Solution Guide 23

Serial Number Registration and Exchange

To access your software subscription services and/or advanced VMware
software features, you must register the serial number of your ESX Server 3i
server with VMware. Registration must be completed within 30 days of
purchase using VMware registration website, www.vmware.com/code/dell. If
you have multiple serial numbers, you can register all the codes to one license
administrator or multiple serial numbers with different license
administrators.
Image Recovery
If your VMware ESX Server 3i software becomes non-bootable due to a
configuration or hardware error, you will need to reimage the internal storage
device with a new base image. This process will restore your server to a
bootable state, but will not include the per-system licensing activation
information that originally shipped with your server, though this may not be a
concern if you are using centralized licensing and have already exchanged
your host-based license. Dell support will be able to help you with the
reimaging process and with any licensing issues. Please contact Dell support
via your typical support channels or via support.dell.com.
If you do require a new license from Dell support, but need to have the server
up and running as soon as possible, you may take advantage of the onetime
60-day trial of all enterprise-level features including HA and DRS as well as
VirtualCenter Server. Dell recommends requesting the license as soon as
possible following an image recovery to ensure you have your new host-based
license before the 60-day period expires. Typically, this process will take much
less than 60-days.
1
Find the VMware ESX Server 3i Recovery CD that shipped with your
system or download the latest version from support.dell.com as you would
download other PowerEdge hardware updates.
2
Burn the ISO image if needed; place the CD in the internal or an external
CD/DVD drive.
3
Remove all USB-based storage devices not present when you received the
system. Failure to do so could lead to an error during the image recovery
process.