Licensing required for new vCenter HA feature?

[Bill_Oyler]

Does anyone know if any special level of licensing is needed to leverage the new vCenter HA feature in v6.5?  I know there are essentially (3) vCenter instances involved:

1) Active

2) Passive

3) Witness

Can a single license of vCenter Server support all (3) instances, or must additional licenses be purchased?

Also, does vCenter HA work with vCenter Foundation as well as vCenter Standard?

Thanks,

Bill

[rcporto · Accepted solution]

You will need vCenter Server Standard, see the key capabilities here: VMware Official Online Store Online Store - vCenter Server Editions

[Bill_Oyler]

Thanks!  Also, just to clarify, does vCenter Essentials (with the Essentials Plus Kit) support vCenter HA?

Bill

[rcporto]

The vSphere Essentials Plus includes the vCenter Foundation, so the answer to your question is NOT, you will not able to use vCenter HA, since vCenter Foundation do not include that feature.

[Bill_Oyler]

Technically, the vCenter included with Essentials Plus is called "vCenter Essentials" in the GUI, and it's a bit different from vCenter Foundation because it prevents you from connecting an ESXi host with any license key except for vSphere Essentials Plus.  vCenter Foundation, on the other hand, allows any version of ESXi host to be connected, as long as you don't exceed the 3 host maximum.  But it makes sense that both vCenter Foundation and vCenter Essentials do not support the new vCenter HA feature - thanks for the update!

[rcporto]

Yes, you're correct about the vCenter bundled with the vSphere Essentials... but the feature level will be almost the same as the vCenter Foundation.