Invalid license key error when applying the SRM license key - VMware Site Recovery Manager
search cancel

Invalid license key error when applying the SRM license key - VMware Site Recovery Manager

book

Article ID: 438925

calendar_today

Updated On:

Products

VMware Live Recovery VMware Cloud Director Availability - Disaster Recovery 4.x VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Customers encountering an "Invalid license key" error when applying a license key generated on or after April 20, 2026, are affected by a known validation defect for the following sku's

  1. VMware Live Site Recovery (VLSR) (sold through VLR SKU: VCF-VLR-PVM)

  2. VMware Cloud Director Availability (VCDA) (sold through VLR SKU: VCF-VLR-PVM or ACC SKU:VCF-CYB-CMP-VCDA)

  3. VMware Site Recovery Manager (Standalone SRM sold through SRM SKU: VCF-SRM)

When applying the license, it throws error "The following serial keys are invalid ############'.

This issue impacts VMware Live Recovery (VLR), VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM), and VMware Cloud Director Availability (VCDA) SKUs. This article provides the necessary steps to resolve this license recognition failure.

Environment

  • VMware Live Site Recovery 9.0, 9.0.1, 9.0.2, 9.0.2.1, 9.0.2.2 and 9.0.2.3

  • VMware Live Recovery 9.0.3, 9.0.4 and 9.0.5

  • VMware Protection and Recovery 9.1.0.0

  • VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.7.4

Cause

A change in the Broadcom licensing system intended to address Term based data protection license incorrectly provisiong resulted in a license key format that older software versions do not recognize. The validation logic in these versions fails to parse the updated license structure, resulting in an "Invalid license key" error.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must upgrade your appliance to a version containing the updated license validation libraries.

  1. For vLSR/SRM:
    • If using versions 9.0.1 through 9.0.2.3, upgrade to 9.0.2.4 or later.
    • If using versions 9.0.3, 9.0.4, or 9.0.5, upgrade to 9.0.5.1 or later.
  2. For vCDA:
    • Upgrade version 4.7.4 to 4.7.5 or later.
  3. For Protection & Recovery:
    • Upgrade version 9.1.0.0 to 9.1.0.0100 or later.

Note: This upgrade is mandatory to ensure the product correctly recognizes the new license definition. If the issue persists after the upgrade, perform a "split" and "merge" operation in the Broadcom Support Portal to refresh the license metadata.

Additional Information

Powered by Wolken Software