RSMUS.comLast week I was asked by a client to develop a strategy for the placement of servers in their remote branches. The client wanted to run a domain controller and print server in all of their remote branches. The goal was to virtualize the servers, but the traditional vSphere licensing was too expensive. Traditionally, administrators used the free version of ESXi to run this workload, but this practice does not allow administrators to manage the ESXi servers using vCenter or leverage advanced features like VMware replication.
The scenario above is a very common scenario and fortunately VMware has a solution which is often overlooked by VMware administrators. VMware vSphere Remote Office Edition provides a cost effective license structure for customers with remote locations. vSphere Branch Office Edition licenses are sold in packs of 25 and are not tied to a specific remote office location, but rather can be applied to an ESXi server located in any one of your branch locations.
vSphere Branch Office Edition is sold in two versions, Standard and Advanced. As you can see from the chart below, both license levels provide you with all of the basic high availability features that are commonplace in the data center environment.
VMware vSphere Remote Office Version Features
| Product Features | Branch Office Standard | Branch Office Advanced |
| vMotion | X | X |
| Storage vMotion | X | X |
| High Availability | X | X |
| Data Protection | X | X |
| Fault Tolerance | 2 CPU | 4-CPU |
| vShield End Point | X | X |
| vSphere Replication | X | X |
| Hot Add | X | X |
| Host Profiles | – | X |
| Distributed Switch | – | X |
If you are looking for a cost effective, highly available way to put servers into remote office locations, give vSphere Remote Branch Office edition a try.
If you would like more information on vSphere Remote Office Branch Office Editions, contact us.
