Unable to connect to license server

[tomaddox]

Hi, everyone,

I've had this recurring problem with various ESX hosts, and it's usually easy (although annoying) to fix. What happens is that an ESX server suddenly loses its connection to the license server and will not reconnect, so that the ESX Server Edition shows up as Unlicensed and the License Server shows as not found. I can ping to and from the license server by hostname and IP address, and the other twelve hosts in our environment are fine. There are sufficient licenses for all hosts.

Previously, I shut down Virtual Center and restarted mgmt-vmware, vmware-vpxa, and vmware-vmkauthd on the affected host, then restarted Virtual Center, but this time it's not working. If I try to set the Server Edition to ESX Server Standard, it just goes back to Unlicensed. If I try to change the License Source, I receive the error, "Unable to change license state as the license server is not available." I don't see anything especially useful in the vpxa log.

I have opened a ticket with VMware, but I'm curious to see if anyone else has any ideas.

Thanks,

Tom

[Jasemccarty]

Is the host's Service Console on the same subnet as the License Server?

Can you telnet to the License Server on ports 27000 and 27010?

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author of VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center

(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach

_{Please consider awarding points if this post was helpful or correct}

[tomaddox]

Yes and yes.

[satish_lx]

i had same problem solve after firewall opened. please try to stop firewall and check but it is not recommanded to stop it only for test and check host name of license server or put manaul entry in /etc/hosts file on esx server

Thanks

Satish Patel

[tomaddox]

VMware Support's solution was to open the VMware License Server Tools on the license server and stop and restart the license server with the "Force Server Shutdown" box checked and then disconnect the problem host from Virtual Center and reconnect it. This will cause all hosts to become temporarily unlicensed, but they should all pick up their new licenses within a few seconds.