I'm trying to learn as much as I can about ESXI, without having to worry about license limits or restrictions, but I don't want my VMs to drop dead either. I found this page that describes how you can reset the evaluation mode with minimal server interruption.

Add it to cron:

vi /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh

And add the following:

/bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid) # stop the Cron Daemon
/bin/echo "0 0 1 * * rm -r /etc/vmware/license.cfg; cp /etc/vmware/.#license.cfg /etc/vmware/license.cfg; /etc/init.d/vpxa restart;" >> /var/spool/cron/cr
/usr/lib/vmware/busybox/bin/busybox crond

Run the script

/bin/sh /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh

Make the change persistent:

/bin/auto-backup.sh