As we head towards the end of the year, we figured it would be a great idea to refresh this article and do a recap on all the Veeam changes over the past year and what Veeam will look like going forward.
A Quick Recap of Old Announcements
January 1, 2021 – Effective on this date, Veeam discontinued the sale of net-new Standard and Enterprise editions for Veeam Backup & Replication and Veeam Availability Suite socket licensing as well as Basic Support. Expansions for existing customers were not impacted. Enterprise Plus edition with Production (24/7) Support became the only option available.
July 1, 2022 – On this date, all Veeam socket licenses were supposed to reach end of sale (EOS), also including expansions. Net-new socket licensing and expanding on Veeam Backup Essentials environments is no longer available. Additionally, going forward, the maximum renewal length is three years.
This Year’s Changes
As the 7/1/2022 deadline approached, Veeam adjusted the EOS dates and only Veeam Essentials socket licensing went EOS. The end of sale of perpetual socket-based Backup & Replication and Availability Suite licensing for existing customers was pushed to 1/1/2023 (net-new sales are no longer available). Veeam Backup Essentials still reached end of sale on 7/1/2022. In addition to the end of sale date moving, a price increase that impacted both additional licenses and support renewals of perpetual, socket-based licenses were enacted.
End of Support for Per Socket Licenses
NOBODY PANIC!
If you have per socket licenses, THEY ARE NOT END OF SUPPORT, yet. With the end of sale announcement out, a date set and capping renewal terms, an end of support announcement is possible in the future.
Why the Change?
Veeam, like every software vendor, want a more reliable and predictable revenue stream (why every manufacturer is moving to subscriptions instead of perpetual). Additionally, by removing this licensing option, Veeam’s offerings will be further simplified.
Simpler, How?
Enter Veeam Universal Licensing, or VUL for an acronym. VUL isn’t new, but it is definitely worth revisiting/re-evaluating since the product has become quite fleshed out since its introduction.
VUL is most commonly sold in a subscription model, but for clients who require a perpetual option, it does exist; however, it is far more expensive.
Additionally, VUL comes in two versions, Enterprise Plus and Essentials. Veeam Enterprise Plus contains all the features of Enterprise Plus and is sold in packs of 10 workloads without a maximum cap. Veeam Essentials contains all the same features but is specifically priced for SMB. Veeam Essentials VUL is sold in packs of five (minimum of two) with maximum number of workloads is 50.
What Is A Workload?
VUL is flexible – it can be used for a variety of situations and can be mixed and matched. Here is a link directly to Veeam’s site, but below is a brief list of workloads.
- 1x VM (VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Nutanix AHV, and Red Hat RHV (with more coming online)
- 1x Cloud Native VM – AWS EC2, RDS, EFS and VPC, Azure VMs and Azure SQL, and Google Cloud VMs (with more coming online)
- 1x Physical Server (Windows/Linux)
- 3x Workstations – Windows/macOS/IBM AIX/Oracle Solaris
- 1x Enterprise Apps and Database – Microsoft, Oracle, SAP HANA, PostgreSQL, and MySQL (with more coming online)
- 500 GB of Unstructured Data – NAS and other file shares
Moving from Socket Licensing to VUL
At this point, Veeam is not forcing clients to migrate their existing licenses and you can have both VUL and socket licensing active in your environment.
If you are interested in migrating your socket licensing to VUL, there is a path and some discounts that incentivize doing so. To get started, reach out to your Mirazon Account Manager!
Recap & Timeline
On 7/1/2022 – Customers wishing to buy new or additional Veeam Backup Essentials licenses would have to buy Universal Licenses. If they are looking for Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam Availability Suite, or Veeam ONE, they can continue to buy new (at the Enterprise Plus level) or add to their existing environments until 12/31/2022.
Before 7/1/2022 (if looking for Veeam Backup Essentials) – Until that date, existing customers can add new licenses (at whatever level they own) or upgrade existing licenses to Enterprise Plus. New customers can only get per socket licenses at the Enterprise Plus Level.
On & After 7/1/2022 – Only being able to get Essentials via VUL Essentials is in full effect. Neither new nor existing customers can buy per-socket Essentials licensing, no exceptions. If they want additional licenses, they will have to buy Universal licenses (subscription or perpetual). No net-new socket licenses are available for purchase.
Before 1/1/2023 – Existing customers can add Veeam Backup & Replication and Availability Suite licenses (at whatever level they already own) or upgrade existing licenses to Enterprise Plus.
On & After 1/1/2023 – After that date is when everything is officially in effect. Neither new nor existing customers can buy per-socket licensing (including expansions), no exceptions. If they want additional licenses, they will have to buy Universal licenses (subscription or perpetual).
Q&A
What If I Have Socket Licensing Now?
So long as your licensing is active and under support, you will be able to keep what you already have. Veeam hasn’t said anything yet (note the key word here is “yet”) about when socket licensing will be end of support. But keep in mind that’s probably coming sometime soon.
What If I Have Socket Licensing and Need to Buy More?
Until 1/1/2023, you can still expand on your Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam Availability Suite, and Veeam One socket licenses. You can no longer expand/buy new Veeam Backup Essentials socket licensing.
What If I Have Socket Licensing and Want to Migrate to Universal?
You can! Contact us so we can talk directly with you and Veeam to work out the best way to make that happen for you.
What If I Don’t Want Subscription Licensing?
Veeam Universal Licensing comes in subscription and perpetual, so you have some options there.
Why is Veeam Doing This?
Veeam says it’s to make the licensing process simpler for you. Maybe the more predictable recurring revenue is just a fringe benefit for them? We can only speculate.
Universal licensing is more flexible and can be used for more Windows/Linux physical servers, workstations, NAS, AWS, Azure, and more, not just VMware or Hyper-V.
If you have any additional questions or concerns, please call 502-240-0404 or send us an email at info@mirazon.com.