HCX License activation fails after re-installing HCX Manager

Products

• VMware HCX

Issue/Introduction

• The HCX manager has been reinstalled from scratch
• When trying to reuse the license key to activate deployment, the below errors are seen on the HCX manager under /common/logs/admin/app.log

<timestamp> [RegistrationService_SvcThread-21, Ent: HybridityAdmin, , TxId: #######-####-####-####-############] ERROR c.v.v.h.s.r.ActivateApplianceJob- Failing ActivateApplianceJob
java.lang.Exception: The provided key is invalid. In case you do not have a valid key contact your administrator for assistance.
        at com.vmware.vchs.hybridity.service.registration.ActivateApplianceJob.validateActivationKeyAndExchangeCertificates(ActivateApplianceJob.java:238)
        at com.vmware.vchs.hybridity.service.registration.ActivateApplianceJob.run(ActivateApplianceJob.java:78)
        at com.vmware.vchs.hybridity.messaging.LoggingJobWrapper.run(LoggingJobWrapper.java:41)
        at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)

• Under the same /common/logs/admin/app.log, there are errors witnessed as shown below

<timestamp> [LicensingService_SvcThread-415, Ent: HybridityAdmin, , TxId: ######-####-####-#########] ERROR c.v.v.h.license.VLicenseChecker- Serial Key Error. Error Message : Invalid Serial Number Format

Environment

VMware HCX

Cause

• When HCX is re-deployed a new UUID is created for the deployment.
• The license key is already register with a HCX UUID which does not match the re-deployment one.

Resolution

• The preferred method to recover HCX is by restoring the system from backup. This will preserve the systems UUID and license key.
• If there is no backup available for the HCX manager and re-installation is the only path then a new license key must be generated.