Core Questions → Additional Questions → Results
Number of Applications:
How many applications will run in your virtualized environment now or in the near future?
VMware vSphere environments can run both existing applications (consolidated from physical servers) and new applications. Typically each application instance and its OS are encapsulated inside a virtual machine. Select the range that best represents the total number of virtual machines that will be concurrently running at any given time in your environment, taking into consideration room for future growth.
Shared Storage:
Do you have, or plan to have, a shared storage environment?
vSphere's advanced features dramatically improve availability and uptime of applications. Many of these features require shared storage such as fibre channel SAN, iSCSI SAN, and NAS. Select "unsure" if you currently do not have a shared storage system but may consider one in the future.
Availability Level:
What is the required level of availability for the most critical service to be virtualized?
Features in more advanced editions of vSphere are able to decrease downtime and increase reliability for all applications running in a virtual machine, regardless of operating system or underlying hardware configuration. Third party clustering software can be used with or without these features. Select the option that best describes your present or anticipated service level requirements.
Greater than 2 CPUs per server:
Will any physical servers have more than 2 sockets/processors?
vSphere is able to run on servers with multiple processors. However some editions of vSphere designed for small IT environments are restricted to two-socket servers. Indicate below whether servers with more than two sockets/processors will be used. Select "unsure" if you do not want this to limit the recommended vSphere edition.
More than 6 cores/CPU:
Do you want your licenses to support servers with more than 6 cores per processor, delivering higher performance and consolidation ratios?
The more advanced editions of vSphere are licensed to work with up to 12 cores per processor, while the other editions support up to 6 cores per processor. If you feel that you may be upgrading to servers with more than 6 cores in the future, consider selecting "yes".
More than 4 vCPU:
Do you need to run high performance applications that require more than 4 processors?
Some applications need a great deal of processing power, and require more than four processors. vSphere is able to present applications running in virtual machines with up to eight virtual processors. Indicate below whether any such applications will be run in vSphere. Select "unsure" if you do not want this to influence the recommended edition of vSphere.
Distributed Resource Scheduling:
Do you want your IT infrastructure to dynamically allocate and balance computing resources to optimize performance or power consumption?
VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) is a feature available in certain editions of vSphere that intelligently allocates resources to virtual machines according to guidelines you set. In addition to allowing for greater consolidation, reduced operational overhead, and increasing service levels for all applications, DRS paves the way to reduce power consumption during periods of low utilization using Dynamic Power Management (DPM).
vNetwork Distributed Switch:
Do you want to simplify virtual machine networking with a centralized interface or extend familiar physical network features and controls to your virtual networks using a third party virtual switch?
Certain editions of vSphere provide a central point of control to manage virtual machine networking across many servers and maintain network runtime state for virtual machines when they live migrate from server to server. This also enables the use of (optional) third party virtual switches such as the Cisco Nexus 1000v* to extend familiar physical network features and controls to virtual networks.
* The Cisco Nexus 1000v is not included with vSphere
Third-party Multipathing:
Do you want to enhance performance and reliability of your storage network using multipathing?
vSphere provides the option to use either the native storage multipathing module provided by VMware or third party multipathing extensions modules. Multipathing extensions modules from VMware storage partners can offer additional functionality for enhanced performance and availability as well as optimizations for specific storage arrays. (Check with your storage vendor to determine if they provide a multipathing extensions module for vSphere.)
Memory Requirements:
Do you use or plan to use more than 256GB of memory to achieve unparalleled performance and consolidation ratios through physical servers?
Certain editions of vSphere support physical servers with over 256GB of memory. If you feel that you may be upgrading to high performance servers with more than 256GB in the near future, consider selecting "yes".
VMware vSphere 4 Essentials Bundle
Cost-effective server consolidation and management for small offices.
VMware vSphere 4 Essentials provides an all-in-one solution for small offices to virtualize three physical servers for consolidating and managing applications to reduce hardware and operating costs with a low up front investment.
With vSphere Essentials, you can:
- Reduce capital and operating costs by over 50%
- Cut the deployment time of new servers from weeks to hours
- Centrally monitor and control servers and virtual machines from a single pane of glass
- Automate operations to improve IT responsiveness
Know Before You Buy:
- This edition is a self-contained solution designed for small IT environments with fewer than 20 physical servers.
- May not be decoupled or combined with other vSphere or vCenter editions.
- Limited to use with up to three physical servers, each with up to two processors.
Your Result:
Essentials
VMware vSphere 4 Essentials Plus Bundle
Cost-effective availability and data protection for small offices.
VMware vSphere 4 Essentials Plus provides an all-in-one solution for small offices to virtualize three physical servers to reduce hardware costs while ensuring superior high application availability and data protection.
With vSphere Essentials Plus, you can:
- Reduce capital and operating costs by over 50%
- Improve availability and uptime for business critical application
- Cut the deployment time of new servers from weeks to hours
Know Before You Buy:
- This edition is a self-contained solution designed for small IT environments with fewer than 20 physical servers.
- May not be decoupled or combined with other vSphere or vCenter editions.
- Limited to use with up to three physical servers, each with up to two processors.
Your Result:
Essentials Plus
VMware vSphere 4 Standard Edition
Cost-effective server consolidation.
VMware vSphere 4 Standard provides an entry solution for basic consolidation of applications to slash hardware costs while accelerating application deployment.
With VMware vSphere 4 Standard Edition, you can:
- Reduce capital and operating costs by over 50%
- Rapidly deploy and decommission servers for application testing
- Cut the deployment time of new servers from weeks to hours
Know Before You Buy:
A separate purchase of VMware vCenter Server is required. (A single instance of vCenter Server 4.0 manages up to 300 hosts and 3,000 virtual machines.)
Your Result:
Standard
VMware vSphere 4 Advanced Edition
The strategic consolidation solution that protects applications and data.
VMware vSphere 4 Advanced Edition provides a strategic consolidation solution that protects all applications against planned and unplanned downtime to provide superior application availability.
With VMware vSphere 4 Advanced, you can:
- Reduce capital and operating costs by over 50%
- Rapidly deploy and decommission servers for application testing
- Improve availability and uptime for business critical applications
- Cut the deployment time of new servers from weeks to hours
Know Before You Buy:
- A separate purchase of VMware vCenter Server is required. (A single instance of vCenter Server 4.0 manages up to 300 hosts and 3,000 virtual machines.)
- You can purchase VMware vSphere 4 Advanced Edition as an individual license or as part of a bundle discount called an Acceleration Kit. The VMware vSphere 4 Advanced Acceleration Kit includes a number of licenses and one instance of VMware vCenter Server.
Your Result:
Advanced
VMware vSphere 4 Enterprise Plus Edition
The best platform for building out cloud infrastructures.
VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus includes the full range of vSphere features for transforming datacenters into dramatically simplified cloud computing environments providing the next generation of flexible, reliable IT services.
With VMware vSphere 4 Enterprise Plus Edtion, you can:
- Reduce capital and operating costs by over 50%
- Rapidly deploy and decommission servers for application testing
- Improve availability and uptime for business critical applications
- Cut the deployment time of new servers from weeks to hours
- Simplify the operational management of large virtualization deployments
- Integrate across a broad range of hardware, operating systems, application stacks, and service providers
Know Before You Buy:
- A separate purchase of VMware vCenter Server is required. (A single instance of vCenter Server 4.0 manages up to 300 hosts and 3,000 virtual machines.)
- You can purchase vSphere 4 Enterprise Plus as individual licenses or as part of a bundle discount called an Acceleration Kit. The VMware vSphere 4 Enterprise Plus Acceleration Kit includes a number of licenses and one instance of VMware vCenter Server. We have also created a bundle that includes the Cisco Nexus 1000v network switch software.
Your Result:
Enterprise Plus
Your current result:
Enterprise Plus
Please answer the question before proceeding.
Your Answers
