VMware vCenter Editions

Recently a colleague hit into an issue with his setup on vCenter due to the expiry of license. A new license will be used however he is still hitting some problems. A quick check, he was using vCenter ROBO edition license and ESXi is running vSphere Enterprise Plus.

So here is to clarify the different editions of vCenter from VMware and the features available and limitation. Do note some features is dependent on the vSphere editions.

Refer to this KB for some of vSphere 6.x features comparison. I have also previously illustrated in vCenter 5.x here which basically stays the same other than new features in vCenter 6.x. For vCenter Desktop that would be another article here.


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vCenter Edition	Essential	Foundation	Standard
Availability	Bundled in Essential/Plus Kit	Sold separately. Manage up to 4 hosts (3 prior to 6.5 U1)	Sold separately.
Manage	vSphere Essential/ Plus	vSphere Standard and above	vSphere Standard and above
vCenter HA	NA	Yes	Yes
Enhanced Linked mode	NA	NA	Yes
vRealize Log Insight Lite	NA	NA	Yes
Fault Tolerance	No	Yes	Yes
Backup Restore	Yes	Yes	Yes
Appliance Migration Tool	Yes	Yes	Yes

Lastly, what happens to your vCenter when license expire? Check out my past post.


Update 6th Mar 2018
Update vCenter Foundation Edition and remove vCenter ROBO edition.