Licensing bug shuts down VMware servers

A software bug is leaving VMware customers unable to log in to virtualized servers.

The issue began early on Tuesday when users attempted to power up virtual systems running the company's ESX 3.5 software. The user is greeted with an error message indicating that the machine's "power on" function failed due to an expired license.

The company said that the issue is due to a timeout mechanism that had been left on and set to expire on August 12. This, said the company, caused the system to lock out users and believe that the license had expired.

The issue only affects systems that run ESX 3.5 Update 2 and ESXi 3.5 Update 2.