Note: You can find your vCenter Instance UUID by running (Get-View ServiceInstance).Content.About.InstanceUuid . Method 3: Legacy License Management via vim-cmd (ESXi Only)
$licenseKey = "xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx" $licenseManager = Get-LicenseManager $assignment = $licenseManager.AssignLicense($licenseKey)
The esxcli command suite is another powerful tool built directly into ESXi. You can execute these commands either locally in the ESXi Shell or remotely by using Get-EsxCli in PowerCLI.
When you SSH into a vCenter Server Appliance, you are typically greeted by the Appliance Shell ( appliancesh ). However, license management commands interact with the underlying Linux system and specialized vSphere tools.
: You are trying to apply an ESXi host license key to a vCenter instance, or mixing vSphere 7.x keys with vSphere 8.x environments. vcenter license key command line
To assign a license to a specific host or to vCenter Server itself, you would use:
Connect-VIServer -Server Your_vCenter_Server -User Your_User -Password Your_Password
To see the licenses currently installed on your system, run the following command. You will be prompted for your SSO administrative password.
. Standard SSH commands within the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) shell are generally not used for license assignment, as licensing is an application-level service. 1. Using PowerCLI (Recommended) Note: You can find your vCenter Instance UUID
By default, logging in may drop you into the standard Linux BASH shell. To execute VMware specific management commands, switch to the Appliance Shell by typing: shell Use code with caution. Viewing Current License Status
This guide provides the exact commands, syntax, and workflows required to add, view, and remove vCenter license keys via the command line. Prerequisites for CLI License Management
To remove a bulk-assigned license from a container, you can update its LicenseData with a $null value. This clears the default license for all hosts within that container.
If you prefer operating from a Windows or Linux management workstation rather than SSHing directly into the vCenter appliance, VMware PowerCLI (built on PowerShell) is the industry standard. 1. Connect to the vCenter Server When you SSH into a vCenter Server Appliance,
Get-VCLicense
If you are managing licenses for individual ESXi hosts via vCenter, use the Set-VMHost cmdlet. : powershell
Run this command inside the VCSA Bash shell to authenticate and get a session token (replace credentials accordingly):