How to enable VMotion if you have bought vSphere Essential Plus 4.0


As many of you know VMware has included VMotion in vSphere Essential Plus 4.1, where it was not included in vSphere Essential Plus 4.0

I have been getting the question lately, how do I obtain VMotion in this case if I have a valid support. Do I have to upgrade or change my license?

The easy answer is all you have to do is upgrade your software to vSphere 4.1. The license key you used with vSphere Essential Plus 4.0 will still be valid and usable with vSphere 4.1 & in turn will provide you with the VMotion feature, without the need to do anything on the license.

I thought its worth mentioning a bit about what to upgrade:

1- Start by upgrading your vCenter to 4.1. Its important to remember that vCenter 4.0 will not be able to manage ESX 4.1, where vCenter 4.1 can manage both ESX 4.0 & 4.1 which is why you will need to start with the vCenter first.

2- After completing your vCenter upgrade, then upgrade your ESX hosts from 4 to 4.1

3- Enjoy VMotioning with your vSphere Essential Plus.

So in this case VMotion seems nothing but VMware gift to you at no cost :).

I hope this help. Please leave any concerns you have in the comment area below.


4 responses to “How to enable VMotion if you have bought vSphere Essential Plus 4.0”

  1. Thanks, exactly the info I was looking for. Couldn’t figure out why vMotion was listed under one of my hosts (ESX 4.1) but not the other (ESX 4.0)!

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