"The SDDC Manager is unable to recognize the license key" error when adding ESXi or vSAN or vCenter Server license on SDDC Manager

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x

Issue/Introduction

• There is "The SDDC Manager is unable to recognize the license key" error when adding ESXi or vSAN or vCenter Server license on SDDC Manager.
  
  
  
  
• On SDDC Manager, in /var/log/vmware/vcf/operationmanager/operationmanager.log, there is error as below:
  
  com.vmware.licensecheck.SerialNumException: Invalid serial number: no dormant license file corresponding to the serial number

Environment

VCF 5.2

Cause

SDDC Manager cannot decode the newer VCF license keys due to missing dormant license files (DLF).

Resolution

• Download required DLF from vCenter Server:
  
  • vSAN: /usr/lib/vmware-vpx/vsan-health/licenses/license-vsan-80-e16-c7-202201
  • ESXi: /usr/lib/vmware-vpx/licenses/site/license-esx-80-e27-c5-202201
  • vCenter Server: /usr/lib/vmware-vpx/licenses/site/license-vc-80-e5-202201

 

• Upload those DLF to SDDC Manager as below:
  • vSAN: /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/dlfs/vsan/license-vsan-80-e16-c7-202201
  • ESXi: /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/dlfs/esxi/license-esx-80-e27-c5-202201
  • vCenter Server: /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/dlfs/vcenter/license-vc-80-e5-202201

 

• Once the DLF files have been moved to the correct location on the SDDC Manager, you need to update the files with the correct ownerships and permissions:

 

chown vcf_operationsmanager:vcf /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/dlfs/vsan/license-vsan-80-e16-c7-202201
chown vcf_operationsmanager:vcf /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/dlfs/esxi/license-esx-80-e27-c5-202201
chown vcf_operationsmanager:vcf /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/dlfs/vcenter/license-vc-80-e5-202201

chmod 740 /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/dlfs/vsan/license-vsan-80-e16-c7-202201
chmod 740 /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/dlfs/esxi/license-esx-80-e27-c5-202201
chmod 740 /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/dlfs/vcenter/license-vc-80-e5-202201

 

 

• Add ESXi/vSAN/vCenter Server licenses on SDDC Manager Web UI.

Additional Information

While you may be able to add the keys to the SDDC Manager after implementing this KB, applying the keys to the various BOM components via the SDDC Manager may not be possible (option to apply not available in the dropdown menu in the wizard. If this is the case, reboot the SDDC Manager and the option should be available.