VCSP Partners TECHNICAL FAQ: v1.

3 March 20, 2024

Broadcom Advantage
Partner Program for VCSP
Frequently Asked Questions

Executive Summary Q. How is the Sovereign Cloud initiative changing?

VMware by Broadcom is announcing the expansion of the A. The Sovereign Cloud program and specific PnP
Broadcom Advantage Partner Program for former VMware associated with it have ended. Instead, VCSPs will
Cloud Services Provider partners. Use the information in this purchase the core-based VCF SKU under the standard
TECHNICAL FAQ to help address questions about the VCSP program umbrella to build and offer Sovereign
program from your partner. Clouds to their customers. We'll continue to invest in
bringing Sovereign Cloud solutions (BYOK, Aria
Compliance Pack, Data services, etc.) for VCF-based
Recent Updates clouds.
• Additional Q&A for VCDA for DR
• Clarity on license key swap Q. What about VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF)?
• Clarity on Usage Meter versions A. VMware vSphere Foundation is not available to VCSPs.
• Additional Q&A from 3/19 vmLIVE VCSP Overview
Q. How can a partner sign up for the new Broadcom Partner
Overview Questions Advantage Partner Program for VCSP route to market?
A. Please refer to the VCSP Program FAQ located on the
Q. What are the new offerings for VMware Cloud Service Broadcom Advantage Partner Portal VCSP Page.
Provider (VCSP) route to market?
A. The VCF SKU will deliver vSphere Enterprise Plus
(including Tanzu Kubernetes Grid and vCenter), vSAN
Enterprise, Aria Suite Enterprise, NSX Networking for
VCF, HCX Enterprise, Aria Operations for Networks
Enterprise, SDDC Manager, and Select Support.

Add-ons which can be purchased separately include

vSAN, NSX Firewall and Firewall with ATP, NSX Load
Balancer, VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) and
Tanzu Mission Control Self-Managed. VCSP partners will
also have zero-cost access to VMware Cloud Director
(VCD), VMware Cloud Director Availability (for Migration),
Usage Meter, and ChargeBack add-ons.

Q. What are the changes in the product licensing?

A. Product offerings from Broadcom will move from vRAM
based licensing to Physical Cores.
Licensing Questions Q. Is VMware Cloud Director Availability (VCDA) for Disaster
Recovery (DR) Metered?
Q. How are the new offerings licensed? A. Yes, VCDA for DR will be available as an add-on only for
A. Partners commit to a minimum number of physical cores partners who were reporting it under the former Partner
and a term in years. If a partner uses fewer cores than Connect Cloud Services Provider – Cloud Builder
committed, they will pay for the committed cores. If a program. As a restricted product, pricing will not be
partner uses more cores than committed, they will pay for published in the Product Licensing Guide. Pricing is
all cores over the committed amount at the on-demand available on request from the Pricing and Packaging
rate. team. Partners should ask for pricing through their
Partner Business Managers.
Q. Which VCF version is included with the new offerings?
Q. What are the development lifecycle plans for VCDA?
A. Licenses entitled to partners will be based on the
products included in VCF 5.1. Partners will have the ability A. There is no new development or update planned for
to request downgrading licenses from VCF 5.X to VCF VCDA. VCDA will be offered as-is to partners already
4.X, to deploy VCF 4.5 or later. License keys delivered to using it. It will not be available for new partners to start
partners will be keys for each individual component within using.
VCF (vSphere, vCenter, NSX, vSAN, Aria Suite, etc…).
Q. With VCDA in maintenance, what bugs will be patched?
Q. Will partners need to replace original VCPP licenses with A. Only critical security updates will be provided for VCDA
the new licenses from the VCSP program? moving forward. While no new feature updates are
A. Yes, partners will be expected to replace license keys planned, the emphasis will be on ensuring the platform’s
from the former Partner Connect Cloud Services Provider security through timely patches.
– Cloud Builder (formerly VCPP) program, with the new
licenses distributed under the Broadcom Advantage Q. Are we announcing the EOA for VCDA?
Partner Program for VMware Cloud Service Providers. A. No. VCDA will be available to existing VCSPs as-is,
Partners will be provided with 90 days to perform license although there are currently no scheduled feature
key swaps (ending July 31st). updates.

Q. Does the new VMware Cloud Foundation offering include Q. When will the current version of VCDA go to the End of
all the features of the component products? General Support (EoGS)?
A. The NSX component within VCF only includes Networking A. The EoGS for VMware Cloud Director Availability (VCDA)
and Stateless Gateway Firewall. Security features, Load 4.7 is set for June 2025. Before reaching this date, a
Balancing, Stateful Gateway Firewall and Distributed comprehensive plan for the replacement of VCDA will be
Firewall (Microsegmentation) services can be purchased established and communicated to customers to ensure a
separately as add-ons. For all other component products, smooth transition and continued service.
the full features are included in VCF.
Q. Will VCDA continue to go through interoperability testing
Q. Is VMware Cloud Director Availability (VCDA) for and patching with other VMware products such as VCD
Migrations Metered? and VCF?
A. VCDA is available for migrations at no additional cost A. Yes, while VCDA is currently in maintenance, the product
when used with VCF. Its use includes migrations from on- will undergo ongoing interoperability testing and receive
prem to cloud and cloud to cloud. critical patches to ensure seamless compatibility with
VMware Cloud Director (VCD) and VMware Cloud
Foundation (VCF) products.
Q. While VCDA is in maintenance, will VCSPs be allowed to Q. If a partner is currently using NSX Base as part of the Flex
expand usage for new customers? Pricing Model, what will they need to subscribe to in the
A. VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) is the new VCF pricing?
recommended solution for DR. VCDA, on the other hand, A. For partners that utilize NSX Gateway Firewall for
should only be used specifically when VCD is in use for Stateless firewall rules, no additional add-on will be
DR scenarios. VCSPs who are currently utilizing VCDA needed. For partners that utilize NSX Gateway Firewall
have the flexibility to extend its usage to serve other for Stateful firewall rules, the NSX Firewall Add-On will be
customers as well. needed. Other advanced features like Distributed Firewall
and more will also require subscriptions for NSX Firewall
Q. For partners not currently using VCDA for DR, what is the Add-On.
VMware recommended alternative for DR?
A. If a VCSP is unable to use VCDA for DR, VMware Q. I am using the NSX Advanced Load Balancer (Avi) - Basic
recommends VMware SRM. SRM is a robust on-premises Edition. What will I need to subscribe to in the new VCF
disaster recovery automation and orchestration tool. pricing?
When both sites support array-based replication, SRM A. VCF licensing does not include the NSX Advanced Load
provides additional capabilities beyond vSphere Balancer. Partners that wish to continue using the NSX
Replication. Advanced Load Balancer in any edition will require the
NSX Advanced Load Balancer Add-On that is priced
Q. Will there still be a requirement for Usage Meter reporting based on Service Units. For partners that need a load
of VCDA usage to track the number of balancer for VMware Management components, they can
protections/migrations on a monthly basis? utilize the NSX-T Load Balancer at no additional cost.
A. Yes, as a provider, it is essential to meter the
consumption data of VCDA. This involves generating Q. Do I need the VMware Firewall Add-On when using
monthly usage reports for both protections and Stateless Gateway Firewall?
migrations. To achieve this, you can add each cloud A. Stateless Gateway Firewall is included as part of VCF.
VCDA instance to Usage Meter. This ensures accurate
tracking of the number of protections and migrations on a Q. How is the VMware Firewall Add-On metered when using
regular basis. Stateful Gateway Firewall?
A. Stateful Gateway Firewall is metered based on the actual
Q. Has the pricing for VCDA being used for DR changed? number of cores on the Edge Transport Node (VM or
A. VCDA will be available to existing VCSPs on an as-is basis Bare-Metal), including HA instances. The number of cores
that are actively reporting VCDA for DR. VCDA for DR is are multiplied by four to determine the VMware Firewall
an Add-on and will have a list price of $150 per protected Add-On license needed. Example: If the Edge Transport
VM per year with a minimum 1yr commit option. VCSPs Node VM has 8 vCPU, then 32 VMware Firewall Add-Ons
will need to commit to the full amount of protected VMs. licenses are needed (8x4=32). When running dedicated
There is no on-demand option at this time. Partner vSphere clusters for Gateway Firewalls, VCF licensing
Business Managers will need to submit an exception along with any Firewall Add-on licenses for Gateway
request for approval before submitting a Commit request Firewalls are needed when using Stateful Firewall rules.
for VCDA for DR.
Q. If Edge Node with Gateway Firewall capabilities are
Q. When would I need to add the NSX Firewall Add-On? enabled on a VCF Cluster that is already licensed with
A. The new VCF Add-On includes a Stateless firewall as part VMware Firewall for Distributed Firewall, does Gateway
of the VCF packaging. If a partner enables Stateful firewall Firewall still need to be licensed on top?
features, then they will need to utilize the NSX Firewall A. Yes. Distributed Firewall and Gateway Firewall
Add-On. capabilities are licensed independently and both need to
 be licensed through the Firewall add-on even if it is devices like firewalls, routers, switches, and load
running on the same VCF cluster. balancers.

Q. How will per VM or OSI licensing be handled for Aria Q. How does VMware isolate partner aggregate commit
editions, including for external systems? cores from per customer term commit cores?
A. VCF includes the Aria Suite Enterprise Edition. No further A. All commits will come with license entitlements specific to
licensing is needed for VCF of external systems under that commit. Usage per license key will be routed to the
Aria Suite management. commit contract that the license key comes from. This
includes additional license keys that are one-off ordered
Q. Is Aria Automation Orchestrator part of the VCF bundle? for On-Demand Usage.
A. VCF includes the Aria Suite Enterprise Edition, which
includes Aria Automation Orchestrator Enterprise, Q. Can I exchange licenses between customers?
formerly called Aria Orchestrator Enterprise. A. No. Given that license keys are used for routing usage to
the right commit, license keys cannot be shared across
Q. If a partner uses Aria to monitor native public clouds, will commitments.
Aria continue to support native public clouds? And if so,
how are they licensed?
A. Existing capabilities across the Aria portfolio for public
cloud functionality will continue to exist and will be
available with VCF. No purchase of additional licenses is
required.

Q. If deployed on-premises as part of VCF, can the Aria

components operate on native cloud objects and
resources in public clouds? Or does it require that the VCF
stack be deployed in the public cloud?
A. On-premises Aria components in VCF deployments can
manage and monitor resources in public clouds. The Aria
components in VCF do not need to be deployed in the
public cloud to manage public cloud objects.

Q. Is it possible to use the Aria products for non-VCF

content, e.g. for switches, physical hosts, etc.? If so, how
does the licensing work? Does this include former Blue
Medora / True Visibility Suite / Aria Operations for
Integrations capabilities?
A. There is a wide range of management packs that consist
of API/data integration, relevant metrics, and dashboards
for third-party hardware and software components. The
platform manages entity relationships between all of them
for rollup and root cause analysis. No separate licensing
will be required for the management packs that are
included in VCF. Applications and Database management
packs are included in VCF. VMware Aria Operations for
Networks does not need separate licensing for 3rd party
Metering Questions Q. Can vSAN capacity be transferred between clusters?
A. This topic is being finalized, and an answer will be
Q. What version of Usage Meter does a partner need to provided in the future.
deploy?
A. After April 1st, Usage Meter 4.8 will be the only version of Q. Can a partner turn off some cores in their machine? If so
UM that is still supported. Usage Meter 4.7 and older will how many cores will be metered for that machine?
have reached End of Technical Guidance. While older A. Licensing and metering can only utilize the cores that are
versions have reached End of Technical Guidance, only presented to vSphere. Technologies that can limit the
versions 4.6, 4.7, and 4.8+ will functionally support cores of a host will limit the availability and presentation of
metering cores. Partners below version 4.6 will need to those cores to vSphere. In turn that limits the cores being
upgrade to version 4.8. metered. Regardless of this technology, a host will always
be metered as 16 cores per Socket minimum.
Q. Will Usage Insight require any changes?
A. Usage Insight will be updated to process usage as Cores Q. What options or solutions will make a host not considered
beginning April 1st. Partners will not need to update any for metering?
settings on Usage Meter or Usage Insight for usage to be A. A number of VMware technologies impact a host’s ability
processed correctly. to run workloads or change the state that a VM is
considered to be in:
Q. What is the licensing granularity for hosts?
• vSphere Maintenance Mode
A. Hosts are metered on an hourly rate. If the hourly cores
o A host in maintenance mode cannot run any
are less than the commit, partners will pay for the commit.
workloads. At the time of placing a host into
If the hourly cores are greater than the commit, the
maintenance mode, vCenter will evacuate
additional cores above the commit will be charged at the
all workloads to other hosts in the cluster
on-demand rate per hour.
using vMotion. If vMotion fails, the host will
not be placed into Maintenance mode.
Q. When is a host considered “Meterable”?
• vSphere Distributed Power Management (DPM)
A. A host is considered “Meterable” when it is running a o DPM will power down a host based on the
Virtual Machine in a Powered-On state. A host without workload demand of the cluster, migrating
any VMs in a Powered-On state is not considered for any workloads off the host when it is
metering. powered down. DPM will power up a host
when the workload demand of the cluster
Q. Do Management Component VM’s make a host eligible exceeds the supply of compute resources
for metering? available and additional hosts are available
A. Yes, if a host is running VM’s like NSX Controllers, to be powered on via IPMI, HP ILO, or
vCenter Server, DRS, and so forth, the host will be Wake-On-LAN.
metered for running a powered-on VM even if the host is • Site Recovery Manager (with vSphere Replication or
only running management component VM’s. 3rd Party Storage Replication)
o Site Recovery Manager, along with a
Q. If vSAN is used during a DR use case, will the target site replication technology, creates a copy of a
host be metered? workload in a secondary environment. The
A. Yes, if the workloads are replicated to a target site and solution allows for building automated
onto a vSAN storage cluster at the target site, the cluster bring-up workflows. The copies of the
will be considered metered due to vSAN being used and workloads in the secondary environment
charged for the VCF Cores SKU. are powered off until a failover occurs or
failover testing is performed. Some
 management components will be powered Q. What happens if Usage Meter detects and meters more
on to enable that environment to perform Firewall cores than are committed?
replication, automation actions, and general A. Once NSX add-on metering is supported, excess cores
environment management. will be considered overage and will be billed at the On-
Demand rate at list price.
Q. Are hosts in DR configuration metered?
A. Only hosts running VMs in Powered-On state are
metered. So hosts that are used for Disaster Recovery-as-
a-Service or as backup hosts that are not used until
needed, will not be metered as long as they don’t have
any actively running Powered-On VMs. Partners can
apply a license key to these hosts but do not need to use
committed licenses for that host. Partners can utilize On
Demand licenses and will only be billed when these hosts
actively run VMs. The exception is when a DR host is
using vSAN as the target for replication, then the host is
considered metered and will be billed for VCF Cores (as
noted in the previous question above).

Q. How is the VMware Firewall Add-On metered when using

Distributed Firewall on VCF?
A. Distributed Firewall will be metered for any host clusters
that need it or are configured with it. VMware Firewall
Add-On SKU for Distributed Firewall is based on physical
host cores (16-core minimum applies). Distributed Firewall
is metered when one of the following conditions apply:

1. A user-created rule is defined

2. Malicious IP feature is activated
3. NSX Intelligence is activated
4. Distributed Firewall IPFIX is enabled; for example,
to use Aria Operations for Networks flow monitoring

Q. Does the 16-core minimum apply to VMware Firewall

Add-On?
A. The 16-Core Minimum applies to physical cores of
vSphere Hosts:

• For Distributed Firewall using IPFIX and NSX

Intelligence, the 16-core minimum is applicable.
• For Gateway Firewall the 16-core minimum is not
applicable and the actual number of Cores is
counted. The count of cores is based on the vCPU
cores of the gateway node VM, or the physical cores
of the Bare Metal Gateway Firewall.
 Q. Will VCSP’s need to report information about End-
Transition to VCF Questions Customers to Broadcom?
A. Yes. Pinnacle and Premier tier VCSP’s will be required to
Q. Does VCF need to be deployed with SDDC Manager?
report the names of End-Customers for both Broadcom-
A. No, partners can choose to deploy a subset of Led and Partner-Led models. We also require VCF Cores
components of VCF. If a partner wishes to take advantage and Add-On product usage to be reported per End-
of full SDDC Automation, then it is required to deploy Customer.
SDDC Manager. Please note that without deploying the
full VCF architecture, the partner will not have access to
Q. What level of support will VCSP’s have as part of the new
SRE services for that deployment.
VCF SKU?
A. The new VCF SKU comes with Select Support. All
Q. Does the partner need to deploy the full VCF stack and
Pinnacle and Premier tier VCSP’s will have access to this
potentially change the current architecture?
support entitlement as part of their VCF Commit.
A. No, the partner can choose to deploy and use only a
subset of the VCF components and keep their current
Q. If a partner uses Tanzu from the prior Partner Connect
architecture. However, the VCSP will need to license the program, will Tanzu in VCF continue to be usable without
VCF offering, irrespective of deploying and using only a
NSX ALB (Avi)?
subset of VCF.
A. Tanzu works with HAProxy and NSX ALB. However,
HAProxy is for POC only because there is no formal
Q. Is there an option for VCF for external storage?
support mechanism. NSX-ALB essentials is included with
A. The VCF offering includes vSAN. You can optionally VCF, and should be used with Tanzu.
deploy external storage arrays as principal storage in a
VCF workload domain, but you must still deploy vSAN for
the management domain in a VCF deployment. vSAN
deployed in the management domain will need to observe
the 8 TiBs per CPU license minimum. Please check this
information regarding which storage technologies can be
primary or supplementary storage for Management and
Workload Domains in VCF.

Q. Will this new program model support Multi-Tenancy?

A. There are two types of sub-programs, one for per-
customer commits, and one for partner-led aggregate
commits. Multi-Tenancy (multiple tenants on the same
host) will only be available within the partner-led
aggregate commit model, given that customer commits
come with licenses for that particular customer and the
direct end-user reporting requirements. Although the
partner-led program also requires end-user reporting, it
will be up to the partner to determine how they wish to
split the usage of cores to relate to how much is used by
each customer.

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