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walterD
Contributor
Contributor

Adding a host to a virtual center

Hello,

I had a good working VC with 3 host. Last week I removed them all from the VC in order to update the ESX Servers and modify the host IP adres.

Since then when I try to add the host servers back into the VC I get the message :

There are not enough licenses installed to perform the operation

and

A required license VirtualCenter Agent for ESX Server is not reserved

My 3 ESX server are using a local host license file, and I have a VC Foundation license for 3 nodes

The ESX servers are running VMware Virtual Infrastrucutere 3.5.0 Update4 build 153875

The VC is using the SQL2005 expres to store the data and according to the VI Client it is version 2.5.0 build 103672 and is installed on a WIN 2003R2SP2 server

I'm downloading vCenter 2.5 update 4 build 147633 which I use to upgrade the VC.

Can anyone give me a hint on where to look or what to do to get this VC back populated with my 3 host ESX servers

Thanks

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mclark
Expert
Expert

On each ESX host under the Configuration -> Licensed Features section, under Add-Ons, there is a license listing for "VirtualCenter Agent for ESX Server". It sounds like maybe the ESX host is messed up on that. Have you tried to remove the license on your ESX host and put it back on again? You can also combine your individual ESX host licenses and put the combined license on the VirtualCenter server rather than on each host.

AndreTheGiant
Immortal
Immortal

My 3 ESX server are using a local host license file

With VC you have to use a centralized version. During re-adding your licence mode is changed from local to centralized.

Or you reinstall the single licence files into the ESX or (best solution) you create a single .lic to put into your Licence Server.

Andre

**if you found this or any other answer useful please consider allocating points for helpful or correct answers

Andrew | http://about.me/amauro | http://vinfrastructure.it/ | @Andrea_Mauro
walterD
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for the response. Just one question : How do I combine the individual ESX host licenses into one combined license ?

And if anything happens with the VC (go offline or something) will the indvidual ESX server will keep on running ?

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TAFVMWare
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

To combine your license, go to VMware's licensing website at:

https://www.vmware.com/account/index.do

You'll need to login to your account and under "Manage Licenses" you'll be able to follow the instructions to combine your licenses in to one. Once the license is combined, you'll be able to download it and install it on the licensing server.

To answer your last question. Yes, if the VC goes down your hosts will continue to run but you won't have HA, DRS, etc. and managing your VMs will be more difficult because you'll have to log into each host separately.

Ty

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NWhiley
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

With a license server based set up (centralized) you get 14 days after total failure before ESX hosts will think they are not licensed. That should be plenty of time to recover your license server.

Also, I though license servers just looked in the "Program Files\VMware\VMware License Server\Licenses" directory for valid license files. Which means you shouldn't need to combine your licenses into a single file.

If you do want to, you do it via the online license manager, available from your VMWare login. Instructions are all there.

Neil VCP
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