Licensing ESX 4.x, ESXi 4.x, and vCenter Server 4.x

Licensing ESX 4.x, ESXi 4.x, and vCenter Server 4.x

Symptoms

• Unable to remove ESX 4.x/ESXi 4.x from Evaluation Mode
• Unable to upload the license file for vSphere
• Unable to connect vSphere 4.x to vCenter Server
• Unable to activate vSphere

license-vmware-products

Purpose

This article provides steps to add, assign, remove, unassign, and change the licenses of ESX 4.x, ESXi 4.x, and vCenter Server 4.x.

Resolution

You can add any number of licenses to the vSphere 4.x inventory. When assigning licenses in 4.x products, you can create a relationship between an asset and a license key. Each asset can be licensed by one and only one license key or it can be unlicensed and in Evaluation Mode.

Note: To perform these steps, your vSphere Client must be connected to the vCenter Server.

Adding License Keys
To add licenses:

1. Log in to the vSphere Client.
2. Click Home. Under the Administration section, click the Licensing icon.
3. Click Manage vSphere Licenses.
4. Enter the License Key in the Enter new vSphere license keys field (one per line).
5. Include labels for new license keys as necessary.
6. Click Add License Keys.
   
   After clicking Add License Keys, you can review the license keys you added, capacity counts, expiration dates, and labels associated with the license keys.
   
7. Click Next to assign the license keys.

Assigning License Keys

To assign the license keys to vCenter Server or the ESX host:

1. Log into the vSphere Client.
2. Click Home. Under the Administration section, click the Licensing icon.
3. Choose Evaluation Mode and expand the list. Find the product you want to license.
4. Right-click on the product and choose Change License Key.
5. Assign a key from list was entered previously on Manage License window.
6. Click OK.
7. Verify the product is licensed now.
   
   Note: When the cursor is hovered over a license key in the Manage vSphere Licenses wizard displays a tool tip with all of the asset's information.

Removing License Keys

To remove license keys:

1. Log in to the vSphere Client.
2. Click Home. Under the Administration section, click the Licensing icon.
3. Click Manage vSphere Licenses.
4. Click Next.
5. Click Next.
6. Choose the license key you want to remove.
7. Click Next to proceed to the confirm changes page.
   
   You can review your changes on the Confirm Changes page before applying them to your inventory.
   
8. Click Finish to apply all of the changes.

Unassigning License Keys

To unassign a license key from a vSphere ESX host, choose one of these options:

• Remove the ESX host from the vCenter Server inventory
• Add a new license key and re-license the ESX host with it. This frees the initial license key that was assigned to the host.
  Note: A license key already assigned to an ESX host cannot be removed from the inventory.

Changing License Keys

To license your product with a different license key:

1. Click Home. Under the Administration section, click the Licensing icon.
2. Expand the product you want to change the license for.
3. Right-click on the product and choose Change License Key.
4. Choose the license you want to use to license the product.
   
   Note: From this dialog you can place a product in Evaluation Mode during the first 60 days.

Licensing ESX/ESXi 

To license a standalone ESX or ESXi 4.x (vSphere Hypervisor):

1. Log in to the ESX/ESXi host using vSphere Client.
2. Click the Configuration Tab.
3. Click Licensed Features under Software.
4. Click Edit under Licensed Features.
5. Select Assign a new license key to this host.
6. Press Enter and enter the License Key.
7. Click OK.
   
   For more information on downloading and licensing the free vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 4.x), see Downloading and licensing vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) (1012289).

Licensing vCenter Server

To license vCenter Server 4.x:

1. Log in to the vSphere Client.
2. Click Home. Under the Administration section, click vCenter Server settings.
3. Select Assign a new license key to this vCenter Server and click OK.
4. Enter the license key for the vCenter Server and, if necessary, include labels.
5. Click Next and Finish.

Notes: 

• You cannot add an ESX/ESXi 4.x host to the vCenter Server if it is licensed with the free version (vSphere Hypervisor) of the license key. For related information see,  Adding an ESXi host to vCenter Server 4.0 fails with the error: Host cannot be added to the VCenter as there are not enough Virtual Center Agent Licenses (1018275)
  
• If you are managing ESX 3.x hosts on vCenter Server 4.0, ensure to select Reconfigure my ESX 3 hosts using license servers to use this server and enter the IP address of the license server in the text box. For more information, see Configuring a legacy license server to manage ESX/ESXi 3.x hosts in vCenter Server 4.0 (1010704).

Evaluation

In the evaluation mode, you can access and use all features of ESX. The evaluation period is 60 days and begins as soon as you power on the ESX machine. To make full use of the evaluation period, make an early decision on whether to use evaluation mode. If you do not enter a vSphere license key during installation, ESX is installed in the evaluation mode. 

Note: Select the evaluation option to enable the evaluation mode. You do not receive a license key for evaluating vSphere.

Downloading and licensing vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi)

Downloading and licensing vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi)

Its a Freeware Software to Download

Purpose

This article provides steps for downloading and licensing ESXi 4.x.

Resolution

Downloading ESXi 4.x

To download and activate ESXi 4.x:

1. Navigate to http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_vsphere_hypervisor_esxi/4.
2. Click Download next to VMware ESXi 4.x.
   
   Note: To access older versions, click View History.
   
3. Log in using your VMware login credentials and complete the VMware vSphere Hypervisor Registration form after which an activation email is delivered to your inbox.
4. Navigate to your email inbox to find the activation email. If you do not receive the activation email, see Not receiving activation email for evaluation and free products (1026455).
5. Click Activate your VMware ESXi License and access your download. This gives you the serial key for ESXi 4.x.

Licensing ESXi 4.x

To license a standalone vSphere Hypervisor host:

1. Log in to the ESX/ESXi host using vSphere Client.
2. Click the Configuration tab.
3. Click Licensed Features under Software.
4. Click Edit under Licensed Features.
5. Select Assign a new license key to this host.
6. Press Enter and enter the license key.
7. Click OK.
   
   Note: The free vSphere Hypervisor license key can be deployed on an unlimited number of physical hosts, but the number of deployments on physical servers cannot be more than 100. However, the number of physical servers can be increased upon request. For more information, see vSphere Hypervisor Terms and Conditions.

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Setup VMware vSphere to Access ISCSI SAN

In this example I am setting up a VMWare ESXi 4.1 server to access a VMware iSCSI SAN using the VMWare iSCSI software initiator. The server is connected as shown below

1. Enable the software iSCSI initiator

Note the vmhba number of the software iSCSI initiator – in this example vmhba39

1. Setup vSwitch

Create a Vmkernal vSwitch to be used for iSCSI

In the vSwitch properties, create Vmkernal ports for each physical interface. Note the vmk numbers.

1. Setup Vmkernal ports

In the vSwitch properties specify each Vmkernal port to use a specific adapter

1. Bind vmkernal ports

Note you will need to connect to the console to issue these commands. You will need to enable either local or remote tech support mode on ESXi.

Bind each vmkernal port to the iSCSI software initiator. You will need to know the vmk# and the vmhba# of the iSCSI initator. Run these commands in the service console.

esxcli swiscsi nic add –n vmk1 –d vmhba39 esxcli swiscsi nic add –n vmk2 –d vmhba39

1. Enable Jumbo frames (optional)

The command to enable jumbo frames is

esxcfg-vswitch -m 9000 vSwitchx – where x= switch number

Note you should only enable jumbo frames if all other devices in your storage network are configured to use jumbo frames

1. Setup iSCSI target

In the properties of the software iSCSI initatiator add the relevant info for your SAN

Add iSCSI Target

You should be prompted to rescan – please select yes.

You should now have more paths to the datastores.

To use round robin access, right click on each datastore and select manage paths. Choose Round Robin.

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Useful VMware Commands

Restart management services:	Service mgmt-vmware restart
Find DNS servers:	Cat /etc/resolv.conf
Check ESX version:	esxupdate query
Restart vmware management:	service vmware-vpxa restart service mgmt- vmware restart
vdf –h	view partion info (disk space etc)
ls –larth	list files in a directory in by GB, MB (easy to see file sizes)
ls –larth *delta*	as above but only show files with “delta” in the name
List registered VMs:	vmware-cmd –l (gives machine id)
Check if VM powered on (e.g.):	vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/4a006885-0aed81dd-0cdc-002219b72e1d/Exchange01/Exchange01.vmx getstate
Check if VM powered on (e.g.):	Type ifconfig to check the current IP address. esxcfg-vswif -i x.x.x.x vswif0 Example esxcfg-vswif -i 10.0.1.3 vswif0
Check jumbo frames are working	Vmkping –s 9000
ifconfig	Display IP information

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Deploy an ESXi via Dell Unified Server Configurator

In the below example I am using the Dell Unified Server Configurator to deploy and operating system – in this case ESXi 4.1

• When booting up the server press the F10 key to enter “System Services”

• This will launch the Dell Unified Server Configurator

Choose the above options

• I like to have a separate partition for the operating system. This allows you to use a larger block size on the other partition to allow for files larger than 256GB. By default ESXi will format the system drive with a 1MB block size and therefore a maximum file size of 256GB.

• Choosing the “system” partition.

Optional – Check Bootable Volume

If after installation the server fails to boot giving the error “No Operating System found” then you may have the wrong virtual disk selected as the boot volume.

Whilst booting up the server press CTRL+R to enter the PERC setup screen.

Navigate to the below screen and make sure the correct boot VD is selected.

For further info on setting up ESXi please look at this article…

http://laxmanmcse.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-to-esxi-installation.html

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