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yawasare1969
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Licensing w/ DRS & HA

Hello,

I have two ESX servers licensed for 2 CPU's pointing to the same license server. One says:

"VMWare DRS - No License & VMWare HA - Not used, the other,

"VMWare DRS - Not used & VMWare HA - Not Used"

What's the deal?

And do you need to have server based licensing to form an ESX cluster with DRS & HA. Thanks.

-yaw

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fmateo
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You don't have enough licenses!!LICENSE TOTALS:

License Count

VC Management Server 1: correct

VMotion 8 : you have for 8 esx with a single processor o 4 with dual processor

VC Agent for ESX Server 4 : 4 esx with single proc or 2 with dual processor

VMware HA 2: : 2 esx with single proc or 1 with dual processor

VMware DRS 2: 2 esx with single proc or 1 with dual processor

ESX Server Enterprise/Standard 4 : 4 esx with single proc or 2 with dual processor

I supose you have dual processors, you'll need 2 HA and DRS additionally licenses

Try to create a new license file from your vmware account

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fmateo
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To use DRS and HA, you need to have a license server. The license file included into server needs the correct licenses. To use that, you need to activate in Licensing properties of each server the correct box.

In admin properties on VI client, you'll see all licenses you purchase. Look for HA or DRS licenses, how many licenses you have? You need 4 at least, 2 for each server (one for each cpu).

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DCasota
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Hi,

Just some thoughts:

- Check out if your centralized license file contains enough DRS licenses. If that's ok, is it possible that the second system has two pCPUs installed so that the first system doesn't get a license?

- HA: Have you created a cluster in VC, configured HA and put your ESX servers into the cluster?

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yawasare1969
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My ESX servers are licensed for 2 CPUs each (standard edition). Again the only difference between the two is on one server is says "No License" next to VMWare DRS under the add-on section. The other ESX server for the same section for DRS says "Not Used".

Thanks for the response fmateo.

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yawasare1969
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Where in the license file should I see a reference to DRS licences?

Each physical ESX server is identical.

No, I have not configured HA but I did create the cluster container. When I attempted to add the ESX server that isn't licensed I received an error stating I didn't have enough licenses. That's when I realized I had a licensing issue.

Thanks for response DCasota.

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fmateo
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you'll see something like that :

INCREMENT VC_DRS VMWARELM 2005.05 permanent <number>\

chek if in VirtualCenter appears the licenses: Administration button -> Licenses TAB. If you have licenses, try to reread the license file. Or it's possible that the license file was not correct. Check too, is the server has the option activated: In server configuration tab -> licensed features: check the add-ons options. You'll see something like that: VMware DRS Licensed for 2 CPUs. You can edit and verify the checkbox is mark.

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DCasota
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Hi,

First: I assume you use VirtualCenter and centralized licensing.

"No license" means that a necessary license is missing. "Not used" means that you could you use if you created a cluster with only HA selected (without DRS).

Let's have a look to your licenses: From the vmware license portal you should have received a license file (.lic) which contains all licenses, like:

PROD_VC

VC_VMOTION

VC_DAS

VC_DRS

PROD_ESX_FULL

...

Each license entry should begin with INCREMENT. Example: "INCREMENT VC_DRS VMWARELM 2005.05 permanent 2". "permanent 2" means that you have the right for a 2 sockets cpu on one esx. With 2 ESX you should have two entries per license type (PROD_VC has only one entry, of course).

The license server (usually the VirtualCenter server) contains the .lic file: Have a look at c:\program files\vmware\vmware license server.

To check if the right license file is selected, start VMware License Server Tools (Start>All programs>VMware>VMware License server) and go to the config services tab.

If you haven't a complete license file, there are some possibilites: 1. Add the necessary licenses to your .lic file or 2. go to the vmware portal, delete the corresponding licenses and start again with centralized licensing. Add all licenses you need and generate at the end the new license file.

Hope this helps.

P.S.: if you want to check your license file, maybe this link is helpful:

Message was edited by: DCasota

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yawasare1969
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How do I confirm the ESX servers are pointing to the correct license file on the Licensing server or does it always look at the path, C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware License Server? There is another license file in a different location and I think this might be causing the problem. Fortunately this isn't a production environment:D.

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fmateo
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If you start the license server program, you can check it:

Start-> Programs -> vmware-> vmware license server-> vmware license server tools

if you click on server status tab, for exemple, you could see on the bottom of the windows the license file you are using. There, you could reread, start, stop de license server. After stopping and starting the service I recomend restart virtualcenter server service.

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yawasare1969
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I checked my licensing file via the link you provided below. It only found a problem with my P2V portion of the license file and removed it (Strange becuase I actually did a P2V about 2 weeks ago with no problems). I copied & pasted the revised license into the location specified in License Server Tools, config services tab and reread the file, no change.

Below is the result of the license checker:

LICENSE TOTALS:

License Count

VC Management Server 1

VMotion 8

VC Agent for ESX Server 4

VMware HA 2

VMware DRS 2

ESX Server Enterprise/Standard 4

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DCasota
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Hi,

You should have 4 licenses for HA and DRS (2 sockets per each ESX, 2 ESX -> 4). I assume one HA, DRS license update is missing. Can you check the possibility of creating all the license file again by the vmware portal?

fmateo
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You don't have enough licenses!!LICENSE TOTALS:

License Count

VC Management Server 1: correct

VMotion 8 : you have for 8 esx with a single processor o 4 with dual processor

VC Agent for ESX Server 4 : 4 esx with single proc or 2 with dual processor

VMware HA 2: : 2 esx with single proc or 1 with dual processor

VMware DRS 2: 2 esx with single proc or 1 with dual processor

ESX Server Enterprise/Standard 4 : 4 esx with single proc or 2 with dual processor

I supose you have dual processors, you'll need 2 HA and DRS additionally licenses

Try to create a new license file from your vmware account

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yawasare1969
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So for two dual processor systems if I had as licenses:

VMware HA 4

VMware DRS 4

things would work? I guess I'm having a DUH moment. :smileysilly:

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fmateo
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yes it should be work

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DCasota
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Well, a license is per socket. If you have per esx server two sockets (each socket can be used by a dualcore, quad-core-cpu -> only 1 license), there must be 4 licenses (for both esx).

I haven't tried out if following constellation works: each esx has 2 sockets, but only one cpu is present and there are only 2 licenses. As I know, this is not supported and would even violate license terms.

Smiley Happy

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DCasota
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Hi,

I think fmateo was faster with the right answer. You should give him the points for the right answer Smiley Happy

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yawasare1969
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I'm glad you said it DCasota because I didn't know what way to go with the points. I'll give you a helpful I think that gives points also. Thanks to both of you.

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fmateo
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Thanks for the points, but i'm not looking for that. If I can help with my little experience to solve some problems... :D. And if I'll have a problem in a future, I'd like to get help, like you and me, gave to yawasare1969, faster I think.

Both gave a valid solution to yawasare1969, I think, and he was looking for that.

I hope, I'll see you in other thread Smiley Wink

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DCasota
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Hi fmateo

That's exactly the spirit of the community Smiley Happy

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