VMware ESX Manual

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VMware, Inc. 49

Chapter 5 Licensing VirtualCenter and ESX Server

Whenyoureceivetheemailcontainingyouractivationcodes,followtheinstructionsin

theemailtoregisterlicenseactivationcodesandgeneratelicensefilesthroughthe

Web‐basedlicenseactivationportal.

Foradditionalinformationonthelicenseactivationprocess,seethelicenseactivation

portalonlineHelp.

Setting Up Centralized Licensing

Youcanconfigurecentralizedlicensingatinstallationtime.Afterinstallation,youcan

makechangestolicensingthroughtheVI Client.

Installing License Files

Afteryouobtainyourlicensefiles,savethemasplaintextASCIIfilesinadirectoryyou

canaccessfromyourlicenseservermachine.Usethe.lic extensionwhensavingyour

licensefiles.

WhentheVMwarelicenseserverisinstalled,youcanimportthefilesintoyourlicense

server.Centralizedlicensefiles

areplacedatthefollowingdefaultlocationonthe

machinerunningthelicenseserver:

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware License Server\Licenses

See “InstallingaLicenseServ er”onpage 60forinstructionsoninstallingastandalone

licenseserver.

See “InstallingVMwareInfrastructureManagementSoftware”onpage 72for

instructionsreg ardingtherecommendedlicenseserverinstallation.

Location of the License Server

VMwarerecommendsthatyoufollowthedefaultinstallationandplaceyourlicense

serveronthesamemachineasyourVirtualCenter Server .Thishastheadvantageof

simplicityofsetup,aswellasguaranteeingVirtualCenter‐to‐licenseserver

communications.Changethisonlyifyouhaveagoodreason,suchasanexisting

FLEXnet

licenseserver.Toaccessthelicenseserverdocumentation,choose:

Start>Programs>VMware>VMware License Server>VMwareLicenseServerUser

Guide.

N

OTEThefileextension.lic isrequired.