Error "java.lang.NullPointerException" when attempting to assign licenses in vSphere Client.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

The issue may be observed in an environment with mixed vCenter Server versions participating in legacy Enhanced Linked Mode, where one or more vCenter Servers running version 8.x are linked with one or more vCenter Servers running version 9.x.
On the vCenter Server running version 8.x, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• Adding a New License from vSphere Client shows the error message java.lang.NullPointerException. The issue is observed only on the vCenter server running version 8.x.
  
  
• Attempting to assign licenses to any objects (VC, ESXi host, or Supervisor Cluster) in 8.x vCenter fails with the error java.lang.NullPointerException


• From vCenter 8.x UI, selecting Licenses shows empty result (No items found)


• Logs on vCenter Server located at /var/log/vmware/vsphere-ui/logs/vsphere_client_virgo.log shows below errors:
  
  
  [YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss] [ERROR] data-service-pool-760 70026747 102275 200121 c.vmware.license.client.cis.adapter.BaseDataProviderAdapterImpl Unable to retrieve licensing data: com.vmware.vim.binding.vmodl.fault.SystemError: java.lang.NullPointerException


• Logs on vCenter Server located at /var/log/vmware/cis-license/license.log shows below errors:

YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss vmomi-executor-1 ERROR vim.vmomi.server.impl.SoapBindingImpl Method 'searchAssets' completed with undeclared fault of type 'java.lang.NullPointerException'
java.lang.NullPointerException: The right predicate must be specified

Environment

vCenter Server 8.x
VCF 9.x

Cause

This issue occurs because of a data model change introduced in the licensing information stored in LDAP starting with vCenter Server version 9.0.

The change was implemented to support updated licensing requirements, specifically improvements to the security and handling of licensing data. In mixed-version legacy ELM environments, vCenter Servers running version 8.x are unable to properly interpret the newer licensing attributes introduced in version 9.0, which can result in licensing queries and related operations failing.

Resolution

If you encounter the symptoms described above, contact Broadcom Technical Support for further assistance as the resolution involves modifications to the VMDIR database instance.