Unable to activate VMware Cloud Foundation 9 license in VMware HCX

Products

• VMware HCX

Issue/Introduction

When you connect an HCX Manager appliance to a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9 Management vCenter, you may experience the following issues:

• The VCF license is not automatically absorbed by the appliance.
• The HCX UI displays the following banner at the top of the screen: "HCX is currently in evaluation mode and expires on [Date]. You must enter a valid license key."
• Manually entering the VCF 9 license key returns an "invalid key" error.

Environment

• VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0
• VMware HCX (Standard release stream, 4.11.x)

Cause

This issue occurs when the standard VMware HCX OVA (e.g., version 4.11.x) is deployed instead of the VCF-specific "VMware Cloud Foundation Operations HCX" OVA. The standard HCX 4.11.x release stream lacks the required integration logic to automatically ingest VCF 9 license keys from the Management vCenter, and it is incompatible with VCF 9's updated SSO integration requirements.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must deploy the correct VCF-integrated HCX appliance.

1. Decommission and power off the incorrectly deployed HCX 4.11.x appliance.
2. Log in to the Broadcom Support Portal.
3. Navigate to My Downloads.
4. Search for VMware Cloud Foundation.
5. Select the VMware Cloud Foundation product and follow the version prompts for 9.0.
6. Locate and download the VMware Cloud Foundation Operations HCX (Version 9.0.x) appliance.
7. Deploy the new 9.0.x OVA and connect it to your VCF 9 Management vCenter.

Additional Information

The vCenter HCX plugin is deprecated in VCF 9. For more information, see HCX vCenter Plug-in fails with "Invalid credentials" or 401 Error after upgrading to VCF 9.0 / HCX 9.0