: Under Free Downloads > VMware vSphere Hypervisor , you can sometimes find historical keys if you were a registered user.

After 60 days, just assign the free license key (obtained from Broadcom). The host will not expire.

: If you purchased hardware from a vendor like Dell, you might have received a Product Activation Key (PAC)

For automation, you can use PowerShell with the VMware PowerCLI module to generate detailed reports for multiple hosts. Here’s a basic example: