vSAN cluster reports an alarm 'Expired vSAN license'

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

++The vSAN cluster reports an alarm 'Expired vSAN license' even though a valid license (Not Expired) is added to the vCenter Server.

++We can run below cmd to check what License Feature is available from Host client and compare it with the License reflected on the vcenter client.

#esxcfg-advcfg -g /VSAN/licensedFeatures

++To view License Feature from vSphere Client.

Administrator>Licenses>select the License> click on features

 

 

Environment

VMware vSAN (All Versions)

Resolution

++We need to first re-assign a valid License to the vSAN cluster and follow below steps to add/remove the license.

Remove/re-add the license via the following procedure:

To remove the license:

1. Go to Administration>Licenses
2. Click on the Licenses tab
3. Select the expired vSAN license (make sure this license is not assigned to any asset)
4. Click remove

Note: The license can't be assigned as an asset at the time of removal
To Add a license

1. Click on the + to create a new license
2. Follow the wizard to add the license back

If the issue persists engage VMware support for further assistance.

 

If you no longer want to use vSAN on the Cluster and want to remove the License, you can follow below Workaround

Workaround:
++Create a new cluster with same configuration
++Add the host back to new cluster one by one after putting the host in MM (temporarily ignore "Cluster Member List Updates" (esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /VSAN/IgnoreClusterMemberListupdates) coming from vCenter and reenable it later refer KB: 326427) | Follow this only if we intend to use vSAN on the cluster
++delete the old empty cluster, this will also remove the expired license referencing to it.