ESXi v5.x VMKernel.Boot.memmapMaxPhysicalMemMB to overcome 32GB licence limitation
The free licence of VMWare ESXi limits the host physical RAM to 32GBytes
A server that has slightly more (36GBytes) than the allowed 32GBbytes of RAM for a free ESXi install won't accept the 'free' licence key. Instead of physically removing the RAM the maximum physical RAM is changed by software configuration.
Procedure
Using the vSphere client, select the host, Configuration tab, Software panel, Advanced Settings option, then the VMkernel item from the tree.
Edit the VMkernel.Boot.memmapMaxPhysicalMemMB option to limit the host physical memory to 32GB. The default value is 4194304. Enter the value 32768.
Restart the VMware ESXi v5.x host to apply the change.
Appendices
Physical memory before the configuration change
Physical memory before the configuration change
