Updating vCenter/ESXi licenses from Essentials to Standard - Upon Application All Hosts Disconnect

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
Upon applying new standard licenses to your vSphere environment your hosts/VMs disconnect with the following error messages

Errors:
The host license edition is not compatible with the vCenter Server license edition
Disconnected from host. Reason: Insufficient license on host

Note: This issue may be present when switching between other license editions

Environment

ESXi 8
vCenter Server 8

Cause

If the vCenter Server and ESXi hosts of one licensing edition are not compatible with another, the hosts will become disconnected from vCenter upon applying the license to either the vCenter or the hosts.

Resolution

Workaround 1:

Apply the evaluation license to your vCenter Server, apply the new standard ESXi host licenses to all your hosts, then apply the new standard vCenter license to the vCenter Server.

Workaround 2:

Apply new license to vCenter appliance through the vSphere UI, then apply new host licenses through host UI. Remove the hosts from the vCenter inventory and add them back and they will no longer show up as disconnected.