ESXi 5.1.0 adding new license

[Abasko]

Hi,

I installed vmware ESXi 5.1.0 with free license last year. And purchasing now new vSphere 6 Essentials license.

Now I want to add new license to esx but it give me

License downgrade warning

Some features will become unavailable after license assignment

Host: my host name

from: unlimited

to: unlicensed

The following features will become unavailable

* Up to 32GB of memory

* Up to 8-way SMP

Warning. is it normal ? Would I add safely new license without any trouble ? And now can I add 192 GB memory without limitations?

Thanks

[CrashTheGooner]

Dear Abasko

Are you runnig ESXi 5.1 still ?
If you have procured vsphere 6 essential then you need to add it to a ESXi 6

Can you tell me what version is your vcenter server ?

Do you have any other vsphere solutions apart from vcenter and vsphere in your infra?

[cykVM · Accepted solution]

If you need to keep with 5.x version and not upgrade to version 6 you have toi downgrade the v6 license key as it does not work with a v5.x installation.

See VMware KB: How to downgrade license keys in My VMware for further information on downgrading in MyVMWare.

That's why you get the "To: unlicensed" message, because the v6 key is invalid in v5.

[Abasko]

We don't use vsphere center I have only two ESX server. I've installed last year and I didn't need to upgrade ESX version.

I understand that I must update my ESXi 5.1 to ESXi 6 to use my license

Thanks for advices