When you purchase, divide, or combine license keys in Customer Connect, you must use the new keys to license assets in your vSphere environment. You must go to the vSphere Web Client and create a new license object for every license key. In the vSphere Web Client, a license is a container for a license key of a VMware product. After you create the new licenses, you can assign them to assets.

Prerequisites

  • To view and manage licenses in the vSphere environment, you must have the Global.Licenses privilege on the vCenter Server system, where the vSphere Web Client runs.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Web Client, select Administration, and under Licensing, select Licenses.
  2. Select the Licenses tab.
  3. Click the Create New Licenses (Create license icon) icon.
  4. In the text area of the Enter licenses keys page, enter one license key per line, and click Next.
    The license key is a 25-symbol string of letters and digits in the format XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. You can enter a list of keys in one operation. A new license will be created for every license key that you enter.
  5. On the Edit license names page, rename the new licenses as appropriate and click Next .
  6. On the Ready to complete page, review the new licenses and click Finish.

Results

A new license is created for every license key that you entered.

What to do next

Assign the new licenses to hosts, vCenter Server systems, or other products that you use with vSphere. You must not keep unassigned licenses in the inventory.