Unable to license vCenter after upgrading to 9.0
Article ID: 404155
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
In the vSphere Client, the Version 9+ Licenses section under the Administration menu does not have a way to license the vCenter, or might show "No Licenses Found"
vCenter 9.0 appears to be stuck in evaluation mode without the ability to apply a license.
Environment
vCenter 9.0
Cause
This is by design. vCenter no longer handles the licensing of a 9.0 environment. This is now managed through VCF Operations.
Resolution
Licensing a vCenter requires an existing VCF Operations 9.0 appliance, and for it to be associated with the vCenter via either a VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) or VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) deployment.
Deployment Options
- If you have an existing vCenter 9.0, it will need to be "converged" into the 9.0 deployment as part of the installation process using the VCF Installer. This process varies depending on if you are use VVF or VCF, so it is important to read and understand the documentation surrounding each option. See Overview of Deploy, Converge, and Upgrade for more details.
- Please review the documentation regarding these two options at Converging Existing Virtual Infrastructure to a VCF or a vSphere Foundation Platform & Supported Scenarios to Converge to VCF.
Licensing a VCF or VVF instance
- Once you have a VCF or VVF deployment with VCF Operations, you can register it with the VCF Business Service Console to apply and manage your licenses.
- For a detailed explanation of this process, please review the documentation pages under VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 - Licensing.
Additional Information
For air-gapped environment with SDDC manager and VCFO is not in use , the process is :
Download the operations-appliance OVA file from the Broadcom Support Portal.
Deploy the Operations Appliance
Complete Configuration.
Register and License the vCenter in disconnected mode
Assign the license to vCenter.
Please refer to the following kb articles :
Upgrade and Downgrade VMware License Keys via the Broadcom support portal
Unable to license vCenter after upgrading to 9.0
Feedback
