After removing a vCenter from Enhanced Linked Mode, the Licenses used by the other vCenter are not removed

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

After successfully unregistering a vCenter from an Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM) group following Splitting Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM), the Licenses used by other vCenter(s) haven't been removed.

They are still visible in the vSphere Client in:

Menu > Administration > Licensing > Licenses > Assets

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

The reason this happens is due to the way VMware manages its distributed database:

• Distributed Metadata in the Lookup Service
  When vCenters are joined in ELM, they share a VMware Directory Service (vmdir).
  After running the unregister command, it removes the "Service Registration", but it often fails to purge the License Service metadata.
  The License Service stores its own list of "Assets" (vCenters, Hosts) mapped to "Keys."
  If the unregistration process doesn't tell the License Service to delete the asset, the key remains "checked out" to an ID that no longer exists.
• The Multi-Master Replication Delay
  In ELM, every vCenter holds a copy of the SSO database.
  After unregistering Node A while connected to Node B, the change has to replicate across the remaining nodes.
  If there is a synchronization lag or a "tombstone" conflict in the LDAP database, the license entry gets stuck in a "read-only" state where the UI can see it, but can't modify it because the owner (the old vCenter) is gone.
• Inventory Service vs. License Service
  The vSphere Client pulls data from multiple services.
  Inventory Service: Knows the vCenter is gone.
  License Service: Still has a record for Asset_ID_123. Because the Inventory Service no longer has the object, it's not possible to click on "Manage Licenses," leaving the license key orphaned in the License Manager

Resolution

Warning:

Offline snapshots off all nodes in linked mode must be taken to allow for single point in time roll back. See "Snapshot Best practices for vCenter Server Virtual Machines" and "VMware vCenter in Enhanced Linked Mode pre-changes snapshot (online or offline) best practice" for more information.

 

This issue can be resolved by following the instructions in How to remove a License Manually from VCenter using JXplorer.

If a CLI solution is preferred, you can refer to How to remove a License Manually from vCenter using ldapmodify.