License for vSphere Distributed Switch

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

Procedure

1. Add a VMware vCenter compute manager if you do not have one already registered with NSX. See Add a Compute Manager.
   For a VMware vCenter 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 VMware vCenter 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 VMware vCenter and verify the NSX for vSphere solution asset exists. You can use the NSX for vSphere solution asset for NSX deployments.
3. Assign your NSX Data Center or NSX Firewall license to the license asset in VMware vCenter.
   Note: The license asset in VMware vCenter is assigned the default NSX for vShield Endpoint license. To use vSphere Distributed Switch, you need any valid NSX 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.