I am trying to license an esxi 5.0 host with a vsphere 6 essential license...

[tiripon]

When I try to license an esxi 5.0 host with a vsphere 6 essential license using vsphere client I get this warning:

License downgrade

Host: ....

From VMware vSphere 5 Hypervisor (....)

To Unlicensed

The following features will become unavailable:

*  Up to 32 GB of memory

*  Up to 8-way virtual SMP

Can't I apply a  vsphere 6 essential license to a esxi 5.0 host?

[a_p_]

No, for a 5.x host you need a 5.x license key. What you need to do is to downgrade the required number of CPU licenses in your My VMware portal.

André