- Veeam Support Knowledge Base
- Veeam Cloud Service Provider Per-VM Licensing Exceeded
Veeam Cloud Service Provider Per-VM Licensing Exceeded
Cheers for trusting us with the spot in your mailbox!
Now you’re less likely to miss what’s been brewing in our knowledge base with this weekly digest
Oops! Something went wrong.
Please, try again later.
Challenge
Tenant-side Error
A Veeam Cloud Service Provider's Tenant receives the error message
Service Provider has exceeded the licensed VM count
Tenant job-level error:
Error: Cannot backup this VM because your service provider has reached licensed VM limit.
Service Provider-side Error
Veeam Cloud Service Provider may observe the following warnings:
- Licensed Cloud Connect Backup VM count has been exceeded. We will stop accepting data for all VMs above the licensed quota at <date>. To ensure uninterrupted service, please acquire and install a license file with a larger number of VMs, or decrease the number of protected VMs by disabling or deleting some tenants.
-
Your license limit has been exceeded by 32 VMs, please reflect the increase in your next usage report.
-
Your license limit has been exceeded by 32 VMS for more than 60 days. All VMs exceeding the licensed amount will no longer be processed. To manage these VMs, please purchase more licenses.
Cause
The Veeam Cloud Connect service provider license is consumed only by active VMs. An active VM is defined as a VM that has been successfully backed up, copied, or replicated by an active (not disabled) tenant with an active lease period (if a lease is configured). The number of restore points created by tenants, or the number of jobs processing VMs, does not affect license consumption. For example, if a tenant processes the same VM with multiple backup jobs, it is still counted as a single active VM.
The total number of active VMs must not exceed the total number of VMs allowed by the license. Based on the number of active VMs, the Veeam Cloud Connect service provider license can be in one of the following states:
-
Normal: The total number of active VMs does not exceed the licensed limit. Tenants can freely process both existing and new VMs—backing up, copying to the cloud repository, and replicating to cloud hosts.
-
Grace: If the number of active VMs exceeds the license limit, the license enters the Grace state. Tenants can continue to process existing and new VMs, regardless of the exceeded limit. VMs exceeding the license limit are tracked separately for future FIFO (First In, First Out) handling. If free license slots become available (e.g., when older VMs are no longer protected), VMs from the FIFO list occupy these slots in FIFO order.
The Grace state is valid for 60 days. After the 60-day period, the license shifts to the Post Grace state.
-
Post Grace: If the grace period expires and the number of active VMs still exceeds the license limit, the license enters the Post Grace state. In this state, tenants can only back up, copy, or replicate VMs that were already being processed during the Normal or Grace states. Any additional VMs beyond the licensed limit will no longer be processed.
The license can return to the Normal state if the service provider obtains and installs a license with a higher VM count.
-
Recovery: During the Grace period, if the number of active VMs falls within the license limit, the license enters the Recovery state. In this state, tenants can continue to back up, copy, and replicate VMs to the cloud.
The Recovery state lasts for 1 day. After 1 day, Veeam Backup & Replication evaluates the license state:
- If the number of active VMs remains within the limit, the license returns to the Normal state.
- If the number of active VMs again exceeds the license limit during this period, the license reverts to the Grace state, resuming the previous Grace period (it does not restart the 60-day timer). For example, if the license entered Grace on June 10, moved to Recovery on June 13, and exceeded the limit again on June 14, it would return to Grace and remain so until August 10. After that, it would transition to the Post Grace state.
Solution
Adjust Rental Points
- The Service Provider can increase the rental points in the rental licenses that are installed on the tenant side and the rental points of the Veeam Cloud Connect license. The VCSP can perform these operations in the VCSP Pulse portal.
Review: Veeam Rental Licensing and Usage Reporting > Using VCSP Pulse
Reduce Number of Active VMs
The number of active VMs in the Veeam Cloud Connect service provider license can be reduced for one of the following reasons:
- The Service Provider disables or removes a tenant account.
As a result, all of that tenant’s VMs become inactive, and an equal number of VMs are available for other tenants. - The Service Provider resets the tenant's VM count.
As a result, the corresponding number of VMs becomes inactive, and an equal number of VMs is made available for this tenant or other tenants. - A tenant removes backups and replicas created for one or several VMs on the cloud repository and cloud host.
As a result, the corresponding number of VMs becomes inactive, and an equal number of VMs is made available for this tenant or other tenants.
However, when a tenant runs a job that processes a VM for which backup and replica were deleted, such a VM becomes active, and the number of active VMs in the SP license increases once more.
Reduce Number of Managed VMs
To reduce the number of managed VMs in a Hosting license, the SP can do the following:
- Remove backup jobs that were configured on the Tenant's Veeam Backup Server that are no longer required (or exclude specific VMs from backup jobs).
- Remove VM backups created by backup jobs that were configured on the Tenant's Veeam Backup Server that are no longer required from the Veeam backup repository.
If this KB article did not resolve your issue or you need further assistance with Veeam software, please create a Veeam Support Case.
To submit feedback regarding this article, please click this link: Send Article Feedback
To report a typo on this page, highlight the typo with your mouse and press CTRL + Enter.
Spelling error in text
Thank you!
Your feedback has been received and will be reviewed.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Please, try again later.
You have selected too large block!
Please try select less.
KB Feedback/Suggestion
This form is only for KB Feedback/Suggestions, if you need help with the software open a support case
Thank you!
Your feedback has been received and will be reviewed.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Please, try again later.