What Happens after 60 Days VMware vSphere Evaluation Period?

I got this question several times already and realized that I don't have a blog post which outlines that situation. You may wonder what happens after 60 days VMware vSphere evaluation period? Do all VMs stops? Does vCenter is still accessible? Can I still use my applications?

One of my previous posts talks already about a situation where even the Free ESXi Hypervisor needs to be licensed. You need to Apply a free serial number to your ESXi host(s). Obvious for some, not evident for others. When you download VMware Hypervisor it starts 60 days trial of the full (unlocked) version and during this period, you must enter a serial number.  because

Your vCenter server will disconnect your hosts

If you are running vCenter which manages your hosts, then you'll see your hosts disconnected… (note I could not reproduce it in the lab as I would have to wait to run a trial for 60 days and then take a screenshot with the message). But disconnected hosts looks like this (I'm pretty sure you know this…)

Wha's Your Options?

If your ESXi host disconnects from vCenter Server or all ESXi hosts disconnect from vCenter Server and you receive a licensing-related error message, then you should check if the cluster wasn't running on trial license first….  Sure it was… -:)

What you cannot do if your environment is in this state?

You cannot add hosts to the vCenter Server, but the hosts and the virtual machines on the hosts continue to run. This is important as many folks were wondering if there is some kind of termination signal which stops all your VMs (and your applications) or if there is some kind of lock-in scenario where the ESXi hosts stops and won't power on… No, none of this. The environment just “freezes” and isn't able to evolve.

vCenter Server has a different license than ESXi.

Yes, there are two different licenses. One is for vCenter server, and one is for ESXi host(s). The error messages you might encounter are the follows:

• The 60-day evaluation period of the host is expired or the host license is expired.
• The 60-day evaluation period of vCenter Server is expired or the vCenter Server license is expired.

Solution(s)?

• Get a vSphere license key and assign it to the ESXi host.
• Get a vCenter Server license key and assign it to vCenter Server.

The least costly license is vSphere Essentials. It costs (depending of the country) about 650 € with 1 year of support and updates of the product. You'll own the product.

The vSphere Essentials Kit licenses are perpetual and does not expire. It includes 6 CPU licenses of vSphere Essentials (for 3 servers with up to 2 processors each) and 1 license for vCenter Server Essentials. The subscription term includes updates and new releases of the selected product during the time frame selected.

Note that you can also take 3 year support for only about 125 € more and which covers you for support and software maintenance during 3 years.

This licensing gives you:

• vCenter Server (for 3 hosts maxi)
• ESXi license to cover your 3 hosts. Note each host can have up to 2 physical CPUs inside – double CPU systems.

You can run an unlimited number of VMs and also the physical RAM of those ESXi hosts is unlimited. (to clear the possible confusion with “vRAM tax”).

Wrap Up:

This post was meant to clear some misunderstanding for users who starts with VMware virtualization and asking questions related to their environments. Especially licensing. I know that it is not always obvious, I understand. Me too I started virtualizing one day.

But you don't have to always pay big bucks just to get started with virtualization, with something that is stable, with something does not break under heavy load. VMware virtualization has proven over the years its value and reliability and voices saying that the licensing is expensive, IMHO, are not right. Frankly if you're in charge of IT in some small shops, then vSphere Essentials is the way to go.