How is the hypervisor ESXi licensed?

The licensing model for the hypervisor ESXi is structured around the number of physical CPU sockets in a server, specifically focusing on the cores within each socket. The correct answer indicates that ESXi is licensed per socket up to 32 cores. This means that for each physical socket in a server that hosts the ESXi hypervisor, VMware permits licensing that covers up to 32 CPU cores.

This licensing approach makes it scalable for various server configurations, allowing organizations to efficiently manage their licensing costs in accordance with their hardware capabilities. VMware’s decision to allow licensing per socket for up to 32 cores helps to accommodate high-performance servers that may utilize a higher core count, thus providing flexibility for larger virtualized environments.

The other options imply different licensing terms that do not align with VMware's actual licensing strategy for ESXi. For example, limiting licensing to 16 cores per socket significantly restricts the potential scalability of environments deploying ESXi on modern hardware that typically has more cores. Similarly, the per server licensing structure limits the deployment to either two or four sockets, which does not reflect the expansive capability provided by the maximum of 32 cores per socket licensing. Therefore, the focus on covering up to 32 cores per socket allows for a more nuanced and robust virtualization