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johng_cbx
Contributor
Contributor

Can you activate vSphere 7 Standard License on ESXi 6.5?

Hi All,

Newbie question here. Seem to be confused about the versions and licensing with vSphere. If were are looking at installing ESXi 6.5 or 6.7 on our hosts. Can this be activated with a vSphere 7 Standard license?

I currently coordinating to purchase some VMware licenses asap. Currently have vSphere 5 Essentials but we are adding another hardware so Essentials wont work anymore. The option are acceleration kits then upgrade to standard. But it looks like the vSphere Standard quoted to us now is already 7 (latest release April 2020)

Hope someone can clarify.

Thanks!

John

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6 Replies
IRIX201110141
Champion
Champion

Not you cant, but thats not a problem. You will always buy the "latest" version of vSphere and when you have a need for a older Version you simply perform a downgrade in your my.vmware portal after the purchase.

In the same way you would upgrade your existing vSphere 5 licenses.

Regards,
Joerg

johng_cbx
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for the quick reply Joerg!

And noted that it would be better to get the latest version then downgrade via my.vmware portal after the purchase. But what if down the track you decide to move to 7; can you still upgrade without extra cost?

Lastly you mentioned; the same way you would upgrade your existing vSphere 5 licenses. Can you clarify further? We are currently on vSphere 5 Essentials and vCenter 5. Can we do the upgrade via my.vmware portal as well? Bit confused on this...

Thanks

John

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Alex_Romeo
Leadership
Leadership

Hi,

Notes:

  •   The vSphere 5.x, 6.x and 7.x releases require different license keys. It is not possible to use vSphere 5.x licenses on vSphere 6.x. The same is true when upgrading from vSphere 6.x to 7.x. For information on upgrading license keys, see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2006974

VMware Knowledge Base

How to upgrade license keys in My VMware

VMware Knowledge Base

ARomeo

Blog: https://www.aleadmin.it/
IRIX201110141
Champion
Champion

You can downgrade or upgrade as often as you want or have a need for. Also splitting a license key in several parts is possible and is sometimes needed when not all of your HW is certified for a certain version.

The my.vmware Portal will display all licenses which can be upgraded. As a rule of thumb and as long as your subscription is valid you always are eligible.   If your Subscription runs out youre are allowed to upgrade to that vSphere version which was the current one when your subscriptions end.

You mentioned an "upgrade" of licenses by buying an Accelerator kit. ALL the upgrade SKUs are only valid if your existing Subscription is valid and not timed out.

Regards,
Joerg

johng_cbx
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks ARomeo! This is noted and will look into the KB article you have provided.

Cheers!

john

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johng_cbx
Contributor
Contributor

Noted Joerg! Thanks a lot!!

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