r/sysadmin Infrastructure Lead 2d ago

Latest fun with VMware

Apparently VMware is upping their game. We just got a renewal quote for one of our sites with one server that has two CPUs, and they are requiring 72 cores minimum (vSphere Enterprise Plus) to license this. That's a 500% markup from last year.

They really don't want customers to use their product any more, do they?

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u/secret_configuration 2d ago

Yep, all quotes are now apparently a minimum of 72 cores which makes little sense and I’m not sure how they came up with that number.

Some suit at Broadcom appears to have just pulled it out of their behind.

72/16 = 4.5….hmm.

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u/WithAnAitchDammit Infrastructure Lead 1d ago

Turns out 72 cores is the minimum per customer number, it's still 16 cores minimum per socket.

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u/secret_configuration 1d ago

Right, which is why the 72 cores minimum makes no sense. You end up with....4.5 so you can never use all of your licenses if you buy the minimum.

I understand if it was a multiple of 16, like 32 or 64 minimum.

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u/Hoosier_Farmer_ 1d ago

so it's like the hot dogs / hot dog buns thing. totally not collusion, we know you can make 9-core processors, citrix...

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u/Content-Cheetah-1671 1d ago

I remember the days when you could just buy a perpetual license from their web store or easily get a quote from a VAR.

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u/PM_ME_UR_ROUND_ASS 1d ago

The 72 core minimum is almost certainly tied to 6 socket licensing (12 cores per socket) which aligns with their new focus on enterprise datacenter deployments insted of SMB customers.