vRAMbo: VMware Change Their Licensing Model

(Image by Santang)

The rumours were about last week of a change to VMware's controversial licensing model for vSphere 5 and last night those rumours turned out to be true.

The furore that erupted from some quarters was never going to pass the software giant by completely, and kudos to VMware they've gone and done something about it.

The whole change to the licensing model for vSphere 5 was a bit of a shock to many but VMware have decided to stick with it. The biggest changes that they announced last night were:

  • To adjust (increase) the vRAM entitlements for all editions of vSphere 5.
  • To introduce a cap on the vRAM for any single VM to 96GB so even the biggest VMs will only ever need a 96GB VRAM entitlement, even the ones upto 1TB in size!
  • To charge based on a 12 month average usage rather than for peak usage.

The question is, will this make a difference?

The feedback that I've seen so far has been mixed but mostly positive. The increase in vRAM entitlements seems to be the most talked about change and it will inevitably benefit a number (but not all) of VMware's customers who found themselves on the expensive side of a vSphere upgrade. There have been some naysayers though and a few FUD slingers too.

My opinion is that it's definitely a step in the right direction. Some may feel that they haven't gone far enough but I think that VMware will be keeping a close eye on this issue and could change licensing again if they need to. I think that the debate over entitlement levels is over for now. Rightly, there will be some continuing debate over whether vRAM is the right model to adopt but I for one want to move on and focus on the technology now.