vSAN Add-on License Missing: VM Backups and Operations Fail (VCF 9.x)

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

• Virtual machine backups fail consistently across the environment.
• Storage-dependent tasks (manual snapshots, Storage vMotion, or migrations) fail with the error: An error occurred while saving the snapshot: 22 (invalid argument).
• The vSphere Client inventory shows a red alert icon on the vSAN Cluster.
• A blue informational banner appears in the vSphere Client: "You cannot manage licenses in the vSphere Client. You must use a VCF Operations instance for license management."
• In the vSphere Client (Administration > Licensing > Version 9+ Licenses), vCenter status is Fully Licensed: No, and the Add-on License Name is "Evaluation" or empty.
• In VCF Operations (License Management > Licenses), the valid vSAN license shows a hyphen (-) or "0" under the Managed Assets/vCenters column.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.x
VMware vSAN 9.x

Cause

In VCF 9.x, license management is centralized within VCF Operations. Under the subscription model, compute entitlements (VCF Cores) are Primary Licenses, while storage entitlements (vSAN TiB) are Add-on Licenses.
If a valid vSAN license exists in the inventory but is not explicitly assigned as an "Add-on" to the managed vCenter, the cluster enters an unlicensed state. This triggers an administrative lock that prevents snapshot creation, breaking backup and migration workflows.

Resolution

You must assign the vSAN license to the affected vCenter(s) as an Add-on via the VCF Operations management interface.

Step 1: Assign the Add-on License in VCF Operations

1. Log in to the VCF Operations management UI.
2. Navigate to License Management > Licenses in the left navigation pane.
3. Locate the vCenter Systems section in the bottom pane.
4. Select the checkbox for the affected vCenter server(s).
5. Click the ASSIGN ADD-ON LICENSE button.
6. Select the valid VMware vSAN (TiB) license from the dialog box.
7. Confirm the assignment and verify that the Fully Licensed column updates to a green Yes.

Step 2: Validate Synchronization in vSphere Client

1. Log in to the vSphere Client.
2. Navigate to the affected vSAN Cluster in the inventory.
3. Go to Configure > Licensing (under the vSAN section).
4. Confirm that the Product and Usage fields reflect the assigned license and that all enterprise features are unlocked.

Step 3: Clear Stale Alarms

1. On the vSAN Cluster, select the Monitor tab.
2. Navigate to Issues and Alarms > Triggered Alarms.
3. Acknowledge and Reset to Green any stale alarms related to licensing or failed snapshots.
4. Resume backup jobs to confirm the lock has been lifted.

Additional Information

• VCF 9.0 Licensing Overview
• Add a License to VCF Operations
• Online VCF 9 ADD-ON Licensing for vSAN (KB 418389)
• vCenter not full licensed in VCF Operations (KB 422008)

In older versions of VCF, vSAN was often bundled directly into the primary CPU/CPU-core licenses.

In the new VCF subscription model, Broadcom decoupled the storage capacity from the compute cores. Now, your primary VCF (cores) license authorizes the physical servers to run, but you have a separate bucket of storage capacity—your vSAN (TiB) license.

Because a vCenter can only have one Primary License (the cores), the vSAN capacity must be applied as an "Add-on" to that primary foundation to authorize the storage layer.