Log Insight 3.3 for vCenter Server

A major announcement with Log Insight 3.3 is that everyone with a supported vCenter Server Standard, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus license gets an edition of Log Insight for free. If you own vCenter Server you should definitely take a look at Log Insight now that you are entitled to it. I would talk about everything you need to know on my blog, but I helped co-write the Log Insight for vCenter Server FAQ. Note the FAQ went live on February 10, nearly a month before the GA of Log Insight 3.3. It has received a major overhaul as of yesterday (2016-03-21) so even if you have seen this post in the past, please read it again from top to bottom.

I will reiterate some of the most important pieces here:

• If you have a vCenter Server 6.0 Standard, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus license then Log Insight 3.3 will accept it to enabled Log Insight for vCenter Server edition.
• If you have a vCenter Server 5.0, 5.1, or 5.5 Standard, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus license then on the vSphere download page you will see a link to Log Insight — the read more link for the Log Insight virtual appliance contains a key that can be used — Log Insight 3.3 will NOT accept keys from vCenter Server 5.x.
• Only one Log Insight for vCenter Server key can be applied per Log Insight instance and it must be the first license added (e.g. before evaluation license) — you cannot downgrade to Log Insight for vCenter Server edition.
• Log Insight for vCenter Server limits you to a standalone Log Insight node (no clustering/VIP), one vSphere integration (no auto configuration of ESXi), VMware product content packs (based on namespace not author), and disabled enterprise features including event forwarding, archiving, and SSL.
• The Log Insight for vCenter Server license entitles you to 25 OSI, which can be used for any device logging whether physical or virtual, application or OS, etc.
• If a standard license is added to a Log Insight instance with an existing vCenter Server license then the vCenter Server license is converted to a standard license as well (i.e. you get 25 OSI of standard for free with the purchase of any standard license).

© 2016, Steve Flanders. All rights reserved.