vRanger backups failing with error:"<esx host ip address> not licensed for backup" even though in the licensing screen the ESX hosts are checked. Also in the licensing screen, hosts are displayed with fully qualified domain name (esx1.comapny.com) whereas in the inventory screen they show up as IP address.
To Work around this issue:
1. Right click on ESX host and select disconnect.
2. Once disconnected right click on host again and select remove.
3. Once you have all hosts removed right click on data center and select add host and add host using FQDN.
4. After all hosts are re-added refresh inventory ion vRanger and all previously configured backup should run without issue.
NOTE: following the step above will have no effect on the VMs running on ESX/ESXi hosts.
A second option would be to add host file entries for these hosts.