Since the announcement of the free Log Insight for vCenter Server edition I have received a lot of questions about what you can and can not do. In this post, I would like to state the facts. Read on to learn more!
Basics
- If you own vSphere Standard, Enterprise or Enterprise Plus then you own Log Insight for vCenter Server Edition — Log Insight for vCenter Server Edition is free (you cannot purchase it)
- Log Insight for vCenter Server is a single node, no VIP, no event forwarding, no archiving, no custom SSL certificate, single vSphere integration and VMware namespace content pack only edition and includes 25-OSI, which can be used for any devices (including non-vSphere ones)
- Log Insight for vCenter Server Edition is a Log Insight OVA which has been licensed with either a vCenter Server 6.0 Standard, Enterprise or Enterprise Plus license or a license key on the download site if running vCenter Server 5.x.
- The Log Insight for vCenter Server license key MUST be entered first. If you have already licensed Log Insight (e.g. 60-day evaluation) then you CANNOT add a vCenter Server key. Only ONE vCenter Server license can be added to a Log Insight instance. If you have more than one vCenter Server instance then you need more than one Log Insight instance (i.e. you get 25-OSI per vCenter Server license key, however you only get 25-OSI per Log Insight instance)
- If a full license is added after the vCenter Server license then the vCenter Server licenses are automatically converted into full licenses as well (note if you later remove the vCenter Server license key you will lose the 25-OSI and will NOT be able to add it back)
Facts
- There is NO way to combine multiple vCenter Server license keys into the same Log Insight instance — It does not matter if you combine your vCenter Server licenses together or split them into multiple license the mapping between vCenter Server license key and Log Insight instance is 1:1
- There is NO way to install non-VMware namespace content packs with the Log Insight for vCenter Server edition — If you want to test other content packs then you should try the 60-day eval (again noting that you will NOT be able to add the vCenter Server license so you will need to deploy a new Log Insight instance after 60 days)
- There is NO way to migrate the data from a fully licensed Log Insight to the Log Insight for vCenter Server edition instance — of course you can forward events and manually mimic the configuration, but all user data will need to be manually re-added
- Log Insight for vCenter Server edition is targeted to new users — Existing Log Insight users with a full Log Insight license can take advantage of the Log Insight for vCenter Server edition, but in order to add the 25-OSI to an existing deployment you would need to completely redeploy.
IMPORTANT: Attempting to bypass these restraints is against the EULA and may result in legal action by VMware.
Official Information
If you are looking for the latest, official information about the Log Insight for vCenter Server edition please be sure to see KB 2144909.
© 2016, Steve Flanders. All rights reserved.
