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Generating Reports for License Usage in the vSphere Web Client on page 104
You can track the license usage of your vSphere environment by generating reports for the license
usage of assets for a certain time period. Assets are hosts, vCenter Server systems, Virtual SAN
clusters, and solutions.
Licensing Terminology and Definitions
The licensing system in vSphere uses specic terminology and denitions to refer to dierent licensing-
related objects.
License Key
A license key encodes details about the product it is associated with, the
license expiration date, the license capacity, and other information. The
license key is assigned to an object to activate the functionality of its
associated product.
License
A container for a license key of a VMware product. To use a license key, you
create a license object in the vSphere Web Client, and insert the license key
into the license. Once the license is created, you can assign it to assets .
Product Edition
A set of specic features that are associated with a unique license key. When
assigned, the license key unlocks the features in the product edition.
Examples of product editions are vSphere Enterprise, vSphere Standard,
vCenter Server Essentials, and so on.
Feature
Functionality that is enabled or disabled by a license that is associated with a
specic product edition. Examples of features are vSphere DRS, vSphere
vMotion, and vSphere High Availability.
Solution
A product that is packed and distributed independently from vSphere. You
install a solution in vSphere to take advantage of certain functionality. Every
solution has a licensing model specic for the solution, but uses the License
Service for license management and reporting. Examples of solutions are
VMware Site Recovery Manager, vRealize Operations Manager, vCloud
Network and Security, and so on.
Asset
Any object in vSphere that requires licensing. The license administrator in
vSphere can assign one license to one or multiple assets of the same type if
the license has sucient capacity. Suite licenses can be assigned to all assets
that are part of the suite. Assets are vCenter Server systems, ESXi hosts, and
products that integrate with vSphere such as VMware Site Recovery
Manager, vRealize Operations Manager, and others.
License Capacity
The number of units that you can assign to assets. The units of a license
capacity can be of dierent types depending on the product that the license is
associated with. For example, a license for vCenter Server determines the
number of vCenter Server systems that you can license.
License Usage
The number of units that an asset uses from the capacity of a license. For
example, if you assign a per-virtual-machine license to VMware Site
Recovery Manager, the license usage for VMware Site Recovery Manager is
the number of protected virtual machines.
vCenter Server and Host Management
92 VMware, Inc.