Available number of CPUs

[JackYks]

Hi,

i installed vSpere 5.5 and  within 60 days period  created (among others) a guest VM  Windows Server 2003 64bit with 12 CPUs (host has 2 sockets with 8 cores per each). It worked fine. Today i put ESXi license key and recieved "unsufficient licenses" message. It permits only 8 CPUs per VM. First of all it had to warn about limitations earlier :smileyshocked:, and what license should i have for a 12CPUs VM?

[schepp]

Hi,

the limitation of 8 vCPU per VM is stated on the Free ESXi page: Free Virtualization with VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) | United States

By the way: 8 vCPU was an Enterprise feature in vSphere 4, so it's not too bad for the free version

With ESXi 5.5, any paid version will allow you unlimited vCPU per VM (Physical host must have enough cores to provide it ofc.)

Regards

[Atul_gen]

vSphere Hypervisor  edition(free version) supports max 8 CPUs per VM.If you want use more cpu per vm, then you need to use other edition (std,ent,ent+ etc).

[Jayden56]

Hi

Welcome to the communities.

Please share cpu details and what core it is ?

you may refer cpu configuration from below.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=101018...

[Atul_gen]

CPU and core details are already shared as per comment #1.That host host has 2 sockets with 8 cores per each.It means, there are total virtual cpu (2*8=16) so we can create a vm with 16 virtual cpu.But it is not supported with hypervisor edition license bcoz this free version license.We can use max 8 cpu per vm.if we want to use more cpu for a vm then need to buy paid license edition.

Thanks,

Atul

[Shrikant_Gavhan · Accepted solution]

Hi Jack,

Please check the below table for more information. Hope it helps you.

Product: VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise	Product: VMware vSphere 5 Standard	Product: Evaluation Mode
Product Features:	Product Features:	Product Features:
Up to 32-way virtual SMP	Up to 8-way virtual SMP	Up to 64-way virtual SMP
vCenter agent for VMware host	vCenter agent for VMware host	vCenter agent for VMware host
vShield Endpoint	vSphere Storage vMotion	vShield Endpoint
vSphere Replication	vShield Zones	vSphere Replication
vSphere API	vSphere FT	SR-IOV
Storage APIs	Hot-Pluggable virtual HW	vSphere API
VMsafe	vShield Endpoint	Storage APIs
vSphere HA	vSphere Replication	VMsafe
Hot-Pluggable virtual HW	vSphere API	vSphere HA
vSphere vMotion	Storage APIs	Hot-Pluggable virtual HW
vSphere FT	VMsafe	vSphere vMotion
vSphere Data Protection	vSphere HA	vSphere FT
vShield Zones	vSphere Data Protection	vSphere Data Protection
vSphere DRS	vSphere vMotion	vShield Zones
vSphere Storage vMotion	Shared Smart Card Reader	vSphere DRS
MPIO / Third-Party Multi-Pathing		vSphere Storage vMotion
Remote virtual Serial Port Concentrator		MPIO / Third-Party Multi-Pathing
vSphere Storage APIs for Array Integration		vSphere Distributed Switch
Shared Smart Card Reader		vSphere Host Profiles
		Remote virtual Serial Port Concentrator
		vSphere Storage I/O Control
		Direct Path vMotion
		vSphere Storage APIs for Array Integration
		Shared Smart Card Reader
		vSphere Storage DRS
		vSphere Profile-Driven Storage
		vSphere vMotion Metro
		vSphere Auto Deploy
		vSphere View Accelerator

[Shrikant_Gavhan]

here is some more info,

Hypervisor (Free)

Essentials

Essentials Plus

Standard

Enterprise

Enterprise Plus

5.x

5

5.1 5.5

5

5.1 5.5

5

5.1 5.5

5

5.1 5.5

5

5.1 5.5

Maximum virtual SMP

8-way

8-way

8-way

See Note

8-way

8-way

See Note

8-way

8-way

See Note

8-way

32-way

See Note

32-way

64-way

See Note

[JackYks]

Thank you, but the paradox is -  Microsoft licenses Windows 2003 SBS  only for 2-processors unit, but licensed processor may have hyperthreading and several cores (about cores - not sure). VMWare considers Threads, Cores as CPU. So my host (guests -  Windows 2003 Terminal server with 8 CPUs + Windows 2003 SBS with 2 CPUs) will have extra 6 idle CPUs.