Error: "Licensing assignment failed for this host" after upgrading to VCF 9.1

Products

VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

After upgrading the ESXi node to 9.1 it displays "Licensing assignment failed for this host" and "Your host license expires in #### days. The host will disconnect from vCenter Server when its license expires."
"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" banner on the vSphere web client.
"License inventory monitoring" alert on the vCenter summary page.
As per /storage/log/vcops/log/collector.log on VCF operations

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ ERROR collector 6291 [ops@4413 threadId="294538" threadName="vcf-licensing-assign-####"] [(58) com.vmware.adapter.management.components.licensing.vcf.EntitlementMutationManager.updateEntitlement] - Task 9e###########################e0:com.vmware.cis.license.subscription.entitlement.entitlements failed to assigning entitlement 12#############################f1, task details: Info (com.vmware.cis.task.info) => {
progress = Progress (com.vmware.cis.task.progress) => {
total = 100,
completed = 100,
message = LocalizableMessage (com.vmware.vapi.std.localizable_message) => {
id = unused.id,
defaultMessage = Task failed.,
args = [],
params = <null>,
localized = Task failed.
}
},
result = <null>,
description = LocalizableMessage (com.vmware.vapi.std.localizable_message) => {
id = unused.id,
defaultMessage = Entitlement task,
args = [],
params = <null>,
localized = Entitlement task
},
service = com.vmware.cis.license.subscription.entitlement.entitlements,
operation = update,
parent = <null>,
target = <null>,
status = FAILED,
cancelable = false,
error = InvalidArgument (com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.invalid_argument) => {
messages = [LocalizableMessage (com.vmware.vapi.std.localizable_message) => {
id = unused.id,
defaultMessage = Entitlement assignment failed with error: INSUFFICIENT_ENTITLEMENT_CAPACITY,
args = [],
params = <null>,
localized = Entitlement assignment failed with error: INSUFFICIENT_ENTITLEMENT_CAPACITY
}],
data = com.vmware.cis.license.subscription.entitlement.entitlements.update_error_info => {reason=INSUFFICIENT_ENTITLEMENT_CAPACITY},
errorType = INVALID_ARGUMENT
},
startTime = MM/DD/YY HH:MM:SS +0000,
endTime = MM/DD/YY HH:MM:SS +0000,
user = <username>
}
As per /var/log/vmware/cis-license/license.log

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ ERROR CISLicense 37 [vc@4413 threadName="http-nio-0.0.0.0-12080-exec-5" logger="managment.server.vapi.impl.LicenseServerEntitlementsDelegate"] Caught exception:
com.vmware.cis.license.embedded.server.core.management.exception.LicenseAssignmentException$LicenseLimitExceededException: Insufficient Entitlement capacity.
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ ERROR CISLicense 37 [vc@4413 threadName="http-nio-0.0.0.0-12080-exec-5" logger="server.vapi.impl.util.VapiTaskUtil"] entitlement update task completed with error: com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.InvalidArgument: InvalidArgument (com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.invalid_argument) => {
messages = [LocalizableMessage (com.vmware.vapi.std.localizable_message) => {
id = unused.id,
defaultMessage = Insufficient Entitlement capacity.,
args = [],
params = <null>,
localized = Insufficient Entitlement capacity.
}],
data = UpdateErrorInfo (com.vmware.cis.license.subscription.entitlement.entitlements.update_error_info) => {
reason = INSUFFICIENT_ENTITLEMENT_CAPACITY
},
errorType = INVALID_ARGUMENT
}

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.x
VMware vCenter Server 9.x
VMware ESXi 8.x / 9.x mixed version environment

Cause

Insufficient license capacity causes the failure. In mixed-version environments, ESXi 8.x hosts managed by a vCenter 9.1 instance consume version 9.x subscription license capacity from the VCF or VVF subscription. If total core capacity is reached by existing legacy hosts, upgraded 9.1 nodes cannot acquire a license.

Resolution

Log in to the Broadcom Business Service Console (BSC) portal.
Navigate to License Management > Licenses
Merge required license keys to aggregate sufficient core capacity.
Assign the merged version 9.x license to the vCenter environment managing the ESXi hosts from the VCF operations interface.

NOTE: Add ESXi 8.x hosts licensed with license keys to vCenter 9.1 instances. These hosts require a pre-version 9 license key and consume capacity from a version 9+ license under a VCF or vSphere Foundation subscription. The used license capacity shown in VCF Operations for vCenter 9.1 includes capacity used by licensed ESXi hosts of versions 8.x, 9.0, and 9.1 added to the instance. This usage also reflects in the VCF Business Services console. Version 8.x licenses cannot be assigned as override licenses.