License for vSphere Distributed Switch

For earlier versions of NSX-T Data Center, a vSphere Enterprise Plus license is required for the vSphere Distributed Switch 7.0 feature. Starting NSX-T Data Center 3.1.1, the NSX Data Center and NSX Firewall licenses support the use of vSphere Distributed Switch 7.0 for all editions of vCenter Server and vSphere.

Note: With NSX licenses, you get an equivalent number of CPU licenses to use the vSphere Distributed Switch feature. However, the NSX licenses do not provide an upgrade to vSphere Enterprise Plus. The NSX licenses only apply to VDS on the hosts where NSX-T Data Center is deployed.

Procedure

1. Add a vCenter Server compute manager if you do not have one already registered with NSX-T Data Center. See Add a Compute Manager.
   For a vCenter Server compute manager that has already been registered, edit the compute manager and provide your credentials for reauthentication.

   Note: To use NSX Data Center and NSX Firewall licenses for the vSphere Distributed Switch 7.0 feature, the vCenter Server user must either be an administrator, or the user must have Global.Licenses privileges and be a member of the LicenseService.Administrators group.
2. Log in to vCenter Server and verify the NSX for vSphere solution asset exists. You can use the NSX for vSphere solution asset for NSX-T Data Center deployments.
3. Assign your NSX Data Center or NSX Firewall license to the license asset in vCenter Server.
   Note: The license asset in vCenter Server is assigned the default NSX for vShield Endpoint license. To use vSphere Distributed Switch, you need any valid NSX-T Data Center license other than the default NSX for vShield Endpoint license.

Results

The vSphere Distributed Switch 7.0 feature is now available and you can attach hosts to a vSphere Distributed Switch.