Controlling License Permissions - VMware ESX 4.0 - INSTALLATION GUIDE UPDATE 1 Installation Manual

Example 16-1. Uninstallation Scenarios
1 You uninstall vCenter Server without first unlicensing and removing the hosts.
2 The hosts remain licensed.
3 You add the licensed hosts to another vCenter Server instance.
4 The license keys are transferred with the hosts.
Here is a slightly different scenario:
1 You uninstall vCenter Server without first unlicensing the hosts.
2 You reinstall vCenter Server and make it part of a different Linked Mode group.
3 The host license keys from the previous group are not transferred to the new group.
4 You add hosts that were licensed by the previous vCenter Server group to the new group.
5 The host license keys are transferred to the new group.
6 The host license keys now belong to two Linked Mode groups. If the total assignment of the key exceeds
the key's capacity, this scenario is not supported and causes your license usage to be out of compliance.
Example 16-2. Standalone Scenario
Each vCenter Server instance maintains its own license inventory. If you add an ESX/ESXi host to vCenter
Server and add the same host to another vCenter Server instance, the host license key moves from the first
inventory to the second inventory.
1 You have two vCenter Server instances that are standalone.
2 You assign a license to a host in one vCenter Server instance.
3 You add the host to another vCenter Server instance and choose to retain the license when you perform
the Add Host operation.
4 The host license key belongs to two separate license inventories. If the total assignment of the key exceeds
the key's capacity, this scenario is not supported and causes your license usage to be out of compliance.
Example 16-3. Linked Mode Scenario
1 You have two vCenter Server instances that belong to the same Linked Mode group.
2 You assign a license to a host in one vCenter Server instance.
3 The two vCenter Server instances share a single license inventory.
4 When you add a license key, the key becomes available to all the vCenter Server systems within the same
Linked Mode group. The license keys are shared, and each system in the group has the same inventory
view, although this might not always seem so because of replication delays.

Controlling License Permissions

You can control which users are able to view and manage license resources.
The examples that follow are specific to ESX/ESXi hosts and might not apply to solutions.
Though licensing is applicable to solutions as well as ESX/ESXi hosts and vCenter Server, solutions licensing
management is too variable and, therefore, specific to each solution to be discussed in general terms. For
information about licensing a specific solution, see the documentation for that solution.
VMware, Inc.
Chapter 16 Managing ESX/ESXi and vCenter Server Licenses
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