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Shaggy2
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ESXi 6.0 - how to assign free licence

Hi

I have downloaded the iso for ESXi 6.0 U3.

I have installed the hypervisor on my server and the vSphere 6.0 client on my client machine and can connect to the server from it.

However I wish to assign a free licence to the installation, but seem to be unable to do so. I did not see an option to enter it during the installation process.

From the searches I have done it looks like it should be possible from the client via the Administration menu for the host, but I am unable to see anything related to licencing.

The Administration menu simply has an option 'Role' which is greyed out.

Does anyone know how I can assign the free licence Key to an ESXi 6.0 system ? Did I miss something during initialisation ?

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sk84
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If you connect to your ESXi host via the Host Client (https://esxi-hostname_or_ip) and after login as "root" user, you should see the menu item "Manage" on the left side.

esxi-license.png

These steps are also described in the host client documentation:

Procedure

1 Click Manage in the VMware Host Client inventory and click Licensing.

2 Click Assign license, enter a license key in the form XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX, and click Check license.

3 Click Assign license to save your changes.

See: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.0/vsphere-html-host-client-10-guide.pdf (Page 14)

--- Regards, Sebastian VCP6.5-DCV // VCP7-CMA // vSAN 2017 Specialist Please mark this answer as 'helpful' or 'correct' if you think your question has been answered correctly.

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sk84
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If you connect to your ESXi host via the Host Client (https://esxi-hostname_or_ip) and after login as "root" user, you should see the menu item "Manage" on the left side.

esxi-license.png

These steps are also described in the host client documentation:

Procedure

1 Click Manage in the VMware Host Client inventory and click Licensing.

2 Click Assign license, enter a license key in the form XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX, and click Check license.

3 Click Assign license to save your changes.

See: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.0/vsphere-html-host-client-10-guide.pdf (Page 14)

--- Regards, Sebastian VCP6.5-DCV // VCP7-CMA // vSAN 2017 Specialist Please mark this answer as 'helpful' or 'correct' if you think your question has been answered correctly.
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IRIX201110141
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If youre using the C# Windows based vSphere Client its the same. Click on Host, click the configuration tab and somewhere in the middle there is a Licensing menu.

When ever you install a ESXi from scratch or performing a major release upgrade, like 5.x -> 6.0, the vSphere edition on the host will be set to "Enterprise Pluse" and a 60 day trial countdown starts. During the 60 days you can enter your license key into the host. There is no reboot needed for that step! So no interruption of services for your VMs.

Regards,

Joerg

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Shaggy2
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Thank you very much for this information.

It seems in my searches I was reading 'Client' to mean the vSphere client on my windows machine and so could not see the licencing menu.

I have now successfully assigned the licence.

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