Another sad news for VMware vExpert community today. As you might know, VMware vExperts has always had access to most of VMware licenses through the vExpert program. This was always the case and either John Troyer or Corey Romero had always did their best, so we can have those licenses for our labs so we can learn, blog about the latest technology and share our knowledge and attract other vExperts.
I'm in this program since inception – 17 years! It makes me kind of sad seeing those licensing options disappear. Having a lab (whether physical or nested VMware Workstation) was always a must, to learn new stuff, learn towards new certification exam etc. Now with those changes not only you must pay a VMUG advantage subscription ($210/year), but also pass a VCP-VCF exam ($125 with 50% discount via VMUG Advantage).
Update: vExperts get a $210 discount for VMUG Advantage, so basically, they do not pay for the VMUG Membership. I was not aware of that…. True..
But the principle, it's kind of dumb. You want to learn and possibly pass the VCP-VCF exam, but you cannot lab it, …. because you don't have licenses…. That does not make sense. They should hand it those licenses for FREE if they want you to pass the exam. It seems that VMware shoots itself in a foot, once again….
What's your options now?
- If you're vExpert, you get
BuyVMUG Advantage subscription automatically, so pass VCP-VCF Exam and you'll get FREE VCF license. - Abandon VMware in your lab and install Proxmox, XCP-NG or other free Open Source virtualization
- Find some crack license site to get a serial (not recommended). Continue your lab as previously.
- There is not 4th option…
FAQ
From VMware PDF here.
Why should I join VMUG Advantage now?
By joining now, you gain immediate access to:
✔ 50% off the VCP-VCF exam (one per year)
✔ Free VMware Cloud Foundation or license upon certification
✔ Exclusive VMware training and resources
Join VMUG Advantage Today
If I don’t join, can I still get a VMware Cloud Foundation license?
No. The only way to access a personal-use VCF license is by being both:
✔ A VMUG Advantage member
✔ A VCP-VCF certified professional
Wrap Up
As being said, this might just accelerate that people will turn their backs to VMware and installs Free, Opensource software which just grows in popularity. VMware/Broadcom is becoming highly exclusive. The main reason for many folks in the past was running VMware ESXi FREE in the lab because it was FREE, it was easy to install and compatible with most consumer boards (except the networking sometimes).
By suppressing ESXi FREE couple of months back and then now taking off the licensing from vExperts, VMware might just see their popularity going down. Even though, vExperts gets VMUG Advantage membership for FREE, and this includes the 50% discount on the exam….
What is your thought? Feel free to comment below article!
VMware Workstation as a free software can still be useful as you can use it to install and test any OS for free – VMware Workstation 17.6.2 Pro does not require any license anymore.
Source: VMware by Broadcom blog post here.
More posts from ESX Virtualization:
- Two New VMware Certified Professional Certifications for VMware administrators: VCP-VVF and VCP-VCF
- Patching ESXi Without Reboot – ESXi Live Patch – Yes, since ESXi 8.0 U3
- Update ESXi Host to the latest ESXi 8.0U3b without vCenter
- Upgrade your VMware VCSA to the latest VCSA 8 U3b – latest security patches and bug fixes
- VMware vSphere 8.0 U2 Released – ESXi 8.0 U2 and VCSA 8.0 U2 How to update
- What’s the purpose of those 17 virtual hard disks within VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 8.0?
- VMware vSphere 8 Update 2 New Upgrade Process for vCenter Server details
- VMware vSAN 8 Update 2 with many enhancements announced during VMware Explore
- What’s New in VMware Virtual Hardware v21 and vSphere 8 Update 2?
- Homelab v 8.0
- vSphere 8.0 Page
- ESXi 7.x to 8.x upgrade scenarios
- VMware vCenter Server 7.03 U3g – Download and patch
- Upgrade VMware ESXi to 7.0 U3 via command line
- VMware vCenter Server 7.0 U3e released – another maintenance release fixing vSphere with Tanzu
- What is The Difference between VMware vSphere, ESXi and vCenter
- How to Configure VMware High Availability (HA) Cluster
Stay tuned through RSS, and social media channels (Twitter, FB, YouTube)
Final thoughts. VMware certifications has always had a good (great) value. I remember that compared to Microsoft’s certs, the level was (is) higher and there are no dumps so you really need to know your stuff. Moving forward with VCF as a product, many SMBs folks who were certified for VCP won’t go and certify for VCF because they’ll never use all the products that are part of VCF. vSphere Standard/Ent is enough for their environments imho. But, yet VMware as a software company pushes to consume, to spend money, to use those products as much as possible. Normal too. So I kind of understand their view too.
Broadcom’s policy is very clear. Make money, only!
Hey Vladan, are you going to publish an exam guide for VCP-VCF? I think this certification is going to be very important!
Not being personally interested in passing that cert. However, I might create a guide in the future. No timeline.
“The only way to access a personal-use VCF license is by being both ….”
You then only get a licence for THREE YEARS
Update: Good point by LucD here: https://community.broadcom.com/vmware-cloud-foundation/discussion/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish