Installation guide

ESX Server 3 Installation Guide
30 VMware, Inc.
VirtualCenter Server Editions
AtleastoneinstanceofaVirtualCenterlicenseisrequiredforVIFoundation,
VI Standard,andVIEnterpriseeditions.ThefollowingVirtualCentereditionsare
available:
 VirtualCenterFoundation–ThiseditionletsyoumanageuptothreeESX Server
hosts.Ifyouneedtomanagemorethanthreehosts,upgradetoVirtualCenter
edition.
 VirtualCenter–Thisisanenterpriseleveleditionthatletsyoumanageuptothe
systemmaximumnumberofhosts.Forinformationaboutsystemmaximums,see
ConfigurationMaximumsforVMwareInfrastructure 3.
TwotypesofFLEXnetlicensingareavailable:single‐hostandcentralized.
For VirtualCenter,alllicensesmustbecentralized.
Youcanconvert
VirtualCenterFoundationeditiontoVirtualCentereditionbyadding
anappropriatelicensefileandswitchingtheeditions.Thesoftwaredoesnotneedtobe
re‐installed.Forinformationonswitchingbetweentheeditions,see“Toconfigure
centralizedlicensingfortheVirtualCenter Server”onpage 50.
VirtualCenter and ESX Server 3 Licensing Model
Unlessyouareusingevaluationmode,softwarelicensesarerequiredformost
operationsinVirtualCenterandESX Server 3,suchasaddinghoststoyour
VirtualCenterinventory.However,youcaninstall,launch,andconfigureVirtualCenter
andESX Serverwithoutasoftwarelicense.See “RunningVMwareVirtualCenterand
VMware ESX Serverin EvaluationMode”onpage 41.Twomodes
oflicensingare
available:single‐hostandcentralized.
Single-Host and Centralized License Types
Forsingle‐hostlicenses,thelicensefilesarestoredonindividualESX Serverhosts.
Centralizedlicensesarestoredonalicenseserver,whichmakestheselicensesavailable
tooneormorehosts.Youcanrunamixedenvironmentusingbothsingle‐hostand
centralizedlicensing.
VirtualCenterandfeaturesthatrequireVirtualCenter,such
asVMotion,mustbe
licensedincentralizedmode.ESX Serverfeaturescanbelicensedineithercentralized
orsingle‐hostmode.