Move License to new server

[Johnyryall]

We are cycling out old servers and need to move the vsphere license from a server that we will decommission to a new server.

I have brought the new server into the cluster in Eval mode and moved all the guests to it. The old server has no guests anymore and is ready to be removed from the cluster, how to I release the license on it so I can apply it to the new server?

Thanks,

Eric

[weinstein5]

You can reuse the license key already applied to your esx 4.0 sever once it is powered off -

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[Johnyryall]

How long after it has been powered off? Should I remove it from the cluster first.

Thanks

[NHessonSD21]

Are you having problems? It should be very quick. We do it all the time in our environment. SQE labs.

Nick

[Johnyryall]

Just checked again this morning and the license is still not avalaible.

What could be hanging it up?

[weinstein5 · Accepted solution]

Yes you should completely remove it form your vCenter environment - once removed point the vSphere client at the ESX Server and shut it down. Once removed you can apply the license to the new ESX Server -

If you followed the procedure to apply the license to the ESX server correctly - close out of the vSphere client and reopen the client and the evaluation warning will be gone

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[Johnyryall]

Thanks for the help, that did it. Had to remove from cluster then power off.

Eric