Impact and Monitoring of VCF Operations 9.1 and License Server Downtime on vCenter Licensing

Products

• VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

In VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1, license management is centralized within VCF Operations. This article explains the impact on vCenter Server when VCF Operations or the License Server component is unavailable and describes the associated alarms for monitoring.

 

Environment

VCF 9.1

 

Resolution

1. Impact of Component Downtime
   Fully Licensed Environments: If VCF Operations or the License Server is temporarily down, existing license entitlements on vCenter remain active. Workloads will continue to run without interruption. However, you cannot perform new license assignments or capacity updates (e.g., adding CPU cores) until connectivity is restored.
   Evaluation or Expiring Environments: If the environment is in Evaluation Mode or requires a license renewal while components are down, the automated sync will fail. If the 90-day evaluation period expires before the sync is restored, ESXi hosts will enter a "Disconnected" state, and Virtual Machines cannot be powered on.
   
   
2. Alarms and Warnings
   

   vCenter Server Warning: When communication with the License Server is lost, vSphere Client displays a banner:
   "One or more vCenter instances are not connected to a license server. To avoid service interruption, verify that the vCenter instance is connected to a license server."

   VCF Operations Sync Errors: The following errors are logged in the VCF Operations UI/logs during sync failures:
   "Licenses could not be synchronized with the vCenter systems." "Licenses could not be assigned to the vCenter system."
   
   

3. Operational Recommendations
   
   Continuous Availability: The License Server should remain powered on at all times (in both Connected and Disconnected modes) to ensure continuous license validation and synchronization with vCenter.
   Monitoring Strategy: It is critical to monitor the health of the VCF Operations Appliance and the License Server VM. Additionally, administrators should configure alerts for the vCenter license server connectivity warning to detect communication failures early.

Additional Information

Licensing Overview
"One or more vCenter instances are not connected to a License Server" after upgrading to 9.1.0

License Server Downtime Impact