EDITION COMPARISON

VMware vSphere® Edition Comparison

The leader in virtualized infrastructure and your first step to
application modernization

Developer-Ready Infrastructure

Product Features VMware vSphere 7® with VMware Tanzu® (1)

Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service

The Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Service allows developers to manage consistent, Requires Tanzu Basic edition
compliant and conformant Kubernetes clusters.

vSphere Pod service

The vSphere Pod Service allows developers to run containers directly on the Requires VMware NSX-T and Tanzu Basic edition
hypervisor for improved security, performance, and manageability.

Storage service
The Volume Service allows developers to manage persistent disks for use
Requires Tanzu Basic edition
with containers, Kubernetes and virtual machines. Deploy existing block and
file storage infrastructure for containerized workloads.

Network service
The Network Service allows developers to manage Virtual Routers, Load Balancers
and Firewall Rules. Leverage existing networking infrastructure using vSphere Requires Tanzu Basic edition
Distributed Switch's (VDS) centralized interface to configure, monitor and administer
switching access for VMs and Kubernetes workloads.

Registry service
The Registry Service allows developers to store, manage and secure Docker and Requires VMware NSX-T and Tanzu Basic edition
OCI images.

Network Load Balancing Available through VMware NSX-T or NSX Advanced Load
Network load balancing for Tanzu Kubernetes clusters. Balancer Essentials (included in vSphere with Tanzu)

VM Service
The VM service allows developers to create VMs independently from K8s without Requires Tanzu Basic edition
requiring access to vSphere Client

VM Service support for GPU

The VM service support for GPU allows developers to independently create VMs on Requires Tanzu Basic edition
host servers enabled with GPU hardware, without requiring access to vSphere Client.

GPU accelerated VMware Tanzu® Kubernetes Grid™ cluster

Enable workloads running on VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid clusters to leverage GPU
Requires Tanzu Basic edition
acceleration. Reuse industry standard Kubernetes configuration mechanisms to access and
utilize GPU resources.

1
EDITION COMPARISON |
VMware vSphere Edition Comparison

Simplified Operations

Product Features VMware vSphere® VMware vSphere

Standard™ Enterprise Plus™

Next-Gen Infrastructure Image Management

Manage infrastructure images to patch, update or upgrade ESXi clusters using a
desired state model (NEW) • •

vCenter Server Profiles

Desired state config management capabilities for vCenter Server. It helps the user to vCenter Server STD
define/validate/apply configuration for multiple vCenter Servers (NEW)

vCenter Server Update Planner

Manage the compatibility & interoperability for vCenter Server for upgrade scenarios.
•
We will allow users to generate the interoperability & pre-checks report, which will help
them plan for upgrades (NEW)

Content Library
Added administrative control and versioning support. Provides simple and effective
• •
centralized management for virtual machine templates, virtual appliances, ISO
images and scripts.

APIs for Storage Awareness • •

Storage APIs for Array Integration, Multipathing

Improves performance, reliability, and scalability by leveraging efficient array-based • •
operations and third-party storage vendor multipath software capabilities

Distributed Switch™
Centralizes provisioning, administration, and monitoring by using cluster-level network •
aggregation.

Host Profiles and Auto Deploy™

Captures host-level configuration settings and saves them as a template to configure
other vSphere hosts. Monitors hosts for configuration changes and automatically alerts •
vSphere administrators if a host falls out of compliance.

Virtual Volumes™
• •
Virtualizes external storage (SAN and NAS) and provides VM-aware, policy-based storage
management through vCenter.

EDITION COMPARISON |
VMware vSphere Edition Comparison

Intrinsic Security

Product Features VMware vSphere® VMware vSphere

Standard™ Enterprise Plus™

Identity federation with ADFS

• •
Secure access and account management (NEW)

vSphere Trust Authority

•
Remote attestation for sensitive workloads (NEW)

TPM 2.0 Support & Virtual TPM

Supports TPM 2.0 hardware modules and adds a virtual TPM device to shield guest OS • •
from Operator or in-guest attacks.

FIPS 140-2 Compliance & TLS 1.2 Support

Default Enhanced security compliance • •

Virtual Machine Encryption

•
Data-at-rest encryption for virtual machine data and disks

Support for MSFT VBS

Supports Windows 10 and Windows 2016 security features, like Credential Guard, on • •
vSphere

Per-VM Enhanced vMotion Compatibility

Allows seamless migration across different CPUs across the hybrid cloud by persisting • •
the EVC mode per-VM during migrations across clusters and during power cycles.

Instant Clone
• •
Reduces provisioning times, especially beneficial for VDI applications

Simplified NSX security setup from vSphere Client * •

vSphere Client now includes a tab for setting up and configuring NSX security.

* Requires NSX-T version 3.2 or later

EDITION COMPARISON |
VMware vSphere Edition Comparison

Application Performance

Product Features VMware vSphere® VMware vSphere

Standard™ Enterprise Plus™

vSphere Bitfusion •
Delivery of AI/ML infrastructure applications using GPUs. (Add-on required)2

Distributed Resource Scheduler™ (DRS)

Redesigned with a more workload centric approach, DRS balances resources allocated
•
to workloads in a vSphere cluster; versus the previously used cluster-wide deviation
model; also resulting in an improved cycle time.

Storage DRS™
Automated load balancing now looks at storage characteristics to determine the best •
place for a given virtual machine’s data when it is created and used overtime.

Distributed Power Management™ (DPM)

•
Optimizes power consumption by turning off hosts during periods of reduced demand.

Storage Policy-Based Management

Allows common management across storage tiers and dynamic storage class-of-service • •
automation via a policy-driven control plane

I/O Controls (Network and Storage)

Prioritizes storage and Network access by continuously monitoring I/O load of a
•
storage volume and over the network, and dynamically allocating available I/O
resources to virtual machines according to business needs.

Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) Support

Allows one PCI Express (PCIe) adapter to be presented as multiple separate logical
•
devices to virtual machines. Allows users to offload I/O processing and reduce network
latency.

vSphere Persistent Memory

•
Leverages Persistent Memory to get DRAM like performance with flash like prices.

NVIDIA GRID vGPU

Enables native 2D and 3D graphics performance for virtual machines. Supports multiple •
vGPUs per VM

Proactive HA
Receive server health information and migrate virtual machines from degraded hosts •
before problems occur.

Accelerated Graphics for Virtual Machines •

Dynamic DirectPath IO
• •
Support for vGPU and DirectPath I/O initial VM placement

EDITION COMPARISON |
VMware vSphere Edition Comparison

Business Continuity

Product Features VMware vSphere® VMware vSphere

Standard™ Enterprise Plus™

vSphere Hypervisor
• •
Provides a robust, production-proven, high-performance virtualization layer

vMotion®
Enables live migration of virtual machines with no disruption to users or loss of service,
eliminating the need to schedule application downtime for planned server
maintenance. The recent enhancements in vMotion logic provides non-disruptive • •
operations, irrespective of the size of VMs, specifically for large and mission critical
workloads.

vCenter Hybrid Linked Mode

Enables unified visibility and management across on-premises vCenter and vCenter on vCenter Server STD vCenter Server STD
a vSphere enabled cloud such as VMware Cloud™ on AWS.

vSMP
Virtual symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) enables virtual machines to have multiple • •
virtual CPUs

High Availability (HA)

• •
Automatically restarts your VMs following physical machine failure

Storage vMotion®
Avoids application downtime for planned storage maintenance by migrating live virtual • •
machine disk files across storage arrays

Fault Tolerance
Provides continuous availability of any application in the event of a hardware failure— 2-vCPU 8-vCPU
with no data loss or downtime. For workloads up to 4-vCPU.

vShield Endpoint™
Secures virtual machines with offloaded anti-virus and anti-malware solutions, without • •
the need for agents inside the virtual machine.

vSphere Replication™
Enables efficient, array-agnostic replication of virtual machine data over the LAN or • •
WAN, and simplifies management by enabling replication at the virtual machine level

Support for 4K Native Storage

• •
Enhances platform scalability by leveraging high capacity drives. Reduce CAPEX.

vSphere Quick Boot

Skips hardware initialization steps and dramatically reduces time required for patching • •
and upgrades.

vCenter® High Availability

vCenter Server STD vCenter Server STD
Native vCenter Server availability

vCenter Backup and Restore

Native vCenter Server backup and restore vCenter Server STD vCenter Server STD

vCenter Server Appliance™ Migration

A tool for single-step migration and upgrade of existing Windows vCenter deployments vCenter Server STD vCenter Server STD
to vCenter Server Appliance.

EDITION COMPARISON |
VMware vSphere Edition Comparison

Hybrid Cloud Capabilities

Product Features VMware vSphere® VMware vSphere

Standard™ Enterprise Plus™

vCenter Hybrid Linked Mode

Cross vCenter Server / Long
Enables unified visibility and management across on-premises vCenter and vCenter on •
Distance / Cross Cloud
a vSphere enabled cloud such as VMware Cloud™ on AWS.
Cross vCenter Mixed Version Provisioning
Uses different vCenter versions across on-premises and
vSphere based public cloud environments, while allowing vCenter Server STD vCenter Server STD
provisioning operations such as vMotion, Full Clone and
Cold Migrate to continue on seamlessly.

Hot and Cold Migration to the Cloud

Supports hot and cold migration of workloads across the • •
hybrid cloud.

Per VM Enhanced vMotion Compatibility

Allows seamless migration across different CPUs across the
• •
hybrid cloud by persisting the EVC mode per-VM during
migrations across clusters and during power cycles.

1 Requires vSphere 7 Update 1 or newer

2 vSphere Bitfusion is available through a new add-on for all Enterprise plus customers. Visit the vSphere pricing and packaging whitepaper for more details

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