VMware vSphere Edition Comparison and Features Introduction

Brief Introduction to VMware vSphere

VMware vSphere is the industry’s leading server virtualization software that creates and runs full-scale virtual machines and Kubernetes instances. It consists of ESXi hypervisor, vCenter Server, and other components and technologies that work together to provide a complete infrastructure for virtualization. For comparison between vSphere, vCenter and ESXi you can refer to: VMware vSphere vs vCenter vs ESXi.

As IT infrastructures become more complex due to the exponential growth of businesses, the number of licenses, editions, and latest features offered by VMware vSphere has increased. As a result, users may be confused by these editions.

In this article, I will provide a VMware vSphere edition comparison and introduce their main features. Before that, you may want to review the vSphere version releases.

Quick Review: VMware vSphere Versions Releases

Starting from 2009, VMware has released 9 versions of vSphere.

As you can see, VMware vSphere 7.0 is the latest version of them. And after 2 years of updates, it’s complete and stable except for releasing native VMware backup solutions. Therefore, it is recommended to update to VMware vSphere 7.0 as long as there is no special need.

And in this article, I will also compare vSphere editions of 7.0's main features as an example.

4 Main Editions of VMware vSphere 7

With the release of VMware vSphere 7.0, there have been several changes in licensing, such as the updates to per-CPU pricing model. Under the new model, 1 CPU license covers up to 32 physical cores in a single CPU. If the CPU has more than 32 cores, additional licenses (per-CPU) are required.

When purchasing a license, you can choose between the following 4 main editions:

vSphere Essential Kit

• All-in-one solution for small offices (up to 3 hosts with up to 2 CPUs each).
• Server virtualization and consolidation with centralized management to reduce hardware and operating costs.
• Simplify software upgrades, patching and firmware updates.
• Includes vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) and vCenter Server Essentials.

vSphere Essential Plus Kit

• Provide business continuity and always-available IT.
• Save on IT hardware costs.
• Improve service levels and application quality.
• Strengthen security and data protection.
• Includes vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), vCenter Server Essentials. vSphere Data Protection, vSphere High Availability (HA), vSphere vMotion, Cross Switch vMotion, vSphere vShield Endpoint and vSphere Replication.

vSphere Standard

• Entry-level solution for basic server consolidation.
• Next-Gen Infrastructure Image Management.
• Reduce hardware cost while accelerating application deployment.
• Includes vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), vSphere vMotion, vSphere High Availability (HA), vSphere vShield Endpoint and vSphere Replication.

vSphere Enterprise Plus

• Full range of features for transforming data centers into simplified cloud infrastructures.
• Data-at-rest encryption for virtual machine data and disks.
• Run modern applications with the next generation of flexible, reliable IT services.
• Includes vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), vSphere vMotion, vSphere High Availability (HA), vSphere Trust Authority, vSphere vShield Endpoint, VM encryption and vSphere Replication.

VMware vSphere Editions Comparison Table

After a brief introduction to the editions of vSphere 7.0, you may still need know how they differs in features in order to choose between them.

Here I provide a vSphere editions comparison table of the 4 main editions: vSphere 7 Standard vs Enterprise Plus vs Essentials vs Essentials Plus.

Licensing Matrix in VMware vSphere

VMware vSphere offers various licensing options to accommodate different needs and environments. Here are some of the main licensing options available:

1. Per CPU: This is the traditional licensing model for vSphere, where you purchase licenses based on the number of physical CPUs (sockets) in your hosts. Each CPU requires a separate license, regardless of the number of cores it has.

2. vRAM Entitlement: In earlier versions of vSphere, VMware used a vRAM entitlement model, where the license was based on the amount of allocated virtual RAM (vRAM) across your virtual machines. However, starting from vSphere 5.0, VMware removed the vRAM entitlement limitation.

3. vSphere Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Platinum Editions: VMware offers different editions of vSphere with varying feature sets. Each edition comes with its own licensing model and capabilities. These editions include vSphere Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Platinum.

4. vSphere with Operations Management (vSOM): vSOM combines the vSphere Enterprise Plus edition with vRealize Operations for virtual infrastructure management. It provides advanced monitoring, capacity planning, and performance optimization capabilities. The licensing for vSOM is typically based on the number of physical CPUs.

5. vSphere Remote Office Branch Office (ROBO) Editions: VMware offers specific licensing editions for remote office and branch office environments. These editions, such as vSphere ROBO Standard and Advanced, are designed to meet the needs of smaller, distributed environments.

6. VMware Cloud on AWS: VMware also offers a licensing model for running vSphere-based environments on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform. The licensing for VMware Cloud on AWS is based on a subscription model that includes software and cloud resources.

✐ Note: Licensing models and options may evolve over time

How to Choose a Suitable vSphere Edition

As you can see from the above VMware vSphere edition comparison table, vSphere 7 Enterprise Plus is the most comprehensive, but many of its unique features are not very useful for individual users or small businesses.

Therefore, if you are an individual user who want to try out vSphere basic features, vSphere Essentials or Essentials Plus will be enough. As for small or medium-sized enterprises, vSphere 7 Standard Edition will better meet the business needs. And for large organizations, the comprehensive edition of vSphere 7 Enterprise Plus can better improve productivity and business continuity.

VMware vCenter Server Editions

VMware offers different editions of vCenter Server. These editions cater to varying management requirements. Let's explore the key vCenter Server editions:

• vCenter Server Foundation: Designed for small environments, this edition provides essential management capabilities. It supports up to four vSphere hosts and offers features like centralized management, vSphere High Availability (HA), and vSphere vMotion for live virtual machine migration.
• vCenter Server Standard: Suited for medium to large environments, the Standard edition offers advanced management features and scalability. It supports an unlimited number of hosts and provides additional functionalities such as vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) for automated workload balancing, vSphere Storage DRS for automated storage management, and vSphere Update Manager for patching and updating.
• vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA): VMware also offers vCenter Server as a pre-configured virtual appliance known as VCSA. VCSA is available in both Foundation and Standard editions and provides the same management features as their corresponding editions mentioned above.

When selecting a vCenter Server edition, consider factors such as the size of your environment, desired management features, and scalability needs.

Efficient VMware vSphere Backup Solution - AOMEI Cyber Backup

As you can see from the vSphere releases table, VMware no longer provides official application for image-level backups, but instead focus on refining vStorage APIs. So regardless of which vSphere 7 edition you choose, you will need to find a third-party backup software to protect your VM data.

And if you use the free VMware ESXi, your options for VM backup and restore may be limited by not supporting vStorage APIs. You may need to find a backup tool that supports the free ESXi.

Here I recommend you an easy yet professional VMware backup solution - AOMEI Cyber Backup. It supports both paid and free versions of VMware ESXi, allowing you to protect your VMware vSphere VMs in 3 simple steps.

✦ Flexible vSphere Backup: batch backup large numbers of VMs managed by vCenter Server, or multiple VMs on a standalone ESXi host.
✦ Auto Backup Schedule: you can create an automatic VM backup schedule to perform the task daily, weekly, monthly.
✦ Restore from Any Point: capable of restoring entire VM from any backed up history versions.
✦ Role Assignment: allows one administrator to create sub-accounts with limited privileges, effectively reduce human errors.
✦ Supported Versions: centrally manage VMs on VMware vSphere/ESXi 6.0 and later versions

Next, I will demonstrate how to create an automatic backup task that covers multiple VMs. You can click the button below to enjoy the free trial:

✍ You can choose to install this VM backup software on either Windows or Linux system.

3 simple steps to backup multiple VMs in VMware vSphere

1. Bind Devices: Access AOMEI Cyber Backup web client, navigate to Source Device > VMware > + Add VMware Device to Add vCenter or Standalone ESXi, and then click … > Bind Device.

Note: Once bound the host you do not need to repeat this step later.

2. Create Backup Task: Navigate to Backup Task > + Create New Task, select the Backup Method as VMware ESXi Backup, and then set the Task Name, Device, Target, Schedule and Backup Cleanup.

• Device: you can select multiple VMs from added vCenter Server or standalone ESXi host.
• Target: back up to local path or network path. Used paths will be saved in Favorite Storage for handy selection.

• Schedule: performing full, differential or incremental backup, and automate execution daily, weekly or monthly according to the frequency you specified.
• Backup cleanup: set up a retention policy to auto delete old backup files and save your storage space.

Now you can click Start Backup and select to Add the schedule and start backup now, or Add the schedule only.

3. Restore VM: Click … > Restore on the backup task to open a wizard, and click Select Content to specify a restore point. Click Start Restore to execute the restoration.

✐ Restore to new location: You can choose to restore the backup from any history version, and create an identical new VM in the same or another datastore/host.

Summary

If you want to choose the popular product VMware vSphere but are confused by the complexity of features and editions, this article provides a table of VMware vSphere edition comparison. Hopefully, it will be helpful to you.

In addition, after creating a virtual machine with VMware ESXi, you will need an effective solution to backup VMware ESXi VM data. AOMEI Cyber Backup definitely worth a try.