Why do you need to renew your license, licenses are perpetual ? That 7.0 license will last forever, it does not expiry.

 

if you had Support and Subscription up until now, you could have grabbed the vSphere 8.0 licenses which are also perpetual.

 

7.0 End of Life - Oct 25

8.0 End of Life - Oct 27

 

So what are you missing Support ?

 

I'm afraid Essentials Plus has been replaced. The cheapest is VVF.

 

Just upgrade/replace the host with Hyper-V, that'll will be free, as you will already have Windows licensing in place.

We want to hold the VMware for an year the move it to something other than Broadcom, possibly going for Hyper-v

So why would you renew for Support Only ?

 

Expensive just for 1 years worth of support if and when you need it!

I apologize for my lack of knowledge about licensing. Based on the old invoice, I see that it was a subscription-only license. I don't require VMware support.

Are we allowed to continue running the ESXi host without renewing the license? if so i can hold it as it is until next year!

Does the license expire ?

You may also need to check the terms of the subscription license?

All licenses were perpetual before they moved to Subscription last year in October !

I am looking at the Esxi license it says license expiration =Never

So that does not expire - so the question for Broadcom is what are you paying for?

And they’ll try to sell VVF which has far more  features!

So ask them if you DO NOT renew what happens? No support - come to EE for support ! 😂

[………now more expensive compared to previous…]

 

I recently renewed our platform's VMware license and noticed that the cost had increased twice. After talking to other CIOs in different institutions and VMware's local partners, I learned that many VMware products have experienced price hikes in recent months, with some clients facing cost increases of two to five times. As a result, clients are seeking guidance to navigate this situation.

 

It seems like Broadcom is focusing on larger clients and letting go of smaller clients and resellers. They may believe that larger clients offer better growth potential and higher margins and that they can increase profits by raising prices rather than increasing sales volume. They may also think larger clients are less likely to switch away from Broadcom's products, whereas smaller clients might find it more accessible. This means the company could raise prices because it would be difficult for larger clients to switch to a different supplier.

It’s no secret Broadcom only want to concentrate on the top 627 VMware Accounts and VCF licenses!

The rest can go away or be migrated to Distros for support so your support may not even be handled by Broadcom and it’s with the Distro for your region!

I fount that we currently have a perpetual VMware Essential Plus license, which means it doesn't expire. However, we used to renew our support annually for version upgrades. If we don't migrate to Broadcom, we'll lose technical support. This will not be a significant issue I can come to EE.

My main question now is: How can we patch ESXi without active support? Is it possible to download the necessary VIBs using a another Broadcom account?

At present there is no requirement to login to Broadcom and collect the updates!

 

see these videos

 

1. Part 16: HOW TO: Update VMware ESXi 7.0U2 to ESXi 7.0U2a direct from VMware.
2. Part 17: HOW TO: Update VMware ESXi 7.0U2 to ESXi 7.0U2a in 5 easy steps.
3. Part 18: HOW TO: Update VMware ESXi 7U1 (7.0.1) to VMware ESXi 7U2a (7.0.2) using an ISO image.
4. Part 19: HOW TO: Update VMware ESXi 7.0U1 to ESXi 7.0U2a using VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM).
5. Part 20: HOW TO: Rollback VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7.0 U2a using VMware Hypervisor Recovery Mode.

 

 

1. Part 23: HOW TO: Update VMware vSphere vCenter Server 7.0 (VCSA 7.0) using the (VAMI) Appliance Management Interface.

 

Obtaining an ISO requires a login, but this is very old fashioned if you've been using this method to update!

 

1. Part 34: HOW TO: Update VMware vSphere vCenter Server 8.0GA to 8.0u2d using the Reduced Downtime Upgrade (RDU) function
2. Part 35: HOW TO: Update VMware vSphere vCenter Server 8.0GA to 8.0u2d using the using the (VAMI) Appliance Management Interface
3. Part 36: HOW TO: Update VMware vSphere vCenter Server 8.0.2 (8.0u2d) 8.0.2 to 8.0.3 using the Reduced Downtime Upgrade (RDU) function
4. Part 37: HOW TO: Update VMware vSphere vCenter Server 8.0.2 (8.0u2d) 8.0.2 to 8.0.3 using the (VAMI) Appliance Management Interface
5. Part 38: HOW TO: Remediate a vSphere Cluster VMware ESXi 8.0U2 to ESXi 8.0U3 including adding the HPE OEM Addon for ESXi 8.0.3 - A12 using VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) from a single image
6. Part 39: HOW TO: Update VMware ESXi 8.0U2 to ESXi 8.0U3 direct from VMware using the "dirty method"
7. Part 40: HOW TO: Reset VM
8. Part 49: HOW TO: Update VMware vSphere vCenter Server 8.0.3 to 8.0.3a using the Reduced Downtime Upgrade (RDU) function - Alternative Link on YouTube

 none of the above methods to update ESXi 7.0, ESXi 8.0 or vCenter Server 7.0 or 8.0 require a BC login.

the vibs are downloaded from a VMware website !

that website does not host any vib files

this is where Lifecycle Manager downloads them from!

this has not been changed yet or out behind a paywall many have been updating for years with no support!

Thanks, Andrew! 

Nobody knows what’s going to happen in the future there may be no ESXi 9 or vCenter Server 9 !

I think we won't be able to download offline bundles anymore unless we have a customer ID with Broadcom and log in. So, if I have a perpetual license with VMware, that's not enough. I can still run ESXi, but I won't be able to patch it.

 

Offline Bundle require a login and entitlement.

 

None of our Clients, use offline bundles - so I would be interested in why you use them ?

 

do these options require a login ?

 

1. Part 16: HOW TO: Update VMware ESXi 7.0U2 to ESXi 7.0U2a direct from VMware.

2. Part 19: HOW TO: Update VMware ESXi 7.0U1 to ESXi 7.0U2a using VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM).

3. Part 39: HOW TO: Update VMware ESXi 8.0U2 to ESXi 8.0U3 direct from VMware using the "dirty method"

4. Part 36: HOW TO: Update VMware vSphere vCenter Server 8.0.2 (8.0u2d) 8.0.2 to 8.0.3 using the Reduced Downtime Upgrade (RDU) function

5. Part 37: HOW TO: Update VMware vSphere vCenter Server 8.0.2 (8.0u2d) 8.0.2 to 8.0.3 using the (VAMI) Appliance Management Interface

 

What you may have to think about is when there is NO ESXi 9 or vCenter 9 and you current products are end of life in Oct 2027.

At some point, people with a vmware login were sent a notice to create a broadcom account.
Have you said notice? See if the option to create the account is still a possibility and alters the situation in your favor.

@Arnold, Broadcom may have sent an email to create a new account on the Broadcom portal, but if you've not paid any money to Broadcom, you'll not have any entitlements, so little point in having an account, although it does allow you to download VMware Workstation Pro for Linux and Windows for free, and not forgetting VMware Converter.

I tried Andrew's first cli 

 

esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0U3q-23794027-standard \ -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

and i got the following error!

 

Hardware precheck of profile ESXi-7.0U3q-23794027-standard failed with warnings: <CPU_SUPPORT WARNING: The CPU in this host may not be supported in future ESXi releases. Please plan accordingly.

 

It is Dell R730 and current version is 7.0.3.23307199

@arnold I transferred my VMware account to Broadcom, but I can not see the key in the Broadcome portal. I have no entitlement as Andrew mentioned.

Just checked this in the #homelab and it still works, but to be honest these methods are really outdated.

 

vLCM is the way forward, if you have clusters and more than 2 hosts and vCenter Server.

Thanks, Andrew, it works!

 

My question would be: Are we allowed to run ESXi without buying the Broadcom support as we have we have perpetual lic? Second, Broadcom might change its mind and stop offering that CLI access. I was able to download the VIB before but now need a customer ID. With only 6 VMs, I might consider moving them to Hyper-V if Broadcom denies support for a small customer.

You license dictates if you can run ESXi ! The expiry date of the license, it's perpetual, so never expires.

You have no support , so you cannot log a support call - but remember if your host was not on the HCL - they would not help you anyway!

People have been patching their servers this way for many years without support! (for over 13 years! for 5.0, 5.1, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 and 6.7, 7.0 and 8.0)

 

6.7 updates are currently still available on that site, and there is no support for 6.7 currently!

We don’t know what Broadcom will do! But these links are what are used by vLCM and vCenter Server so to enable and paywall for vCenter 7 and 8 requires development and patching and a login!

We don’t believe they’ll touch the code to do this!

But retire 7.0 and 8.0 as currently defined in hope everyone has migrated to VCF 9.0

 or course, Broadcom could removed the 7.x and 8.x updates from that site at any time but it would affect functions in ESXi & vCenter 7 and 8 for Customers which have subscriptions.

 

VCF 9.0 you must specifiy your Broadcom userid and password to login to update!