License Portability
Catalog row in Vendor License Programs · Cited
- Kind
- Cloud policy
- Term
- Follows the VCF subscription. If a Certified Cloud Service is later removed from the list, already-Ported licenses remain certified only until those licenses’ then-current subscription periods expire.
- Aliases
- VCF License Portability; Certified Cloud Services
- Definition
- VCF SPD June 2026: “Certified Cloud Services” means Broadcom’s then current list of Cloud Services that are certified by Broadcom for the use of Customers to port license entitlements to and deploy Software. “Cloud Services” means computing infrastructure (including compute, storage, networking, security, management etc.) that a Customer does not own, and which a third party markets or makes available as a service to its customers (including as a bundle of, or as integrated with, managed services). Cloud Services excludes on-premises (data center or colo) infrastructure if the third party has no access to, and does not perform any services with respect to, the Software. “License Portability. Customer must not use or deploy (“Port”) the Software on any Cloud Services that are not found on the then-current list of Certified Cloud Services” (SPD URL: https://www.vmware.com/docs/vmware-cloud-foundation-license-portability-list-of-certified-cloud-providers). “In such cases, Customer must Port the entire set of components of the Software to that Certified Cloud Service, and continues to be the licensee.” License metric (unchanged on the destination): “Software is subscription software licensed on a per Core license metric with a minimum licensing requirement of 16 Cores per Processor.” “Each Core on the Server where Software is installed must be licensed, including Cores deactivated by the BIOS.” Portability does not convert Core to vCPU.
- Commercial rules
- “Customer shall provide ongoing representations reasonably requested by the provider of that Certified Cloud Services around the validity of licenses Ported. In the event that Customer Ports to a Cloud Service that was on the list of Certified Cloud Services at the time Customer Ported but was later removed, then that Cloud Service shall be deemed to continue to be on the list of Certified Cloud Services only with respect to those licenses that had already been Ported and only until the expiration of those licenses’ then-current subscription periods.” “The right to Port hereunder does not apply to i) licenses obtained through a third party who resold those licenses under Broadcom's Value-Added OEM Program (for clarity, such licenses may only be used on infrastructure that the license was sold with, ii) licenses obtained through an upgrade under Qualified Legacy Offerings that are not Enterprise edition, or iii) Software licensed to a partner under the Cloud Service Provider Program or Metal-as-a-Service Program.” VVF SPD June 2026 and vSphere Standard SPD: “Customer must not (and must not allow Customer’s Third-Party Agents to) use or deploy the Software on any Cloud Services.” VCFE SPD: same Cloud Services ban; Edge Location excludes public cloud services. vSAN SPD: Customer must not deploy vSAN on Cloud Services except when used exclusively as an add-on to a VMware Cloud Foundation license that has an entitlement which enables it to do so. CCS list July 2026 (destination list the SPD incorporates by URL): official list of Certified Cloud Services eligible for License Portability (BYOL or BYOS).
- Applies to
- VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). Not VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF), standalone vSphere Standard, or VMware Cloud Foundation Edge — those SPDs require Customer must not deploy the Software on any Cloud Services. vSAN only when used exclusively as an add-on to a VCF license that has the portability entitlement.
- Related metrics