Description
VMware vSphere 8 Enterprise Plus – The future of IT infrastructure
VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus is a subscription-based software license granted per core, with a minimum license requirement of 16 cores per processor ( 16 cores per CPU) . A server with two 8-core processors, for example, must be licensed with 32 cores.
VMware vSphere 8 Enterprise Plus is a comprehensive platform for virtualizing IT infrastructure that helps businesses use their resources more efficiently and respond flexibly to changing requirements. It provides a centralized environment for managing virtual machines and enables consolidated hardware utilization. The solution is suitable for both large and growing organizations with high demands for stability, scalability, and security.
With vSphere Enterprise Plus , processes can be automated, downtime reduced, and overall IT infrastructure performance improved. Furthermore, the platform supports modern workloads and hybrid cloud scenarios. Intuitive administration and extensive extensibility make it a reliable foundation for building an agile digital infrastructure, regardless of industry or company size.
VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus Features
Host Configuration & Auto-Deployment
Automated and standardized installation of new hosts with continuous monitoring of deviations. Fewer manual errors, faster provisioning.
Distributed switch
Centralized network management across multiple hosts. Saves time and reduces configuration errors.
Virtual machine encryption & trusted authority
Security at the highest level – VMs are encrypted and only run on trusted hosts.
DRS & DRS storage
Intelligent workload distribution at the CPU and memory levels. Automatic optimization for maximum performance.
High proactive availability & Fault Tolerance
Prevent outages with predictive monitoring. Protect VMs with up to 8 vCPUs.
GPU support
Optimal graphics performance thanks to NVIDIA’s vGPU GRID, vGPU-DRS and heterogeneous profiles on a single GPU.
Instant Clone & vMotion
Rapid VM creation and seamless migration between hosts – even with different CPU generations.
Persistent Memory & Memory Tiering
Increased speed and efficiency through the use of persistent memory for demanding applications.
I/O control and SR-IOV
Detailed control of memory and network I/O. Improved performance through hardware offloading.
Administration console & alerts
Simplified management thanks to the central console and intelligent alert functions.
Energy management with DPM
Reduce operating costs thanks to automatic shutdown in case of low usage.
Windows – Security Integration
Supports Microsoft virtualization-based security such as Device Guard and Credential Guard in VMs.
Maximum application performance with vSphere Enterprise Plus
vSphere Lifecycle Manager
The vSphere Lifecycle Manager enables centralized management of the entire ESXi host lifecycle. It automates updates, patches, and firmware updates, ensuring consistent and secure environments.
Live Patching for ESX
Live Patching allows security updates to be applied without restarting hosts, increasing availability and minimizing maintenance windows.
vCenter Server Profiles
With vCenter Server Profiles, configurations can be defined centrally and applied to hosts to ensure a consistent infrastructure.
vCenter Update Planner
This tool helps with the planning and coordination of updates, minimizes risks and optimizes the availability of the VMware environment.
Content Library
The Content Library allows for the centralized management and provisioning of VM templates, ISO files, and scripts across multiple vCenter Servers.
vSphere configuration profiles
Allows you to create and monitor host configurations to ensure consistency and compliance within the cluster.
Host profiles
Host profiles simplify ESXi configuration management by creating templates that can be automatically applied to hosts.
Auto Deploy
Auto Deploy automates the deployment and configuration of ESXi hosts over the network, greatly improving scalability and management.
Virtual Volumes (vVols)
Virtual volumes offer better storage integration by allowing more granular storage management and policy control for VMs.
VMware vSphere: Advanced Features
vSphere distributed switch
Centralized network management at the cluster level. Simplified management of VLANs, network policies, and quality of service.
Link aggregation (LACP)
Allows efficient use of multiple network connections for better bandwidth and improved security against outages.
Storage Input/Output Control (SIOC)
Prioritizes storage access for critical workloads while respecting SLAs.
vMotion & Cross-vCenter vMotion
Live migration of virtual machines – even across multiple vCenter instances – with no downtime.
Fault tolerance (up to 2 vCPUs)
Secures VMs by mirroring them in real time and offers uninterrupted availability in case of host failure.
Virtual Volumes (vVols)
Enables flexible storage allocation based on VM policies – supports Fibre Channel, iSCSI, NVMe and NFS.
Network I/O control
Manages and prioritizes network traffic based on guidelines for optimal resource allocation.
vSphere replication
Replicate VMs for rapid disaster recovery – locally or between data centers.
Comparison of functions
| Function | vSphere Standard Product Link |
vSphere Enterprise Plus Product Link |
vSphere Foundation Product Link |
| Enhanced vMotion Per-VM (EVC) compatibility | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Instant clone | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Distributed Resource Planner (DRS) | ✓ | ✓ | |
| DRS storage | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Distributed Power Management (DPM) | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Policy-based storage management | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| I/O control (storage) | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) | ✓ | ✓ | |
| vSphere Persistent Memory / Memory Tiering | ✓ | ✓ | |
| NVIDIA GRID vGPU | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Accelerated graph for VM | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Integrated security | |||
| TPM 2.0 hardware support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Virtual TPM 2.0 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Supports TLS 1.2 / 1.3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Virtual machine encryption | ✓ | ✓ | |
Supported operating systems (newer ones) |
|
| Category | Operating systems |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Windows | Windows Server (2025, 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2, 2012) Windows Client (Windows 11, Windows 10) |
| Linux distributions | Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL 7-10) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) / Desktop (SLED) (v12, v15) Ubuntu (e.g. 25.04, 24.10, 24.04, 22.04, etc.) Debian (11, 12) Oracle Linux (8, 9) AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux (8-10) Photon OS (VMware) Flatcar |
| Unix / BSD & similar | FreeBSD (e.g., 13.x, 14.x) |





Reviews
There are no reviews yet.