeks of
vRAM usage might exceed the total capacity that is available in a vRAM pool without making the pool out of
compliance. For example, suppose the vRAM usage for vSphere 5.0 Standard on the current date is 210GB,
and the available vRAM in the pool for vSphere 5.0 Standard is 200BG. However, the 365-day of moving
average for vSphere 5.0 Standard is 195GB and the vRAM pool for vSphere Standard is in compliance.
Chapter 7 License Management and Reporting
VMware, Inc. 71