HCX provides a flexible licensing scheme that allows for multiple use cases and modes of operation.

License types and entitlements

HCX offers a variety of licensing options, with each option providing entitlement to various HCX services:

VMware Cloud Foundation
VMware vSphere vCenter environments licensed for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.1.1 and greater are entitled to all HCX services: Advanced and Enterprise. If the vCenter Server where you are activating HCX is already licensed for VCF 5.1.1, HCX automatically detects and inherits VCF Solution Licensing during HCX site pairing.
Note: VCF licenses have "system-level precedence" over other currently installed HCX licenses. For more information, see the section "License discovery and upgrade."
NSX Data Center Enterprise Plus
You can use the NSX Data Center Enterprise Plus license to activate HCX in vCenter environments. This license provides entitlement to HCX Advanced services and is a prerequisite to HCX Enterprise keys.
HCX Enterprise

This license is sold separately and is available as an add on for sites that have been activated using the NSX Data Center Enterprise Plus license. This license provides entitlement to HCX Enterprise services.

HCX Activation Key
Activation keys are generated for VMware Cloud on AWS, hyperscaler, and cloud provider environments entitled to HCX. HCX sites activated using an activation key require connectivity to the activation server located at connect.hcx.vmware.com. Activation keys provide entitlement to HCX Advanced and Enterprise services.
Evaluation
If no license key is entered or detected during HCX installation, HCX enters Evaluation Mode. Evaluation Mode provides temporary entitlement to all HCX services: Advanced and Enterprise.

Evaluation Mode is limited to 60 days with a maximum of 20 virtual machine migrations per migration type. Evaluation mode ends after 60 days, when a valid license key is manually entered in HCX, or when HCX detects a VMware Cloud Foundation license through monitoring of the vCenter Server.

If HCX Connector Manager (air-gapped/local/connected) is going to be deployed at VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) or non-VCF sites without any valid license key added:
  • The connector manager system enters into Evaluation Mode by default due to absence of activation/license keys.
  • HCX Connector installations display a banner in the system administration UI (:9443) to indicate the system is not activated, which is an expected notification.

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  • HCX Connector systems get feature inheritance (not the license inheritance) from its paired HCX Cloud Manager.
  • You can trigger all services from HCX Connector systems towards the paired cloud site manager which have valid entitlement to use those services.
  • When the license validity expires for the HCX Connector site, or the Evaluation Mode period ends, HCX service/feature inheritance continues to allow operations as long as one site in the site pair has a valid license.
    Note: The types of operations allowed are based on the entitlements of the valid site license. In-progress operations for services no longer entitled will complete, but no new operations allowed.
  • The expiration of a site license generates a warning message letting you know that a site is no longer active. This message can be ignored provided there is a valid license associated with the site pair that continues service inheritance.

For a detailed description of HCX Advanced and Enterprise services, see System Services.

Note: HCX entitlements for sites using activation keys depend on the cloud provider: VMware Cloud on AWS or other hyperscaler installations.

License discovery and upgrade

For HCX installations running HCX 4.9.0 or later and VCF 5.1.1, the VCF Solution Licensing has system-level precedence over other HCX licenses. This means that if the vSphere environment leverages new VCF licensing, HCX installations or upgrades will inherit entitlement from that VCF's vCenter. For more information regarding license management, see Managing HCX Licenses.

Service inheritance

To provide the most flexibility for sites that have been activated with different service entitlements, HCX provides a notion of inheritance. With inheritance, HCX considers the entitlements associated with each licensed site during site pairing. Inheritance logic logic looks at what services have been enabled at each site and compares that with the entitlements associated with the site pair to generate a Service Mesh supporting those services. For more information, see Understanding Service Inheritance.