I have just spent the day recovering from two failed disks in two arrays on one elderly HP proliant ml350 g5
It looks like this was deployed with HP-installed esxi 3.x (based on the HP packaging where the USB key used to be), and later upgraded to 4.1. It's a very small install -- the esxi is running stand-alone.
As part of the process of recovering the arrays I (accidentally) erased the usb stick in the box that hosts the esxi install. So I pulled out the the HP CDs, and instead of the HP-branded esxi 3.x (like on the label of the box), there was a home-burned esxi CD labelled as 4.1 (which matched what was running on the box before the problem arose). So I installed from the CD, got all the VM's running again, ghettoVCB (re-)scheduled via crontab and then went to apply the license.
The branded HP box has a certificate (with barcode) showing I have "permission to use" esxi, but no key. The 4.1 key that I have used elsewhere is not accepted in the "Assign License" dialogue.
So - where do I go to fix this? Do I need a key from HP? if so, what do I ask for? My experience of dealing with HP for something like this are less favourable than dealing with the electrical-power monopoly, so any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!