ESXi Host License Entries Missing from vCenter Server Asset Inventory

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

ESXi host license entries are missing from the vCenter Server user interface under Administration > Licenses > Assets > Hosts. The displayed host section count shows a lower number than the actual host count from the vCenter host inventory.

Environment

7.x

8.x

Cause

The Asset_HostEntity records associated with the affected ESXi hardware identifiers were administratively deleted from the vCenter Server database (e.g., using a tool such as jXPLORER). This manual removal severed the linkage between the host objects and the licensing asset inventory, preventing their display in the user interface.

Resolution

Procedure to remediate the reported issue:

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to the Hosts and Clusters inventory view.
   
   
2. If Virtual Machines are present, migrate them from the affected ESXi hosts before proceeding.
   
   
3. Right-click the affected ESXi host and select Connection > Disconnect.
   
   
4. Once the host is disconnected, right-click the host and select Connection > Reconnect.
   
   
5. Restart all vCenter Server services.
   
   

   # service-control --stop -- all && service-control --start -- all

   
   
   
6. Navigate to Administration > Licenses > Assets > Hosts to verify the missing host details are present.

 

Note: Manual insertion or recreation of AssetEntity or AssetHostEntity objects directly into the VMware Directory Service (vmdir) using JXplorer is unsupported and presents a high risk of vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO) database corruption.