Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has led to significant updates in the licensing model and product offerings of VMware, especially affecting its storage virtualisation solution, vSAN. These alterations may result in increased costs for certain businesses and have prompted some organizations to re-evaluate their entire virtualisation strategies, with potential shifts away from VMware products.
VMware Licensing Changes
VMware’s licensing framework has transitioned from a perpetual license model to a subscription-based system. Under Broadcom’s guidance, the number of license options has been reduced in favor of bundled offerings, and standalone products have been eliminated, including the free version of the vSphere ESXi hypervisor.
The recent introduction of vSAN Max, which aimed to separate storage from the broader vSphere platform, is no longer available as an independent offering. Now, storage services will be bundled with VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and the on-premises vSphere Foundation, or offered as capacity-based add-ons. Although third-party storage options will be supported, particularly enhanced in late 2024, users will still need to acquire vSAN to create management domain clusters.
The restructuring aims to simplify VMware’s pricing and licensing, reducing the available vSAN editions from five to one. However, this results in some organizations facing higher expenses, including a minimum licensed storage capacity of 8TB per CPU for vSphere and 1TB for core licenses under VCF.
What is vSAN?
VMware’s vSAN serves as a storage virtualization technology, primarily designed to support VMware virtual machines. This software consolidates local server storage and direct-attached storage into a unified virtual pool, offering an alternative to traditional hardware-based storage area networks (SANs). With vSAN, storage within the pool is accessible to any host in the cluster, leading to improved resource utilization, management, and reductions in operational costs.
Organizations seeking to move away from vSAN must consider migrating their storage. Some may opt to explore different storage solutions, especially if the changes implemented by VMware heighten their operational expenses, even while retaining VMware’s virtual machines.
Migration Considerations
CIOs contemplating a move from vSAN have two primary pathways: transitioning to a new virtualisation provider with integrated storage or selecting a third-party storage virtual SAN. Those already utilizing external data storage may find the transition slightly easier, but the complexity largely hinges on the extent of VMware integration within current operations.
For those moving to a different virtualisation solution, migrating storage is inevitable, as standalone use of vSAN is no longer viable. This process involves setting up new servers and storage environments, as well as exporting and importing VM disk files using migration tools provided by new vendors.
If an organization chooses to retain VMware while migrating off vSAN, they must keep vSAN for management purposes. VMware has enhanced its Virtual Volumes (vVols) in VCF 9 to improve integration with third-party storage solutions, making it a viable option for enterprises with substantial storage needs.
Regardless of the chosen route, IT teams need to ensure adequate hardware or cloud resources for the migration, including sufficient storage capacity for VMDK copies and comprehensive knowledge of both their existing VMware and vSAN environments and the new platform.
Alternatives for vSAN
For organizations seeking partners to replace vSAN, several viable alternatives exist for storage virtualization and broader virtualization environments. Some noteworthy options include:
- Datacore’s SANsymphony: Compatible with all hypervisors, supports direct-attached storage, and spans HCI nodes.
- StorMagic’s SvSAN: A hyper-converged storage solution that operates on x86 servers, providing flexibility for VM and container support.
- Nutanix Unified Storage: A comprehensive architecture working across local, edge, and cloud platforms, supporting various storage services.
- StarWind VSAN: Targeted at SMEs, this solution offers a free “self-supported” version.
- Scale Computing: Provides hardware and software options that claim to be at least 25% cheaper than VMware.
- Verge IO: Enables migration from VMware, featuring VergeFS vSAN supporting existing SAN storage.
- Dell vXRAIL and HPE SimpliVity: Both solutions simplify VM deployment, including storage management.