Portable License Unit (PLU) License; How do they work?

A recent engagement of vCloud Suite License caught us off guard. This is because VMware has retired “Per CPU” license and replaced it with “Portable License Unit” PLU for short.

But how does PLU license convert to deprecate CPU license was a question that cropped up…

Since VMware embarked on the cloud journey jointly with AWS and other major players they had to rethink the strategy of licensing. So here is a quick primer on the PLU license.

1 PLU License can be directly converted to 1 CPU license. One PLU unit also can be converted to 15 OSI’s (Operating System Instances). These 15 OSI’s can be Physical Server instances or 15 vm’s on the cloud.

The following was extracted from VMware PLU License white paper:

“One PLU allows usage of vRealize Suite to manage unlimited OSIs/VMs deployed on one on-premises vSphere CPU or up to 15 OSIs deployed on the public cloud including vCloud Air, vCloud Air Network Partners, other supported public clouds, as well as third-party hypervisors and physical servers.”

https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/products/vrealize/vmware-portable-license-unit.pdf

For more info:

https://blogs.vmware.com/management/2016/02/vrealize-suite-pricing-and-packaging-changes-2016.html