vRAM Entitlements Changed - Thanks VMware!

Looks like VMware listened to all of the negative feedback and lashings they received from their customer base regarding the new vRAM Entitlement licensing model.  Though they didn’t move away from it, instead they increased the entitlements by 2X for all of the license levels except for Essentials/Essentials Plus and Standard, which went from 24GB to 32GB.  Along with the complaints from customers, there were also complaints from those of us who have unlicensed home labs and use vSphere Hypervisor.  The original entitlement for the free hypervisor was 8GB and is now being extended to 32GB.

What does this mean for the VMware community?  In my opinion this means that VMware cares enough to respond.  I know I sound like a fanboy but seriously, the company listened and compromised.  Compromise is better than sticking it to you…Many people have commented regarding that this doesn’t fix anything.  I am not so sure about that.

Another important change brought to the table for the licensing model is the change in calculation of vRAM usage.  Instead of consistent usage probing, it is now based on a 12-month average.  This is great for those of us using VMware for development environments which only spin-up a few weeks at a time.  This means that we will not be penalized for part-time VMs.

The biggest cost savings brought on with the change is the choice by VMware to cap the amount of vRAM that counts towards the customer’s entitlement to 96GB per virtual machine.  This allows someone, although not sure who would do this, to allocate a VM with one terrabyte of vRAM but only pay for 96GB from their vRAM entitlement.

What does this mean about VMware licensing?  Not quite sure except for the fact that we see that VMware is still a BUSINESS and not a charity.  Yes, technology has changed…yes, RAM is getting cheaper and machines are able to use more RAM than before…yes, we continue to push virtualization to its limits…but, VMware still needs to see that their future is cohesive with the movement of technology and that they keep a steady revenue stream.  This is not as bad as it seems, it may look that way but try to remember that they are a business and businesses need to make money.  They have attempted to answer the calls from the customers and have come to a compromise.  VMware has brought technologies to the table that have brought innovations into our datacenters and businesses.  Because of their technologies we are able to provide a better bottom dollar to our companies, just try to understand…

On a closing note, I definitely hope that VMware continues to look at what they have started with the new licensing and continue to make modifications and tweak the licensing enough for people to see more value.