Adding NSX-T license fails with error "Invalid license key ending with XXX. (Error code: 3020)"

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• Adding NSX-T license fails with error "Invalid license key ending with XXX. (Error code: 3020)"

• NSX Manager logs (nsxapi.log) display message(s) similar to:​​​​​​

2020-05-04T14:51:18.513Z INFO http-nio-127.0.0.1-7440-exec-2 NsxBaseRestController - - [nsx@6876 comp="nsx-manager" level="INFO" subcomp="manager"] Error in API /nsxapi/api/v1/licenses caused by exception com.vmware.nsx.management.licensing.exceptions.LicensingException: {"moduleName":"internal-framework","errorCode":3020,"errorMessage":"Invalid license key ending with JJJJJ."}

Environment

• VMware NSX 4.x
• VMware NSX-T Data Center 3.x

Cause

The issue is caused because the license used is not valid for the NSX-T version, for example:

• The license keys for the Limited Export and standard NSX-T versions are different and cannot be used interchangeably.
• VCP license keys are only valid from NSX-T 3.1.1 versions.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, use a license key corresponding to NSX-T version in use.