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Issues when vCenter Server and License Server are installed on ESX 3.x hosted virtual machines

If you have vCenter Server and License Server installed on a virtual machine on an ESX 3.x host, you may experience the following symptoms:

You cannot power on the virtual machine
You see the error not enough licenses to perform the operation if you:
- Try to power on the virtual machine
- Reboot the virtual machine
- Try to add new licenses to the server
  
  Note: This error displays even though you correctly installed a server-based (centralized) license file.
You cannot change the ESX status from Unlicensed. All other options are unavailable.
You cannot use vCenter features such as VMotion, VMware High Availability, and Distributed Resource Scheduling

The vCenter Server requires a continuous feed of licenses from the License Server. If this feed is broken, you may experience this issue.

To resolve this issue:

License the ESX hosting the virtual machine that you cannot power on with a host-based (single-host) license file. The host-based license file powers on the virtual machine. For detailed instructions, see Installing ESX Server Licenses (1001383).

Note: Ensure that you have the correct license count based on the the number of physical CPUs.
When the virtual machine is powered on, replace the ESX host's host-based license file with a server-based (centralized) license file. For detailed instructions, see Installing ESX Server Licenses (1001383).

Actions

Products:
VMware ESX
VMware ESXi
VMware vCenter Server
Product Versions:
VMware ESX 3.0.x
VMware ESX 3.5.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x

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