6.5.1

License Management and Reporting 7
vSphere provides centralized a 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 Denitions on page 82
The licensing system in vSphere uses specic terminology and denitions to refer to dierent
licensing-related objects.
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The License Service in vSphere 6.5 on page 83
In vSphere 6.5, 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 on page 83
If your vSphere 6.0 or later environment consists of vCenter Server 6.0 or later, and 5.5 systems,
consider the dierences 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 on page 84
ESXi hosts, vCenter Server, and vSAN clusters are licensed dierently. 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 on page 86
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 dierent licensing models than their standalone versions. Examples of suite
products are vCloud Suite and vSphere with Operations Management.
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Managing Licenses on page 87
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 Web Client to license multiple
assets at a time from a central place. Assets are vCenter Server systems, hosts, vSAN clusters, and
solutions.
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Viewing Licensing Information on page 92
You can view the licensing state of the vSphere environment from a central place by using the license
management functionality in the vSphere Web Client. You can view the licenses that are available in
vSphere, current license assignments and usage, available license capacity, licensed features in use,
and so on.
VMware, Inc.
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