For vSphere customers satisfied with their external storage solutions yet concerned about the recent cost increases following VMware’s acquisition by Broadcom, there’s good news: vSphere Enterprise Plus has been reintroduced.
This new vSphere Enterprise Plus SKU recently announced brings just the virtualization software that we all got used to over time. vSphere Enterprise features and vCenter Standard. Simple offering that should land cost wise a bit above vSphere Standard, and just below vSphere Foundations.
While vSphere Standard offers essential virtualization capabilities, vSphere Enterprise Plus provides advanced features like DRS and vDS, which are crucial for larger deployments requiring enhanced resource management and network configuration.
Why should you consider vSphere Enterprise Plus over vSphere Standard you may ask?
- DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) for Compute/Storage/GPU
- vDS (Distributed Switches)
- Virtual GPUs with Nvidia GRID
- VM Encryption
- Host Profiles
- NIOC (Network/Storage IO Controls)
- Support for Microsoft Device Guard and Credential Guard on Windows VMs
- Per-VM Enhanced Compatibility
- vSphere Trust Authority
- Proactive HA (High-Availability)
- Instant Clones (Mainly targeted for VDI)
- Up to 8-vCPU per VM Fault Tolerance
- Auto Deploy
If any of those features are currently leveraged or desired in your environment, then vSphere Enterprise Plus will be the clear choice. If none of them are being used, then vSphere Standard will do the trick at a lower cost.
In summary, vSphere Enterprise Plus reintroduces advanced features that can significantly enhance your virtualization environment capabilities. Evaluate your organization’s requirements to determine if upgrading from vSphere Standard to Enterprise Plus aligns with your operational goals and go from there…
