License issues after removing host from vCenter

[DanielFerner]

Hi,

today I had to remove a Host from my ESXi Cluster due to a technical issue. The host I removed was not reachable from vcenter or from the network, I was not able to put him in maintenance mode correctly .

I am Using a VCSA 6.5 and ESXi 6.5 .

After removing the host I tried to add another host to the cluster, but suddenly I saw that the license from my removed host is still in use and I had no other license available to register another host.

After reboot of the vCenter I can still see the Host under "Administration - Licensing - Licenses - Assets - Hosts" , but I cant see the host in the vCenter Inventory.

Is there a way to remove the license per command-line or reset the license?

Kind regards

Daniel

[peetz]

Hi Daniel,

as a work around can you assign an Evaluation license to the old host, and then assign the free license to the new host?

- Andreas

[peetz]

If this doesn't work then you probably need to tinker directly with the vCenter database, as described e.g. here:

VMware Knowledge Base

However, this KB article refers to a different issue with licenses so you better open a case with VMware Support to get it done right.

[DanielFerner]

Hi Andreas,

thanks for your reply - my evaluation license is not available anymore (60 days grace period) - is there a way to reset the period on the vCenter ?

Sadfully I dont have any other license to try this.

Daniel

[DanielFerner]

I have now opened a support case.

Thanks for your reply.