Cross vCenter vMotion licensing

[BelaLevai]

Hello Everyone,

As far as I know, cross vcenter vmotion was only available with enterprise plus licensing, which is know corresponds to the new vSphere Foundation, or VCF, subscription levels.

A customer plans to license hosts across multiple clusters with multiple vcenter servers with vSphere Standard (VVS), and one host in each cluster with vSphere Foundation (VVF), only for said cross-vcenter migration to work, even if only between those particular hosts.

This solution has worked in the past with traditional licenses, Ent+ on the "migration" hosts and standard on the others.
Does anyone can confirm if this still works with VVS and VVF?

Thanks

[Brisk]

I'm not sure if you can mix the licenses in the way you propose with the new licensing model. I suggest you reach out to a local partner or your VMware SE to get this sorted.

[markey165]

@BelaLevai - The docs confirm you do indeed need an Enterprise Plus license to use Cross vCenter vMotion under the old licensing model. However interestingly, you didn't need an Enterprise Plus license for Advanced Cross vCenter vMotion provided the VM is powered off.

The main difference between Cross vCenter vMotion and Advanced cross vCenter vMotion is that Advanced XVM allows you to vMotion between different SSO domains. See the docs link here for vSphere 7.0

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.vcenterhost.doc/GUID-DAD0C40A-7F66-...

In answer to the second half of your question, its a good question, and i doubt the specifics of this will be documented (at least not yet). My guess would be that it would work in the same way, primarily because you will be doing the import from VCF which would be sufficiently licensed, but it is just an educated guess.

You could try posting on William Lam's article about the new VVF and VCF offerings, as he would be a good bet as someone that would know the answer, or could find out. His blog post is here:

https://williamlam.com/2024/01/whats-in-the-new-vmware-vsphere-foundation-vvf-and-vmware-cloud-found...

HTH