With the perpetual or disconnected subscription (term) licensing option, you can purchase the licenses required for Cloud Foundation on VxRail either directly from VMware or through a VMware partner. For perpetual licenses, you must have a profile on VMware’s site for license support (VMware Customer Connect) in order to manage the licenses. You can purchase the licenses for the term-based subscription option through the VMware Cloud site: VMware Cloud.
Figure 32. Process flow for the perpetual or term-based subscription licensing option
During the planning and design phase of the Dell Professional Services engagement to deploy Cloud Foundation on VxRail, Professional Services determines the quantity and types of VMware licenses for the Cloud Foundation on VxRail deployment. At this stage, it is the customer’s responsibility to purchase the perpetual licenses or term-based subscriptions, and obtain the license keys from VMware or a VMware partner.
The physical installation of the VxRail hardware can commence while the licenses are ordered, and deployment of the VCF management domain can start when the license keys are obtained. At this time, the VMware license keys are applied to the Cloud Foundation on VxRail instance to activate full functionality.