There is a lot of buzz accumulating about the anticipated release of VMware vSphere. Are you ready for it? Is your license portal ready for vSphere? Does anyone remember the licesing upgrades from VI2 to VI3? Did they go smooth for you?
Double check your answers and be sure. Inaccurate license counts in your license portal are going to lead to frustrating problems when you attempt to upgrade to vSphere. When you get to vSphere, your new license key(s) may be missing quantities or SKUs you’ve purchased in the past. Pay extra special attention if you purchase through a reseller to be sure your license counts and SKUs in the portal are 100% accurate.
DO NOT wait until the release of vSphere to sort out your licensing issues. I would anticipate a long line of people in the support queues who were not proactive in sorting out their licensing issues prior to the release of vSphere. Taking care of this ahead of time will help guarantee a smooth vSphere upgrade and it will also help balance the call load on VMware’s support staff.
To verify your licensing, head to the VMware licensing portal:
Click “Find Serial Number”
Change the filter parameters as follows:
Change “License Category” to Purchased/Registered. Doing so will show you more licensing than not doing so in some cases.
Change “Sort Results By” to Product then License Type. Doing so will make the licenses easier to reconcile.
Now reconcile all of your serial numbers. Be aware that there may be more than one page of licenses in your portal. If you’re missing licenses, check for a page 2, page 3, etc.
For more help on licensing, including help in contacting VMware on licensing issues, see the following blog entry I wrote in January.
Jason, excellent post and reminder! Better to be prepated and not have any problems than having an implementation put on the back burner while waiting to resolve a licensing problem.