vSphere 8 Enterprise Plus for VCF and for vSphere Foundation: what the licence keys mean

What “vSphere 8 Enterprise Plus for VCF” means

“VMware vSphere 8 Enterprise Plus for VCF (Supports vCenter Server 8.0U2b and above)” is the name of the solution licence key that a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) subscription delivers for vSphere 8. Broadcom’s KB 319282 says: “Beginning with VCF 5.1.1 and vSphere 8.0U2b, the vSphere license key will serve as the solution license key for VCF and VVF.” A VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) subscription delivers the same kind of key as “VMware vSphere 8 Enterprise Plus for vSphere Foundation (Supports vCenter Server 8.0U2b and above)”.

Both keys belong to the subscription. Applied to vCenter, the ESXi hosts and Supervisor clusters, one key licenses the whole VCF or VVF stack on vSphere 8, except vSAN, which has its own key (VVF purchases before 22 November 2024 excepted). The minimum vCenter version is printed in the name, 8.0U2b and above. On the host side, Broadcom’s KB 430262 says the VCF key “requires ESXi 8.0 Update 2b or higher to be recognized as a valid entity”. vCenter Server 8.0 Update 2b was released on 29 February 2024 and VCF 5.1.1 on 26 March 2024. What each edition contains is in our VVF vs VCF comparison.

The keys in a VCF and a VVF subscription

KB 319282 lists the keys a customer receives in the licensing portal for each product, with the solution key first. The remaining component keys “will appear in the licensing portal so that brownfield customers are not forced to upgrade”.

Broadcom KB 319282, “VMware Cloud Foundation and vSphere Foundation Solution License Key”, key lists and “Previous Versions and Downgrades” table; no date shown, read on 16 October 2026.

The other five VCF keys cover Aria Suite Enterprise 8.14, Aria Operations for Networks 6 Enterprise, HCX Enterprise, HCX Advanced and Tanzu Kubernetes Grid; the VVF component keys are Aria Suite Standard 8.14 and Tanzu Kubernetes Grid. For VVF purchases before 22 November 2024 no vSAN key was generated, and the KB says that for these “the only way to activate & run vSAN is to use the solution key and run software 8.0U2b and above”, with no downgrade path for vSAN.

How the solution key counts cores and vSAN capacity

Broadcom’s vSphere 8 documentation page on VVF licensing says: “The Solution License capacity is based on the per core licensing model.” The ESXi hosts consume it. Broadcom’s KB 432439 gives the capacity a host needs as the number of CPUs multiplied by the larger of 16 and the physical cores per CPU. The same page says “vCenter Server does not consume Solution License capacity” and “You can assign one Solution License to multiple vCenter Server instances.” Counting a whole estate is covered in our guide to Broadcom’s core count script.

Take a VVF estate of 24 hosts under two vCenters: 16 hosts with two 32-core CPUs and 8 older hosts with two 12-core CPUs. The newer hosts take 1,024 cores, the older ones 256, because each 12-core CPU counts as 16. One solution key with 1,280 cores covers the hosts under both vCenters, and vCenter itself takes nothing from it; per the VVF page, the ESXi hosts and vSAN use its capacity. The per-socket arithmetic behind the older hosts is in our VMware licensing guide.

Broadcom’s two vSAN figures describe two licensing models. The vSphere 8 page on VVF licensing and the vCenter 8.0 Update 2b release notes describe the original solution licence, which carries vSAN itself: “With the vSphere Foundation Solution License, you receive capacity of 100 GiB per core per ESXi host”, and a vSAN cluster is licensed automatically once all its hosts have the key.

VVF purchases from 22 November 2024 receive the separate vSAN key, and Broadcom’s VVF programme document of June 2026 says: “Customer is entitled to 0.25 TiB of vSAN capacity for each Core licensed for VVF.” Per the document, the version published when Broadcom accepts the order applies, and for a release installed later under support, the version current on the day of installation. Our core count guide uses 0.25 TiB per core. The vSAN key name prints vCenter Server 8.0u3 and above, so on a vCenter older than 8.0 U3 the separate vSAN key is downgraded first, which the KB allows for VVF keys generated from 22 November 2024.

Finding and applying the keys on vSphere 8

The keys are in the Broadcom Support Portal under the Site ID (KB 145804), and they are added and assigned in the vSphere Client by an account with the Global.Licenses privilege.

1. In the Broadcom Support Portal, click My Entitlements, expand the Site ID, open the Entitlement Details tab and click the Licenses icon; under Active Keys, download the keys.
2. Check the builds: vCenter Server 8.0U2b or later for the solution key, ESXi 8.0 Update 2b (build 23305546) or later on every host, vCenter 8.0u3 or later for the vSAN key.
3. In the vSphere Client, go to Administration, Licensing, Licenses, click ADD, enter one key per line, name the licences and click Finish.
4. On the Assets tab, select the vCenter Server Systems, Hosts and Supervisors in turn, click Assign License and choose the solution key; KB 319282 suggests the bulk licensing option for larger environments.
5. On the vSAN Clusters tab, assign the vSAN key to each vSAN cluster.
6. Add the vCenter to Aria and, on VCF, to NSX and HCX. Per KB 319282, “The component features retrieve the entitlements from vCenter and have an in-built Evaluation Mode”.

On VCF 5.x, SDDC Manager handles only the component keys. Broadcom’s VCF 5.2 administration guide says “SDDC Manager does not manage the solution license key”, and that with a solution key the components are “deployed in evaluation mode” until the key is assigned in the vSphere Client. The same guide allows the two types side by side: “Workload Domain 1 can use component license keys and Workload Domain 2 can use the solution license key.”

The estate and licence audit in our VMware optimisation service includes a full inventory of versions, subscriptions and actual resource usage. Send us the key names under your Site ID and the build of each vCenter, and we reply within one business day.

Older builds: downgrading the key to 8.0.0a

KB 319282 says that a customer running “a VCF version prior to 5.1.1 or a vSphere version prior to 8.0U2b” must downgrade the solution key. “At this point, the license key becomes a vSphere component license key rather than the solution license key”, and the individual component keys are applied next to it. In the KB’s step-by-step process, the vSphere key and the vSAN key are both downgraded to version 8.

Broadcom’s KB 281797 gives the portal procedure: My Entitlements, Entitlement Details, the Licenses icon, then the three dots on the right and Downgrade License, with a quantity no larger than the Remaining field. The KB adds that “You can only downgrade to the immediately preceding version”, with the example “A license for vSphere 8.0U2b, can only be immediately downgraded to 8.0.0a.” Versions in End of Service status cannot be selected. When the estate is ready for VCF 5.1.1 or VVF 8.0U2b, the same path upgrades the vSphere key back to the solution key.

Common mistakes with VCF and VVF licence keys

Broadcom KB 430262, 435903, 433105, 432439, 440572 and 319282; no dates shown, read on 16 October 2026.

The components take their entitlement from the vCenter’s key, so a vCenter left on a component key can keep them in evaluation mode. KB 440572 adds that “vCenter Server actively enforces license capacity limits during host addition operations”, so a host refresh needs the capacity in place before the Add Host wizard runs.

What changes in VCF 9: licence files instead of keys

From 9.0, Broadcom’s licensing documentation says: “Subscription-based license files replace the use of the 25-character license keys.” The 9.1 licensing overview, updated on 15 October 2026, says that with a subscription “you receive both a version 9+ default license,” “and license keys for version 8.x of the product”. A current subscription therefore still carries vSphere 8 keys for hosts that stay on 8.x, while the version 9 licence is managed through the VCF Business Services console and VCF Operations.

Broadcom TechDocs: VCF 9.0 Licensing Model (29 September 2026), VCF 9.1 Licensing Overview, Licensing Model and Mixed-Version Environments (15 October 2026); KB 319282 and 444552.

Broadcom’s Mixed-Version Environments page says ESXi 8.x hosts under a vCenter 9.1 instance “must be licensed with a pre-version 9 license key” and that “they also use license capacity from your version 9+ license”. It adds: “Version 8.x licenses cannot be assigned as override licenses.” In KB 444552, hosts still on 8.x use up the 9.x core capacity, upgraded hosts fail with “Licensing assignment failed for this host”, and the fix is to merge licences in the Business Services console. Plan 9.x capacity for every host under the vCenter, whatever its version. Why the 9.x licence shows an earlier date than the contract is in our guide to checking VMware licence expiry, and the end dates of the 8.x line in our vSphere 8 end of support guide.

Our VMware optimisation service runs version and architecture updates to VCF 9 in agreed maintenance windows, with a rollback plan at every stage. Describe your vCenter instances, host builds and subscription end date in the form below; the first call is free of charge.

What we do

Under VMware optimisation, Eurokommerz holds the contract and our partner Vixen.UNO does the engineering. The estate and licence audit inventories versions, subscriptions and actual resource usage and matches editions to your workloads within Broadcom’s current licensing logic. The paid technical assessment, its price fixed before work begins, ends in a report and an action plan ahead of renewal and end of support, with dates. Updates of vSphere, vSAN, NSX and VCF follow in agreed maintenance windows with a rollback plan, then support under an agreed SLA.

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