VMware VI-ENG-Q407-434 Manual

A SERVICE OF

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VMware, Inc. 39

Chapter 3 VirtualCenter and ESX Server 3 Licensing Overview

TheVirtualCenter Serverusesa“heartbeat”mechanismtocheckwhetherthelicense

serverisreachableandtodetermineiftherehavebeenanychangesinthelicensefile.

Theheartbeatintervalisfiveminutes.ItmighttaketheVirtualCenter Serveruptofive

minutestodetectiftherearelicensechangesorif

thelicenseserverhasbecome

unavailable.

Whenthelicenseserverbecomesunavailable,orifachangeinthelicensefilecausesa

checked‐outlicensetoberemoved,theVirtualCenter Servermarkstheaffectedlicenses

as“UnlicensedUse,”andthelicensedfeaturescontinuetooperateasdescribedabove.

Whenthelicense

serverbecomesavailableagain,orwhenlicensesarere‐addedtothe

licensefile,theVirtualCenter Serverchecksoutthelicensesagainandrevertsthemto

theLicensedstate.Ifalicensecannotbecheckedout,thelicenseremainsinthe

UnlicensedUsestate.

Iflicenseserveravailabilityisaconcernin

yourenvironment,consideroneofthe

followingstrategies:

 InstallthelicenseserveronthesamemachineastheVirtualCenter Server.Thisis

thedefaultoptionprovidedbytheVirtualCenterinstaller.

 Installthelicenseserverinavirtualmachine,andplacethatvirtualmachineinan

HAcluster.VMware HArestartsthelicenseservermachineonanotherESX Server

hostincaseoffailure.

 Usesingle‐hostlicensefilesonESX Serverhosts.

Using an Existing FLEXnet License Server

Inmostcases,VMwarerecommendsinstallingthelicenseserveronthesamemachine

astheVirtualCenter Server.However,ifyouhaveaFLEXnetlicenseserverinyour

environmentprovidinglicensesforotherproducts,installtheVMwarelicenseserver

onthatsystem.

ToinstalltheVMwarelicenseserveronyourexistingFLEXnetserver,

usethe

standalonelicenseserverinstallerasdescribedin“InstallingaLicenseServer”on

page 60.ThisinstallstheVMwarelicenseservervendordaemon,whichcancoexist

withothervendordaemonsinstalledontheserver.

N

OTETheVMwarelicenseserverissupportedonlyonWindowsoperatingsystems.

YoucannotinstalltheVMwarelicenseserveronaLinux‐basedFLEXnetserver.

See “LicenseServerSoftwareRequirements”onpage 21.