6.7

License Management and
Reporting 10
vSphere provides a centralized license management and reporting system that you can use to manage
licenses for ESXi hosts, vCenter Server systems, vSAN clusters, and solutions. Solutions are products
that integrate with vSphere such as VMware Site Recovery Manager, vCloud Networking and Security,
vRealize Operations Manager, and others.
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Licensing Terminology and Definitions
The licensing system in vSphere uses specific terminology and definitions to refer to different
licensing-related objects.
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The License Service in vSphere 6.7
In vSphere 6.7, the License Service is part of the Platform Services Controller. The License Service
delivers centralized license management and reporting functionality to vSphere and to products that
integrate with vSphere.
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Licensing for Environments with vCenter Server Systems 6.0 and Later, and 5.5
If your vSphere 6.0 or later environment consists of vCenter Server 6.0 or later, and 5.5 systems,
consider the differences in the license management and reporting between vSphere 6.0 and later,
and vSphere 5.5.
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Licensing for Products in vSphere
ESXi hosts, vCenter Server, and vSAN clusters are licensed differently. To apply their licensing
models correctly, you must understand how the associated assets consume license capacity. You
must also understand how the evaluation period for each product works, what happens when a
product license expires, and so on.
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Suite Licensing
Suite products combine multiple components to provide a certain set of capabilities. Suite products
have a single license that you can assign to all suite components. When participating in a suite, suite
components have different licensing models than their standalone versions. Examples of suite
products are vCloud Suite and vSphere with Operations Management.
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Managing Licenses
To license an asset in vSphere, you must assign it a license that holds an appropriate product
license key. You can use the license management functionality in the vSphere Client and the
vSphere Web Client to license multiple assets at a time from a central place. Assets are
vCenter Server systems, hosts, vSAN clusters, and solutions.
VMware, Inc.
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