False license expiration warning and Update Licenses failure in VCF Operations 9.0.1

Products

• VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

You may observe a false license expiration warning in VCF Operations. The "Update Licenses" action in the Operations Registration UI silently fails, causing the red banner to flicker and the page to reset without completing. When following KB 438620, the license key field does not populate.

In the UI, the VCF Operations license shows as expired, even though the license in vCenter and on the Support Portal correctly displays as active. Additionally, you may notice a discrepancy in the UI regarding the Reporting Mode; the main Registration details page may show the status as "Connected," while the VCF Operations Registrations list displays it as "Disconnected," and attempts to toggle the modes do not resolve the mismatch.

Additionally, you may encounter the following error messages under VCF Operations > License Management > Registration (as shown in the screenshots below):

The managed vCenter systems are not licensed by the licenses added to this VCF Operations instance. You must assign a new license to the vCenter systems.

License file cannot be updated. Please try updating licenses again, and if this message persists contact support

Unable to connect to VCF Business Services. Check your network connection, and if this message persists, contact support

The following error is recorded in the /storage/log/vcops/log/vcf-licensing-plugin.log file: 

ERROR vcf-licensing-plugin #### [ops@#### threadId="###" threadName="pool-##-thread-#"] Entitlements task failed: Failed to send task to Collector with id: <ID>

Additionally, you can verify connectivity from the VCF Operations appliance to the required Broadcom endpoints over port 443 by using the curl command:

curl -v https://vcf.broadcom.com
curl -v https://eapi.broadcom.com

Environment

VCF Operations 9.0.1

Cause

This issue occurs if an incorrect Site ID was selected when registering VCF Operations. This commonly happens if the configured primary tenant is inactive. The mismatch causes the licensing API payload to be rejected, which prevents the license file from updating and synchronizing properly between vCenter and VCF Operations.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. Verify that the Site ID configured on the VCF Operations appliance matches exactly with the Site ID in the Broadcom portal that holds the active VVF/VCF entitlements.

2. Log in to the VCF Business Services Console.

3. Generate a new activation code from the console. Ensure you explicitly select Connected mode during the creation process (reference Broadcom KB 428209).

4. Log in to the VCF Operations local UI.

5. Navigate to the licensing/registration page.

6. Click the Actions menu and select the option to enter a new activation code (reference Broadcom KB 428209).

7. Input the newly generated code. This overwrites the failed transition state, authenticates using the validated Site ID, and synchronizes the appliance with the portal.

Additional Information

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Unable to Register License in VCF Operations in Connected Mode