Host license edition not compatible with the vCenter Server

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When assigning licenses to vCenter Server or vSphere ESXi hosts, the hosts may disconnect with the error: 'The Host license edition is not compatible with the vCenter Server license edition.'

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server 7.x
• VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

• This is due to the mismatch in the edition of vCenter Server and ESXi.
• vCenter Server Essentials supports/manages the ESXi Hosts licensed with vSphere Essentials and Essentials Plus.
• vCenter Server Standard edition supports the ESXi Hosts licensed with vSphere Standard and Enterprise Plus.
• Due to this, when changing the license key for Hosts or vCenter Server, a critical alarm stating that the host license edition is not compatible is shown, and the hosts will be disconnected from the vCenter Server.

Resolution

1. Log in to vCenter Server using the vSphere Client
2. Navigate to Administration>Licenses
3. Choose Assets and click on vCenter Server Systems and select the asset of vCenter Server and assign the vCenter Server license key.
4. Choose Hosts and assign the vSphere ESXi license key to the Hosts.
5. Once the compatible license key is applied to vCenter Server and vSphere Hosts, choose the Inventory > Hosts and Clusters and reconnect the Hosts to vCenter Server.
6. Under Hosts, access to Alarms > Triggered alarms and acknowledge or reset the alarm.

Note: New licenses may need to be downgraded from vSphere 8.x to vSphere 7.x if vCenter was upgraded to 8.x but the hosts are still on 7.x.See
Upgrade and Downgrade VMware License Keys via the Broadcom support portal for the steps to downgrade licenses.

Additional Information

Reference Techdocs :

How to Configure License Settings for Your ESXi Host
Licensing for ESXi Hosts