Once installed, check your Host > Manage > Licensing tab. You should see the expiration set to "Never" . The Catch: What are the Limitations?
: You cannot manage free ESXi hosts through vCenter Server.
| Feature | Free Edition | vSphere Standard | vSphere Enterprise Plus | |---------|--------------|------------------|-------------------------| | vCenter management | No | Optional | Yes | | vMotion (live migration) | No | Yes | Yes | | High Availability | No | Yes | Yes | | Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) | No | No | Yes | | Distributed Switch | No | No | Yes | | Backup APIs | Limited | Full | Full | | Support from VMware | Community only | Production support | Production support |
There are a few options to consider for obtaining a free VMware ESXi 8 license key: