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DavidDC
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Cannot assign vSphere 6.5 license key to evaluation server

I am getting the following message when I try to assign a vSphere 6 Essentials PLUS license to a VSphere server 6.5 asset under an evaluation license before it expires:

"The following license keys are incompatible with the assets that you want to license"

[lists my new license key for 6 Essentials Plus]

The VSphere evaluation license has the following features:

vSphere and vSphere with Operations Management 

Linked Mode

Workflow Orchestration Engine

vSphere Storage Appliance

vCenter Multi-Hypervisor Manager

vCenter HA

vCenter Backup and Restore

vCenter Server Appliance Migration Tool

Essentials plus 6 license has the following features:

vSphere 6 Essentials PLUS

Unlimited virtual SMP

H.264 for Remote Console Connections

vCenter agent for VMware host

vSphere API

Content Library

Storage APIs

vSphere vMotion

X-Switch vMotion

vSphere HA

vSphere Data Protection

vShield Endpoint

vSphere Replication

vShield Zones

All I need is vMotion and HA.

Does anyone know how I resolve this? I've got 18 days on evaluation left.

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DavidDC
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Well this is embarrassing.

I was trying to assign the VSphere 6 Essentials Plus (esxi host license) key to the VSphere VCenter server instance.

It turns out you need 2 separate licenses for the hosts and VCenter server. Once I tried an actual VCenter server license everything went smoothly.

Thanks to all who tried to help.

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planetshoots
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Hi,

Issue seems like you are applying a lower version license 6.0 procured to a higher version 6.5, i believe thats why its showing "not compatible"

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DavidDC
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Thanks for your reply. Can I downgrade my current vsphere install? Or do I have to re-migrate vsphere appliance?

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a_p_
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Did you already assign the vCenter Server for Essentials license key to your vCenter Server instance?

Also make sure that you disable any features that you may have tried out, but which are not supported by the Essentials Plus license.

André

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DavidDC
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Thanks André. I haven't assigned the Essentials Plus 6 license to VSphere as it won't let me.

I think my question reduces to: Can VSphere 6x with Operations Management evaluation be downgraded to plain VSphere 6x?

Unlike many other instances when Googling this topic, the error message didn't contain any reference to "disable feature x and try again". I will disable as much as I can and see how that goes, but I have a sinking feeling a rebuild is on the cards.

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a_p_
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The binaries for vCenter Server as well as for ESXi are the same for all editions, and only the license key makes the difference.

Did you install/evaluate anything other than vCenter Server, and ESXi? In case you tried Operations Management it might be necessary to unregister it in vCenter Server.

Can you confirm that neither vCenter Server, nor one of the ESXi hosts have a license assigned to them yet?

André

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DavidDC
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André, it turns out one of the hosts is still on v 5.5 and licensed under the old 5 license. Perhaps that is the issue. I'll get back to you once I've updated the host and removed the old license. Thanks for your help.

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DavidDC
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Well this is embarrassing.

I was trying to assign the VSphere 6 Essentials Plus (esxi host license) key to the VSphere VCenter server instance.

It turns out you need 2 separate licenses for the hosts and VCenter server. Once I tried an actual VCenter server license everything went smoothly.

Thanks to all who tried to help.

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Was it helpful? Let us know by completing this short survey here.

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jzambelli
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I have exactly got the same problem: vCenter has an evaluation license key, but I cannot assign a valid one, since I don't have a separate one.

Sorry for asking, but how did you get your vCenter Essentials Plus license key? I'm browsing over "my vmware" website and I only see an unique license key, and it turns out is the one that I have put for my ESXI.

Many thanks in advance!

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