License Asset with Temporary IP used for vCenter Upgrade present in License Manager and cannot be removed

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

In License Manager, a vCenter Asset is present with the Temporary IP used for a previous vCenter upgrade. 

The license may be in use by other assets, but the vCenter Asset itself is unnecessary. The vCenter does not exist. 

Environment

vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

A license may have been applied to vCenter when it was using the Temporary IP and a stale registration remained in License Manager.

A stale AssetEntity is orphaned inside the LicenseService branch of the VMware Directory Service (vmdir) database.

Resolution

1. Log into your vCenter appliance via SSH as root and switch to the shell environment.
2. Generate an LDAP dump of the license configurations using ldapsearch (type out the command and enter SSO administrative password when prompted):
   • /opt/likewise/bin/ldapsearch -b "cn=LicenseService,cn=Services,dc=vsphere,dc=local" -s sub -D "cn=Administrator,cn=Users,dc=vsphere,dc=local" -W > /tmp/license_dump.ldif
     (Note: Adjust dc=vsphere,dc=local to the default SSO domain identity during deployment).
3. Search the file for the temporary IP address to find the explicit Distinguished Name (DN):
   • grep -B 2 -A 5 "TempIP" /tmp/license_dump.ldif
     Find the matching entry block. It will feature a dn: prefix that looks like this:
     dn: cn=AssetEntity-<Unique-ID-String>,cn=LicenseService,cn=Services,dc=vsphere,dc=local
Ensure the AssetEntity is being used, not a LicenseEntity
4. Run ldapdelete with the full dn value to prune the object:
   • /opt/likewise/bin/ldapdelete -h localhost -D "cn=Administrator,cn=Users,dc=vsphere,dc=local" "cn=AssetEntity-<Unique-ID-String>,cn=LicenseService,cn=Services,dc=vsphere,dc=local" -v -W
     Supply the SSO administrator password when prompted.
5. It may be necessary to restart the vsphere-ui service to clear the interface cache:
   • service-control --stop vsphere-ui
service-control --start vsphere-ui