HPE Morpheus and Ezmeral licensing covers two groups of HPE software that are licensed by capacity rather than by user. HPE Morpheus Enterprise Software and HPE VM Essentials Software, together called HPE Morpheus Software in the ALA, manage virtual machine and cloud workloads and are licensed per Socket on subscription terms.[1] The Ezmeral family covers container, machine learning, data and analytics software, and combines legacy per-core and per-terabyte licences with consumption-metered SaaS and capacity-based term licences.[2] The Morpheus ALA states that it applies in addition to the HPE Customer Terms Portfolio or the HPE EULA, and that it takes precedence over different terms in the governing agreement to the extent of a conflict.[1]
Editions
The Morpheus ALA lists the products and their use categories: HPE Morpheus Enterprise Software and HPE VM Essentials Software, each with Production, Evaluation and Community Edition licences available, and Plugin Core Software for software development, not for resale.[1]
| Product | Licence type | Grant |
|---|---|---|
| HPE Morpheus Enterprise Software | Subscription | One Socket (or other licensed unit of measure) for the Subscription Term[1] |
| HPE VM Essentials Software | Subscription | One Socket for the Subscription Term[1] |
| HPE Morpheus Enterprise Community Edition | Community licence | 365 days for three Sockets; limited capabilities[1] |
| Plugin Core Software | Free and not for resale | Internal development of plugins[1] |
The Ezmeral ALA lists these series, each with Production and Evaluation licences: Ezmeral Runtime Enterprise (formerly Container Platform), ML Ops, Data Fabric, legacy Data Fabric products, Unified Analytics SaaS and Data Fabric SaaS.[2]
Metrics
Socket and Workload Equivalent
The Morpheus ALA defines a Socket as the physical slot on a motherboard designed to hold a CPU, a Server as any physical or virtual machine on which one or more instances of the software is installed, and a Cluster as a set of virtual or physical Servers.[1] A Workload Equivalent (WLE) is a single virtual machine, and for managed workloads on public cloud services 15 WLEs are equivalent to one Socket.[1] The Subscription Term is 1, 3 or 5 years unless otherwise agreed in writing, starting when HPE fulfils the order by making the software available or providing activation keys, whichever is first.[1]
Ezmeral units
For legacy Ezmeral products, Core Capacity is the total cores available for a system, with two virtual cores counting as one physical core, and Capacity Under Management is the storage allocated to and managed by Data Fabric, measured in terabytes of raw capacity and including space for replication, erasure coding, snapshots, metadata and logs.[2] The license metrics table lists Runtime Enterprise and Analytics for Apache Spark by core, ML Ops and Runtime Enterprise by licence, Data Fabric File and Object Store by TB, Unified Analytics SaaS by vCPU-vGPU hours per month, Unified Analytics term licences by vCPU and vGPU, and Data Fabric SaaS by GB per month.[2]
Counting / floors
Morpheus and VM Essentials
A subscription licence includes support services during the Subscription Term under the HPE Tech Care Service data sheet.[1] The licensee is responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining the operating system on each physical Server in any HVM cluster provisioned from the software, and for the guest operating system on any Server. The ALA also states that the licensee is responsible for obtaining and complying with licences for any third-party software running on its virtual machines.[1] No minimum Socket count is published in the document.
Ezmeral SaaS and reserve capacity
Unified Analytics SaaS and Data Fabric SaaS are delivered with consumption-based metering and billing. Customers are billed on metered consumption at pre-negotiated rates for Reserved Capacity and On-demand Capacity. The unit for Unified Analytics is vCPU-hours aggregated hourly and consumed per month, and for Data Fabric SaaS it is GB of storage aggregated hourly over a month.[2] Reserve Capacity is the predictable capacity a customer typically consumes and may attract volume discounts. On-demand Capacity is consumption above the reserve and receives no discount. A subscription may impose a monthly minimum payable even if less than the reserve is consumed.[2] For Unified Analytics, consumption of Imported Images is deducted from reserve capacity first and receives no discount.[2] SaaS subscriptions are non-cancellable with a minimum term of one year. Support is billed monthly as a function of consumption, and for Data Fabric SaaS, unless the reserve exceeds 100 TB per month, only developer support is offered.[2]
Ezmeral term licences
Unified Analytics term licences are capacity based. GPU workloads need vGPU licences, which require vCPU licences. Each term licence is tied to a unique Unified Analytics cluster and is non-transferable. Term licences expire at the end of the contracted term, and licensed capacity is counted against worker nodes only.[2] If usage exceeds licensed vCPU or vGPU capacity, a licence violation alert is displayed, the excess is logged in audit logs and the usage is sent to Ezmeral Central. Subscription and term licences cannot be interchanged for a cluster until the term expires.[2]
Virtualization & partitioning
For Morpheus the physical Socket is the licensed unit even where workloads are virtual, and the 15-to-1 WLE rule applies to managed workloads on public cloud services.[1] The licensee must also hold licences for guest operating systems and applications on managed virtual machines.[1] For legacy Ezmeral core licences, two virtual cores equal one physical core.[2] Customers moving from a hypervisor licensed by processor should compare the counting basis carefully, as the Morpheus ALA counts sockets of the Servers on which the software is installed.
Cloud / BYOL
Ezmeral Runtime Enterprise and ML Ops usage included in a GreenLake managed service is deployed on the HPE-managed environment, and the licences cannot be transferred to third-party infrastructure or a public cloud; charges follow the GreenLake terms.[2] The SaaS offerings are owned, managed and operated by HPE even if parts of the software image reside on customer premises or in a customer-owned public cloud, and HPE may disable access with cause.[2] Each SaaS deployment must remain connected to the HPE Ezmeral Central service, and air-gapped sites must give an authorised HPE representative access to collect monthly consumption data.[2] Morpheus can manage workloads on public cloud services, which is why the WLE conversion exists.[1]
Programs
The Morpheus Community Edition is available only for HPE Morpheus Enterprise Software and for non-production home lab use. It is provided as is, without support.[1] Service Provider Use is available only for Morpheus production licences. It lets the licensee provide services to End Customers within the scope of use originally authorized, add or reassign End Customers without HPE approval or extra cost provided licence metrics do not increase and the licensee stays the licence holder of record, and it bars distribution or resale to any third-party service provider.[1] The general EULA bars use of software to provide services to third parties unless Supporting Material allows it, which is the basis for the Service Provider Use carve-out.[4]
Audits and compliance
Interfering with or disabling software designed to allow HPE to monitor consumption is a material breach under the Morpheus ALA.[1] For Ezmeral SaaS, disabling the service or blocking the connection to Ezmeral billing is treated as a breach that initiates the built-in Kill-Switch, the ability to disconnect the service for discontinued use or breach, and HPE may retain consumption information in perpetuity.[2] The general EULA audit right, with auditor costs shifting above five percent underpayment, also applies to HPE software licensed under the EULA.[4] For GreenLake-delivered services the aaS terms add metering confidentiality and customer cooperation duties.[5]
Out of scope
This article does not cover Ezmeral open source components, data ownership and personal data clauses in the ALA, export control terms, or HPE Zerto, SimpliVity and other virtualization products that have separate documentation.