Centralized Vmware* Licensing - Intel S5000PAL Installation Manual

VMware* Infrastructure* 3 Installation Guide for VMware* ESXi* 3.5 Installable –
Intel Server Board S5000PAL
®
Figure 2 illustrates the three types of license environments.:
Figure 2 – License File Locations in Single-Host, Mixed, and Centralized Licensing Environments

Centralized VMware* Licensing

Centralized licensing simplifies license management in large, dynamic environments by allowing a VMware*
license server to administer licenses. With centralized licensing, VirtualCenter Server and ESXi licenses are
maintained from one console.
With centralized licensing, a license server manages a license pool, which is a central repository holding an
entire licensed entitlement. When a host requires a particular licensed function, the license for that
entitlement is checked out from the license pool. License keys return to the pool when they are no longer in
use and are available again to any host.
The advantages of centralized licensing include:
All licensing administered from a single location.
New licenses are allocated and reallocated by using any combination of ESXi form factors. For example,
the same 32-processor license can be used for sixteen 2-processor hosts, eight 4-processor hosts, four
8-processor hosts, two 16-processor hosts, or any combination totaling 32 processors.
Ongoing license management is simplified by allowing licenses to be assigned and reassigned as
needed. Assignment changes as the needs of an environment change, such as when hosts are added or
removed or premium features like VMotion*, DRS, or HA are transferred among hosts.
12