VMware

This tool is designed to help you identify which edition of VMware vSphere is the most appropriate and cost-effective for your environment. We expect the process to take 2-3 minutes and to provide a clear product recommendation with helpful tips and purchase information.

 

 
Initial Questions  >   Refining Questions  >   Results
Infrastructure:

Are you interested in virtualizing your corporate data center or remote sites/branch offices?

Remote sites, such as regional offices, retail stores, branch offices, and manufacturing sites, present unique IT challenges from a traditional centralized corporate data center. Both are great candidates for virtualization, but each has its own specific requirements.

 

Remote sites/branch offices and corporate data centers typically have very different IT needs. If you are interested in virtualizing both your datacenter and Remote sites/branch offices, we recommend you complete the questionnare independently for both use cases.
Number of Branch Offices:

How many branch offices do you have or planning to have in the near future?

Branch offices include remote sites, retail stores, manufacturing plants, distribution centers, bank branches, regional offices, and other distributed IT centers.
Number of Workloads:

How many workloads will run in your virtualized environment now or in the near future?

How many workloads will run in each virtualized branch office now or in the near future?

VMware vSphere environments can run both existing workloads (consolidated from physical servers) and new workloads. Typically each workloads 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.
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.
Shared Storage:

Do you have, or plan to have, a shared storage environment?

Do you have, or plan to have, a shared storage environment in your branch offices?

vSphere's advanced features dramatically improve availability and uptime of applications. Many of these featuresrequire 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.

 

Shared storage is required for the level of availability you have selected. Please go back to change your availability selection if necessary.
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 8 vCPU:

Do you need to run high performance applications that require more than 8 processors?

Some applications need a great deal of processing power, and require more than eight processors. vSphere is able to present applications running in virtual machines with up to 32 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?

Available in certain editions of vSphere, vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) is a feature that intelligently allocates resources to virtual machines according to guidelines you set.
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 5 Essentials Kit

Cost-effective server consolidation and central management.

 

VMware vSphere 5 Essentials provides an all-in-one solution for small offices to consolidate and manage 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 Learn More

Your Result:
Essentials
 

VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus Kit

Server Consolidation and business continuity.

 

VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus provides an all-in-one solution for small offices to virtualize and 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 Learn more

Your Result:
Essentials Plus
 

 

VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus Kit

Server Consolidation and business continuity.

 

VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus provides an all-in-one solution for small offices to virtualize and 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

To take advantage of the full feature set of this edition you need shared storage. Given you answered that you do not have dedicated shared storage hardware, the vSphere Storage Appliance software can provide shared storage capabilities using the internal disks from servers.

vSphere Storage Appliance:

vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA) is a software-based solution that delivers shared storage capabilities without shared storage hardware. Easy to install and manage with vCenter Server, the VSA enables you to unlock the advanced features of vSphere, including high availability for your applications, without the complexity or cost of shared storage hardware.

VSA Home Page

Know Before You Buy Learn more

Your Result:
Essentials Plus
 OR
Essentials
 

 

VMware vSphere 5 Standard

Server Consolidation and no planned downtime.

 

VMware vSphere 5 Standard provides an entry solution for basic consolidation of applications to slash hardware costs while accelerating application deployment.

With VMware vSphere 5 Standard, 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 Learn more

Your Result:
Standard
 

 

VMware vSphere 5 Standard

Server Consolidation and no planned downtime.

 

VMware vSphere 5 Standard provides an entry solution for basic consolidation of applications to slash hardware costs while accelerating application deployment.

With VMware vSphere 5 Standard, 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

To take advantage of the full feature set of this edition you need shared storage. Given you answered that you do not have dedicated shared storage hardware, the vSphere Storage Appliance software can provide shared storage capabilities using the internal disks from servers.

vSphere Storage Appliance:

vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA) is a software-based solution that delivers shared storage capabilities without shared storage hardware. Easy to install and manage with vCenter Server, the VSA enables you to unlock the advanced features of vSphere, including high availability for your applications, without the complexity or cost of shared storage hardware.

VSA Home Page

Know Before You Buy Learn more

Your Result:
Standard
 

 

vSphere 5 Enterprise

Powerful & efficient resource management.

 

VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise provides powerful and efficient resource management while protecting all applications from planned and unplanned downtime.

With vSphere 5 Enterprise 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 Learn More

Your Result:
Advanced
 

 

vSphere 5 Enterprise

Powerful & efficient resource management.

 

VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise provides powerful and efficient resource management while protecting all applications from planned and unplanned downtime.

With vSphere 5 Enterprise 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

To take advantage of the full feature set of this edition you need shared storage. Given you answered that you do not have dedicated shared storage hardware, the vSphere Storage Appliance software can provide shared storage capabilities using the internal disks from servers.

vSphere Storage Appliance:

vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA) is a software-based solution that delivers shared storage capabilities without shared storage hardware. Easy to install and manage with vCenter Server, the VSA enables you to unlock the advanced features of vSphere, including high availability for your applications, without the complexity or cost of shared storage hardware.

VSA Home Page

Know Before You Buy Learn More

Your Result:
Advanced
 

 

VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise Plus

Policy-based datacenter automation.

 

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 5 Enterprise Plus, 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 Learn more

Your Result:
Enterprise Plus
 

 

VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise Plus

Policy-based datacenter automation.

 

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 5 Enterprise Plus, 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

To take advantage of the full feature set of this edition you need shared storage. Given you answered that you do not have dedicated shared storage hardware, the vSphere Storage Appliance software can provide shared storage capabilities using the internal disks from servers.

vSphere Storage Appliance:

vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA) is a software-based solution that delivers shared storage capabilities without shared storage hardware. Easy to install and manage with vCenter Server, the VSA enables you to unlock the advanced features of vSphere, including high availability for your applications, without the complexity or cost of shared storage hardware.

VSA Home Page

Know Before You Buy Learn more

Your Result:
Enterprise Plus
 
Please answer the question before proceeding.

 

VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus for Retail and Branch Offices

Virtualize Your Retail Locations or Branch Offices

 

VMware offers this vSphere 5 edition for Mid-size and Enterprise customers to virtualize their distributed small office deployments, such as their retail locations or branch offices (ROBO). It provides the flexibility to manage the remote locations locally or from a central location. The Essentials Plus edition includes VMware vCenter Server for Essentials for locally managing up to 3 hosts, vSphere Update Manager for automated host and guest patching, vSphere HA for automated VM restart in case of server failure, and vSphere Data Recovery for backup.

VMware vSphere Essentials Plus for Retail and Branch Offices includes:

  • 6 licenses of VMware vSphere Essentials Plus for use on up to 3 hosts per site
  • VMware vCenter Server for Essentials (manage up to 3 hosts)
  • vSphere HA
  • vSphere Data Recovery
  • vSphere Update Manager
  • vSphere Virtual Machine File System (VMFS)
  • vSphere Symmetric Multi Processing (vSMP)
  • VMware vCenter Server Agents, with rights to centrally manage from vCenter Server Standard Edition (vCenter Server Standard Edition must be acquired separately)

Note:

  • Minimum initial purchase size of 10 packages is required (1 Starter Kit includes licenses for 10 sites).
  • To purchase more than 10, purchase the Add-On in increments of 1 package each.

Example:To virtualize 25 branch offices, purchase 1 Starter Kit and 15 Add-Ons.

Your Result:
Essentials Plus for ROBO
 

 

VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus for Retail and Branch Offices

Virtualize Your Retail Locations or Branch Offices

 

VMware offers this vSphere 5 edition for Mid-size and Enterprise customers to virtualize their distributed small office deployments, such as their retail locations or branch offices (ROBO). It provides the flexibility to manage the remote locations locally or from a central location. The Essentials Plus edition includes VMware vCenter Server for Essentials for locally managing up to 3 hosts, vSphere Update Manager for automated host and guest patching, vSphere HA for automated VM restart in case of server failure, and vSphere Data Recovery for backup.

VMware vSphere Essentials Plus for Retail and Branch Offices includes:

  • VMware vCenter Server for Essentials (manage up to 3 hosts)
  • vSphere HA
  • vSphere Data Recovery
  • vSphere Update Manager
  • vSphere Virtual Machine File System (VMFS)
  • vSphere Symmetric Multi Processing (vSMP)
  • VMware vCenter Server Agents, with rights to centrally manage from vCenter Server Standard Edition (vCenter Server Standard Edition must be acquired separately)

Note:

  • Minimum initial purchase size of 10 packages is required (1 Starter Kit includes licenses for 10 sites).
  • To purchase more than 10, purchase the Add-On in increments of 1 package each.

Example:To virtualize 25 branch offices, purchase 1 Starter Kit and 15 Add-Ons.

To take advantage of the full feature set of this edition you need shared storage. Given you answered that you do not have dedicated shared storage hardware, the vSphere Storage Appliance software can provide shared storage capabilities using the internal disks from servers.

vSphere Storage Appliance:

vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA) is a software-based solution that delivers shared storage capabilities without shared storage hardware. Easy to install and manage with vCenter Server, the VSA enables you to unlock the advanced features of vSphere, including high availability for your applications, without the complexity or cost of shared storage hardware.

VSA Home Page

Your Result:
Essentials Plus for ROBO
 OR
Essentials for ROBO
 

 

VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus Kit

Virtualize Your Retail Locations or Branch Offices

 

VMware offers this vSphere 5 edition for Mid-size and Enterprise customers to virtualize their distributed small office deployments, such as their retail locations or branch offices (ROBO). It provides the flexibility to manage the remote locations locally or from a central location. The Essentials edition includes VMware vCenter Server for Essentials for locally managing up to 3 hosts and VMware Update Manager for automated host and guest patching.

VMware vSphere Essentials for Retail and Branch Offices includes:

  • VMware vCenter Server for Essentials (manage up to 3 hosts)
  • vSphere HA
  • vSphere Data Recovery/li>
  • vSphere Update Manager
  • vSphere Virtual Machine File System (VMFS)
  • vSphere Symmetric Multi Processing (vSMP)
  • VMware vCenter Server Agents, with rights to centrally manage from vCenter Server Standard Edition (vCenter Server Standard Edition must be acquired separately)

Note:

  • Minimum initial purchase size of 10 packages is required (1 Starter Kit includes licenses for 10 sites).
  • To purchase more than 10, purchase the Add-On in increments of 1 package each.

Example:To virtualize 25 branch offices, purchase 1 Starter Kit and 15 Add-Ons.

Your Result:
Essentials for ROBO
 

 

VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus Kit

Virtualize Your Retail Locations or Branch Offices

 

VMware offers this vSphere 5 edition for Mid-size and Enterprise customers to virtualize their distributed small office deployments, such as their retail locations or branch offices (ROBO). It provides the flexibility to manage the remote locations locally or from a central location. The Essentials edition includes VMware vCenter Server for Essentials for locally managing up to 3 hosts and VMware Update Manager for automated host and guest patching.

VMware vSphere Essentials for Retail and Branch Offices includes:

  • VMware vCenter Server for Essentials (manage up to 3 hosts)
  • vSphere HA
  • vSphere Data Recovery/li>
  • vSphere Update Manager
  • vSphere Virtual Machine File System (VMFS)
  • vSphere Symmetric Multi Processing (vSMP)
  • VMware vCenter Server Agents, with rights to centrally manage from vCenter Server Standard Edition (vCenter Server Standard Edition must be acquired separately)

Note:

  • Minimum initial purchase size of 10 packages is required (1 Starter Kit includes licenses for 10 sites).
  • To purchase more than 10, purchase the Add-On in increments of 1 package each.

Example:To virtualize 25 branch offices, purchase 1 Starter Kit and 15 Add-Ons.

Your Result:
Essentials for ROBO
 

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.

Know Before You Buy:

  • A separate purchase of VMware vCenter Server is required. (A single instance of vCenter Server 5.0 manages up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines.)
  • You can purchase vSphere 5 Enterprise Plus as individual licenses or as part of a bundle discount called an Acceleration Kit. The VMware vSphere 5 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.

Know Before You Buy:

  • A separate purchase of VMware vCenter Server is required. (A single instance of vCenter Server 5 manages up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines.)
  • You can purchase vSphere 5 Enterprise as individual licenses or as part of a bundle discount called an Acceleration Kit. The VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise Acceleration Kit includes a number of licenses and one instance of VMware vCenter Server.

Know Before You Buy:

  • A separate purchase of VMware vCenter Server is required. (A single instance of vCenter Server 5.0 manages up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines.)
  • You can purchase vSphere 5 Standard as individual licenses or as part of a bundle discount called an Acceleration Kit. The VMware vSphere 5 Standard Acceleration Kit includes a number of licenses and one instance of VMware vCenter Server.

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.

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