ESX 3.5 not talking to license server

[Giroevolver]

Hi All,

I have a 3.5 ESX box that doesn't seem to be talking to license server. When i go in to VC (which is 2.5) it says "Not found". I putty'd on to the ESX host and am able to ping the license server no problem. has anyone seen this before?

Thanks

Mark

[espi3030]

I have seen something similar to this, I have to RDC into the license server then log in to it via VIC and license my ESX server by pointing it to the locally saved licenses. Hope this helps.

[Giroevolver]

Does this need to be pointed at the master license file? the box did originaly work using the license server but now cant see it

Thanks

Mark

[espi3030]

Doing this from the License server, what do you see in the VIC when you click on the Configuration tab, Licensed Features for the ESX server in question? There is where you can point it to your license file.

[Giroevolver]

When i do this from the license server it says "my license server name (not found)"

I know i can point it to my license file but do i need to do it to the one the license server uses?

Also you shouldnt have to do that does anyone else know of another method?

Thanks

[Milton21]

I have seen license server have some problems. Look at other ESX servers on your network and see what the license information says. Do you have enough Free? If not

Or a simple reset of the license server service... If that does not work just reboot the license server. This should fix your problems. Also verify the firewall ports on the ESX server have the correct ports open 27000, 27010

[Giroevolver]

Other ESX servers are ok but i have about 4 with this issue. I have tried restarting the license server and this doesnt seem to have helped. The firewall ports are open on the ESX host and I have also tried a restart of the host and this also has not helped.

Any more suggestions?

Thanks

[Milton21]

I would think that this is more of a communications problem and not a lic server problem, but I listed some things to look at on the lic server.

Have you tried both FQDN and IP for the lic server under the config tab of the ESX servers?

Are you using VLans on the service console?

have you used any of the license server tools ?

Try a reread of the lic file.

You can also look at Server diags in the license tool. This will show if the lic server is having problems handing out lic.

Look at server status and do a performance status enquiry... This will shw how many lic are available. And what server has what.

[philvirt]

Are you able to connect to the license server from any other host?

One possible cause is the service needs to be restarted. If you can verify that the service is running then go into your licensed features section in Virtual Center and select

edit next to the ESX host and change it form unlicensed to the send option.

That should do it.

Regards,

Fil

[vmkeef]

I know this is quite an old thread but I have just experienced the same issue. I found if I clicked on edit and specified Serial Number or one of the other options, then reverted back to the license server, clicked OK, it would re negotiate with the license server and bring the licensing back online. Hope this helps !

[stevethompson]

We found the same issue this morning, a vm would not start so we must have lost sight of the license server a couple weeks ago.

The license server is a guest on the ESX cluster, so we're lucky the license server vm didn't get powered off!

I found that on the Licensed Features / License Source section, clicking EDIT then OK (leaving the same license server)

did cause the ESX host to re-negotiate licenses and it's fine now.

However - Is there a setting within ESX that forces an automatic re-negotiation for the license server?

If not automatic, it would seem that the act of powering on a VM would include some additional behind-the-scenes negotiations,

rather than just leaving it at "Failed to power on server on host in datacenter: There are not enough licenses..." when there are plenty

of licenses available on a perfectly reachable license server.

We're in the process of setting up support and I don't think VMAdministrators would have access to troubleshoot the ESX host licensing.

Has anyody got any ideas, is there a tweak we've missed?

I'll check around the forums a bit more, but this topic fit the bill so I replied to it.

Thanks!

Steve

[stevethompson]

...never mind.... The hosts lost their license server on 7/24. Coincidentally 7/24 is the day the license server was migrated (with Converter) from the dev ESX cluster to the prod ESX cluster.

So, a more robust license server re-negotiation was probably called for upon the completion of the migration (new SID, just like changing the server itself, right?)

(oops....)

[ConstantinV]

On Friday had the same issue. Fixed it by ping clients from server.

StarWind Software Developer

[Nauset]

We had the same issue last night. We have 48 hosts in 8 clusters and only certain hosts were not seeing the license server. On the Licensed Features / License Source section, clicking EDIT then OK fixed the issue.

We have been in the process of applying all the 54 critical esx 3.5 server updates with update manager and noticed that only the hosts that had not yet received the updates were the ones that lost contact with the license server. This would lead me to believe there is a bug that was fixed by one of the updates.