cadams
(Corey_A)
1
We have used VMWare for years and have loved the product and would continue to … Until now.
Our current infrastructure is due for replacement/upgrade but wanted to reutilize the current setup in another location as a DR setup. We have been renewing our VMWare support regularly and wanted to get a quote for the upcoming renewal… I was not ready for this.
We have 3 EXI hosts along with vSan and our renewal last year was $7500… not a problem.
Now that Broadcom has taken over the same renewal has been quoted at $49,000 … what are they smoking?
They have forced us and a bet thousands of other users to look elsewhere because they have priced us out… VMWare was great for the last 20yrs that i have used them but now on to other products.
This is the death of VMWare.
@VMware
19 Spice ups
adrian_ych
(adrian_ych)
2
Did you get a quote for 3yrs or 5yrs renewal or a quote for 3yrs or 5yrs subscription ?
There was other posts where people got new subscriptions as VMware is moving towards subscription based licensing and that is as good as “buy new” while forcing current customers to drop or waste their current VMware Perpetual licenses.
Then there are some vendors that also just keep saying that you cannot renew current maintenance for the next 3 yrs which is not true as VMware only dropped the basic maintenance plan to have the production maintenance plans .
The truth is that VMware 7.x will EOL ion 2027 while most of the current VMware licenses would have options to go to VMware 8.x. And that according to the T&Cs or ELUA etc, would still be entitled to updates (not upgrades) beyond your license entitlements.
So you would basically have 3 options…
- Stay with VMware 7.x (with or without maintenance)
- Stay with VMware 8.x (with or without maintenance)
- Drop your perpetual license and move on to annual subscription
For me, I am choosing option 1 as for now but I have downloaded the VMware 8.x and prepared to move to VMware 8.x within the next 6 months. When my VMware Maintenance expires in 35 months, I would then see what is VMware’s move as they might reverse their decision when their customer base drops dramatically within the next 2-3 years. Else I may just use them VMwware 7.x or 8.x till it goes EOL
2 Spice ups
I renewed early because I was expecting this type of stuff. Now I have 3 years to figure out what I want to do.
5 Spice ups
Wish our VMWare yearly costs were only $50,000.00 before the bump…have a call today with them about what it’s going to cost us for this years renewal…Not optimistic.
1 Spice up
Rod-IT
(Rod-IT)
5
Not the first topic of this kind and wont be the last.
3 Spice ups
robert-zed
(Robert Zed)
6
If you have received your renewal already then it will still be honored and you should take the 3 year option. If not then it all has to be redone. If you have vSphere Enterprise or Enterprise Plus they will become vSphere Foundation. Standard stays the same. for Essentials they all become Essentials Plus.
Crazy. This is obviously a situation that will force many to change, but who will be the ‘Next’?
I hear you brother. They’re smoking greed.
3 Spice ups
Ethan6123
(Ethan6123)
9
I did the same. Feeling pretty good about that choice now.
2 Spice ups
tb33t
(TB33T)
10
I was in the process of converting my current infrastructure to VMware, but now I’ve got to look at other options.
2 Spice ups
What the broadcom aquisition is going to do is force CIOs to make tough decisions as to what their priorities are, and the virtualization stack isn’t one of them.
Let me elaborate: companies run applications. Applications run in operating systems, Operating systems run in VMs. Unless your product / service is hosting VMs you aren’t a priority and you shouldn’t be.
Dev guy wants a server to play with? Spin one up. Run a unique database instance and network service in each VM because you can. Even though Windows SBS servers ran Exchange, File services, SQL, print sevices and AD on one baremetal box (albeit often like a controlled car crash) the nanosecond MSPs learned they could bill for VMware and Hyper V upgrades you needed multiple ESX hosts to perform the same damn task load. A lot of those guys still hang out here and argue with me over it and the same guys who can’t figure out how to install proper UPS shutdown on hosts.
If you need support because you fear VMware might break with an update then why are we whining about needing the product?
VMware made their money off the additional services, like Horizons, etc. VDI got popular because RDS /Citrix never worked properly and most high level sysadmins can’t fix a basic desktop issue without E-mailing the tier 1 helpdesk guys making 1/3 the salary. #truth So, lets just encapsulate every users desktop in it’s own VM space and call it a solution and push it with glorified RDS protocols… How much does the RAM cost in a server running that VDI session vs a 5 year old local desktop running that same app? Hmm. Evil CIO for thinking like that.
Look, type 1 hypervisors aren’t complicated. Why there are so many free ones.CIOs are now going to face the reality of having to focus on core application delivery and not being distracted by network layers that don’t directly conduct commerce and supporting an on prem data center when Azure or AWS might just do it just as well. .
Netware guys learned this the hard way. Novell died because that OS couldn’t run a basic database reliably. VMware can’t run apps other than those that support itself…like Netware.
VMware is quickly going to be delegated to large scale data centers where high consolidation ratios and scale make it economically viable. This was never the case with mid sized companies. They were just delaying the inevitable.
I can prove it. I ain’t never seen a VMware engineer complain about yanking out their Exchange servers and moving it to the cloud or 365. “Email sucks and it’s more efficiently run off prem and in the cloud” [by somebody else]. So, why do we need to pay for VMware to host the rest of our OSs?
4 Spice ups
cadams
(Corey_A)
12
So an update to my situation. We are currently licensed for Essentials Plus and vSAN Advanced. When I received the quote, it wasn’t communicated that there would be different products on the same quote which made it look like I needed all of them.
I was quoted Cloud Foundation (which is everything in one product and way more than I need) and then vSphere Foundation and vSAN (which is the replacement for Essentials Plus). The quote is now at $24,600 but that is still a lot more than the $7,500 I paid just last year.
Still looking into alternatives, Have a call with Scale Computing today.
Rod-IT
(Rod-IT)
13
What about VCF and StarWind Virtual SAN Free or their paid product.
I’m not sure what most of your licensing fees are for.
1 Spice up
Duncan792
(Duncan792)
14
Nonsense.
Even with the price rises its cheaper than equivilent cloud.
Why do you think that as hardware improvements stagnate, therefore hardware prices cost less and less in real terms that many companies are actually choosing to keep things on prem. Yes of course we will stick Exchange in the cloud as we’re paying for it anyway whether we are on-prem or o365 but we certainly arent rushing to put everything else there when we can get similar or even more compute, and not have to worry that adding X extra servers will cost us more as we have already costed our Virtual Infrastructure for the next X years.
As for support its not because they might break something its so that we receive updates that keep us within security accredations / commitments. No enterprise customer would trust that on free software, and in you even considering that you expose what level you are at as you clearly do not operate in the same sphere as many of us do. Similar with your UPS shutfown on hosts, who on earth does that when we have our hardware in datacenter racks in our own private cloud.
I genuinely sympathise that you clearly don’t get to work for a company that has moved on from old school held together by string and tape IT if you think Enterprise level systems are limited to large scale datacenters. They are quite catagorically not.
1 Spice up
Hey OP, so glad to hear you’re meeting with us today!. Hoping you find an alternative to VMWare that is the best fit for the needs of your org!
We’re hearing this experience across the board and wanted to share that we’ve launched our seamless switch program for anyone who may be interested in exploring alternative solutions for their IT infrastructure. Now is a great time to sign-up and connect with one of our experts at @Scale_Computing to see if our offerings might be a good fit for your org. Since switching vendors can be a hassle, we’ve added contract term coverage for up to 12 months, access to our free migration tool, and a free pass to our annual conference (see all the details here ). Those who sign up for a demo and receive a quote can receive a FREE Fitbit Versa 4. Feel free to reach out if you’d like more info!
I don’t think you should replace hardware just because of VMware licensing.
Thank you for mentioning us, Rod. I appreciate that!
Corey, indeed, you can replace your current VMware vSAN with our core product https://www.starwindsoftware.com/vsan to significantly cut down your licensing expenses and keep your hardware and hypervisor.
Alternatively, we can gladly assist you with migrating to an alternative hypervisor (Hyper-V, Proxmox VE) and cover your entire environment with our single proactive support umbrella. Just ping me directly if you need more information on that matter.
judeeden
(judeeden)
17
So true. It’s like Broadcom bought out vmware in order to destroy it. Hundreds of companies across my state are now looking for alternatives because of the 300+% increase for no reason, and that includes 3-year agreements. Mass exodus that will bring those products down. Many are looking to Nutanix with AHV, but don’t have the up-front budget for it all. It’s lucky if you’re ahead in that regard. A lot of municipalities are having to face budget committees with this sudden colossal cost they had no idea was coming.
1 Spice up
cadams
(Corey_A)
18
So we ended up going with SCALE, we have a delivery date of early Oct for a full infrastructure refresh. After going to the SCALE conference this year I was very impressed with the organization, equipment and end users… looking forward to the change.
1 Spice up
kwelch007
(kwelch007)
19
Not to get off topic, and not to suggest that I don’t sympathize (we’re facing similar decisions.) But there is definitely a reason, and the reason is that the profit for Broadcom is all in the very large deployments. The small-scale stuff is a loss-leader or breaks even at best.
1 Spice up
adrian_ych
(adrian_ych)
20
seems like broadcom is like the IT graveyard … at least for me…
They sold off LSI & SSD controller business that flourished under seagate and Intel
They bought CA that is now limping… bought symantec which is now almost non-existent… going to drive VMware out of the market with its confusing pricing structures…
2 Spice ups