Licensing question re. Log Insight and Windows Event Forwarding

[Salter_M]

Hi. I was wondering if there were any license implications for using Windows Event Forwarding to a Windows Event Collector, and then using Log Insight to collect events from that channel? Would I still only need a single license for the server that the LI Agent is running on, or are there implications because this server is collecting events from other devices before Log Insight? I've seen brief mention of doing this in the Agent Admin Guide under "Forward Events to the Log Insight Windows Agent", but not sure of the licensing.

Thanks

Mark

[billrothjr · Accepted solution]

The relevant discuss on page 25-26 of the latest product guide: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vmware-product-guide.pdf

“Operating Systems Instance” means a single installation of an operating system on a non-virtualized physical server or Virtual Machine. For the purposes of VMware vRealize Log Insight only, the definition of Operating Systems Instance also includes a single system identified by an IP address that has the ability to generate log messages, including but not limited to, virtualized physical servers, storage arrays and network devices.

See the license notes which say essentially:

You may use the Software for up to the number of Processors or Operating Systems Instances for which you have paid the applicable license fees. The number of Operating Systems Instances is calculated as the average number of Operating Systems Instances during the immediately preceding 365 calendar days. The Software must be licensed for the Processors or the Operating Systems Instances that are providing data, including any log file, to a centralized server or cluster of servers. A license is not required for :smileyinfo: installations of the Software that are solely for disaster recovery, VMware vRealize Log Insight online archive analysis, or additional members of a VMware vRealize Log Insight cluster; or (ii) a centralized VMware vRealize Log Insight server which is solely configured to collect data.

I'm not a lawyer, but those are the rules.

[Salter_M]

Thanks for the answer