On July 13, 2010, VMware has released the latest version of VMware vSphere 4.1. Customers can
register and download VMware vSphere 4 to evaluate the product for 60 days.
Product Pricing
In order to meet the needs of different customers, VMware vSphere 4 product suite comes in 4 editions - Standard, Advanced, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus. The VMware vSphere licenses include
VMware ESX or
VMware ESXi, and other advanced functions.
VMware vSphere license is based on the number of processors on the physical host. Each processor in a socket may contain multiple cores. ServiceTech can provide discounts for new VMware customers, qualified academic institutions, or volume purchase. To express appreciation to our clients, ServiceTech has gathered free third-party complementary software, and we can supply related information to our valued VMware customers.
VMware Infrastructure 3 Customers
Existing customers who wants to use additional VI3 servers should purchase the new VMware vSphere 4 licenses. ServiceTech can assist customers to downgrade the license keys for use in the respective VI3 editions. Customers should notice that the Foundation Edition in VMware Infrastructure 3 is no longer available in VMware vSphere 4. Customers can consider the small business editions as introduced below.
The following tables shows the functionalities of the different editions. VMware vCenter Server must be purchased separately to implement the advanced features marked with a (*).
| Standard | Advanced | Enterprise | Enterprise Plus |
|---|
| VMware ESX / VMware ESXi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| vCenter Server Compatibility | vCenter Server Foundation & Standard | vCenter Server Foundation & Standard | vCenter Server Foundation & Standard | vCenter Server Foundation & Standard |
| Cores Per Processor | 6 | 12 | 6 | 12 |
| vSMP Support | 4-way | 4-way | 4-way | 8-way |
| Memory/Physical Server | 256 GB | 256 GB | 256 GB | No license limit (vSphere 4 supports up to 1 TB) |
| Thin Provisioning | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VC Agent * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Update Manager * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VMSafe * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| vStorage APIs * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| High Availability (HA) * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Data Recovery * | | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hot Add | | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fault Tolerance * | | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| vShield Zones * | | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VMotion * | | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Storage VMotion * | | | Yes | Yes |
| DRS+DPM * | | | Yes | Yes |
| vNetwork Distributed Switch * | | | | Yes |
| Host Profiles * | | | | Yes |
| Third Party Multipathing * | | | | Yes |
| Price | Online Quotation |
VMware vCenter Server
VMware vCenter Server allows administrators to centrally manage servers and virtual machines in an effective manner, and acts as the user interface for the advanced features.
ServiceTech has developed a unique
SMS alert solution for customers with VMware vCenter Server. In addition to the default email notification, vCenter can use SMS to sent alarms to administrators automatically.
VMware Fault Tolerance (FT)
VMware Fault Tolerance is one of the most powerful new features in VMware vSphere 4. It provides continuous availability for applications in the event of server failures, by creating a live shadow instance of a virtual machine that is in virtual lockstep with the primary instance. VMware Fault Tolerance can protect homegrown applications, or custom applications which cannot be protected with traditional high availability products.
VMware vSphere 4 Small Business Editions
To cope with the needs of small businesses, VMware has created the Essentials and Essentials Plus editions. These editions provide an all-in-one solution for small offices as a low cost package, but has a limitation of up to 3 physical servers.
| Essentials | Essentials Plus |
|---|
| Centralized Management | vCenter Server for Essentials | vCenter Server for Essentials |
| Memory/Physical Server | 256 GB | 256 GB |
| Cores Per Processor | 6 | 6 |
| Processor Support | 3 servers with up to 2 processors each | 3 servers with up to 2 processors each |
Product Features | | |
|---|
| Thin Provisioning | Yes | Yes |
| Update Manager | Yes | Yes |
| vStorage APIs | Yes | Yes |
| Data Recovery | | Yes |
| High Availability (HA) | | Yes |
| VMotion | | Yes |
| Price | Online Quotation |
