VMware ESXi: How to reset ESXi evaluation license. Click on “Edit” in the top right of the “Licensed Features” page Once the “Assign License” window opens you will see two options. There will be a category for “Evaluation Mode” and Assigned License. Click on the “ (No License. VMware ESXi: How to reset ESXi evaluation license. Click on “Edit” in the top right of the “Licensed Features” page Once the “Assign License” window opens you will see two options. There will be a category for “Evaluation Mode” and Assigned License. Click on the “ (No License Key)” option and then click “OK”.
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Hello VMware friends!Since VMware sacked the beloved VMTN subscription (probably by some fucking douche in a suit) life for admins running VMware ESXi in labs and development is now a pain in the ass.I want to discuss the easiest way to extend the life span in a VMware lab environment without re-installing ESXi hosts every time. Calling VMware and ask for a new license is not one of them. Re-installing the host with scripts that configure all settings is too much of a pain as well. Obviously, I cannot buy licenses.What I can see, resetting the eval key is the best way.
There are a few guides on that, but that seems to be applicable to older versions.So, my two lab ESXi 5.5 hosts are connected to a licensed vCenter. There is a key that they give you which provides less features than the fully featured evaluation mode, if I recall correctly and they haven't changed this functionality from previous versions. It should be free to use. Not sure about which functionality you will be able to move forward with after inputting the free key.Also you might investigate your companies status regarding VMware partnership.
There is a such thing as not for resale licenses which are available under certain circumstances. If your company is at least a Professional Partner, you get NFR (Not For Resale) licenses you can use in a lab environment. These are licenses which are valid as long as the partnership is valid. Which means: one year, because you need to renew the Professional/Enterprise/Premium Partner level by paying a fee (and comply with a set of rules), which depends on the level and the country the company is located.For instance, as a professional partner you get licenses to almost all products and in most cases, you get the highest possible license (so you get a 5 CPU vSphere 5 Enterprise Plus license and a vCenter 5 standard license for 2 instances).These can only be used for evaluation and demo purposes.
Your company can become a Professional Partner if it has at least one VSP and one VTSP certified employee (this can be the same person, of course). VSP (VMware Sales Professional) and VTSP (VMware Technical Sales Professional) are free certifications anybody can get.The only 'issue' is the fact that as a Professional Partner, your company needs to sell at least $995 of VMware products per year. If your company does not make this requirement, it looses the Professional Partner level at the end of the term (one year) and returns to Registered Partner (lowest, free level).This issue is not so much a real problem, as your company can just reregister as a Professional Partner for a new year. Hold on, Partners are companies that support and sell VMware products.So, your company has to sell $995/year worth of VMware software to other companies. Altho, again, if you do not meet this requirement, you can still get the Professional Partner level each year, but you will loose it each year as well. If you get the $995/year revenue requirement, your subscription is automatically renewed.To become a Professional partner, you need to have at least on VSP and VTSP certified employee, and for non-developing countries, you have to pay $250/year to be a Professional Partner.So it is theoretically possible to register as partner as a company at the lowest level (Registered Partner), get a VSP and VTSP certification, and request an upgrade to the Professional level. For which you pay $250.
After a year, you will loose your Professional level and return to the registered level, because you did not sell $995 worth of VMware products.At that point, you just reapply for the Professional level, pay the $250 again (which you need to do anyways, even if you sold $995 worth of VMware products).The difference with the correct way (being: you did sell $995 worth of VMware products): The correct way is just to renew the Professional level instead of loosing it and directly requesting it again.