6.5.1

Licensing ESXi Hosts
After you install ESXi, it has a 60-day evaluation period during which you can explore the full set of
vSphere features provided with a vSphere Enterprise Plus license. You must assign the host an
appropriate license before the evaluation period expires.
ESXi hosts are licensed with vSphere licenses that have per-CPU capacity. To license hosts correctly, you
must assign them a vSphere license that has enough CPU capacity to cover all CPUs in the hosts. The
license must support all features that the hosts are using. For example, if the hosts are connected to a
vSphere Distributed Switch, you must assign a license that has the vSphere Distributed Switch feature.
You can use one of following methods to license ESXi hosts:
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License multiple hosts at a time by using the license management function in the
vSphere Web Client. The hosts must be connected to a vCenter Server system. For more
information, see vCenter Server and Host Management.
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Set up bulk licensing by using PowerCLI commands. Bulk licensing works for all ESXi hosts, but is
especially useful for hosts provisioned with Auto Deploy. See Set Up Bulk Licensing
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License individual ESXi hosts by using a direct connection with the VMware Host Client. For
information about assigning a license key to an ESXi host, see vSphere Single Host Management.
About ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes
You can use evaluation mode to explore the entire set of features for ESXi hosts. The evaluation mode
provides the set of features equal to a vSphere Enterprise Plus license. Before the evaluation mode
expires, you must assign to your hosts a license that supports all the features in use.
For example, in evaluation mode, you can use vSphere vMotion technology, the vSphere HA feature, the
vSphere DRS feature, and other features. If you want to continue using these features, you must assign a
license that supports them.
The installable version of ESXi hosts is always installed in evaluation mode. ESXi Embedded is
preinstalled on an internal storage device by your hardware vendor. It might be in evaluation mode or
prelicensed.
The evaluation period is 60 days and begins when you turn on the ESXi host. At any time during the 60-
day evaluation period, you can convert from licensed mode to evaluation mode. The time available in the
evaluation period is decreased by the time already used.
For example, suppose that you use an ESXi host in evaluation mode for 20 days and then assign a
vSphere Standard Edition license key to the host. If you set the host back in evaluation mode, you can
explore the entire set of features for the host for the remaining evaluation period of 40 days.
For information about managing licensing for ESXi hosts, see the vCenter Server and Host Management
documentation.
vSphere Installation and Setup
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