vSphere/ESXi licensing questions

[glucot]

I upgraded my vCenter Foundation 2.5 server to vSphere 4.0. The Foundation server was managing a single VMware ESXi 3.5 host. After I upgraded I added an HP ESXi 4.0 host. The ESXi 3.5 host is getting its license from a central license server. The ESXi 4.0 host has a 60 day evaluation license. I looked at the license tab for the HP ESXi host and noticed that the only licensing option is to enter a key. My first question is, "Is it possible to use a centralized license server with vSphere 4.0 and ESXi 4.0?" I downloaded the distribution for the ESXi 4.0 host from HP so that I could get the monitoring agents for my HP hardware. Do I have to go back to HP to get a key for this host?

Thanks,

Greg

[J1mbo · Accepted solution]

The license server is no longer required unless you continue to use 3.5 hosts.

ESXi 4 can be licensed free - register on vmware for a free license code - but it cannot then be managed from vCentreServer, only the vSphereClient direct which has cut-down features. That said there are plenty of uses for the free features alone and managing only one host at a time from the client.

Please aware points to any useful answer.

[glucot]

Interesting. If I upgrade my vCenter 2.5 Enterprise server to vSphere 4.0 will my ESX hosts use the central license server once they are upgraded to ESX 4.0?

[J1mbo]

No, you'll get a new key as a text string that has all the features you've purchased and any expiring date encoded within it. There is no license server needed.

Please aware points to any useful answer.