VMware ESX Manual

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ESX Server 3 and VirtualCenter Installation Guide

36 VMware, Inc.

However,alllicensedfunctionalitycurrentlyoperatingatthetimethelicenseserver

becomesunavailablecontinuestooperateasfollows:

 AllVirtualCenterlicensedfeaturescontinuetooperateindefinitely,relyingona

cachedversionofthelicensestate.ThisincludesnotonlybasicVirtualCenter

operation,butlicensesforVirtualCenteradd‐ons,suchasVMotionandDRS.

 ForESX Serverlicensedfeatures,thereisa14‐daygraceperiodduringwhichhosts

continueoperation,relyingonacachedversionofthelicensestate,evenacross

reboots.Afterthegraceperiodexpires,certainESX Serveroperations,suchas

poweringonvirtualmachines,becomeunavailable.

DuringtheESX Servergraceperiod,whenthe

licenseserverisunavailable,the

followingoperationsareunaffected:

 Virtualmachinescontinuetorun.VI Clientscanconfigureandoperatevirtual

machines.

 ESX Serverhostscontinuetorun.YoucanconnecttoanyESX Serverhostinthe

VirtualCenterinventoryforoperationandmaintenance.Connectionstothe

VirtualCenter Serverremain.VI Clientscanoperateandmaintainvirtual

machinesfromtheirhosteveniftheVirtualCenter Serverconnectionisalsolost.

Duringthegraceperiod,restrictedoperationsinclude:

 AddingESX ServerhoststotheVirtualCenterinventory.Youcannotchange

VirtualCenteragentlicensesforhosts.

 Addingorremovinghostsfromacluster.Youcannotchangehostmembershipfor

thecurrentVMotion,HA,orDRSconfiguration.

 Addingorremovinglicensekeys.

Whenthegraceperiodhasexpired,cachedlicenseinformationisnolongerstored.

Asaresult,virtualmachinescannolongerbepoweredon.Runningvirtualmachines

continuetorunbutcannotberebooted.

Whenthelicenseserverbecomesavailableagain,hostsreconnecttothelicense

server.

Norebootingormanualactionisrequiredtorestorelicenseavailability.Thegrace

periodtimerisresetwheneverthelicenseserverbecomesavailableagain.