Contents

Managing licenses· 1

About licenses· 1

License types· 1

Basic concepts· 2

Restrictions and guidelines: License management 2

Management operation restrictions· 2

File operation restrictions· 3

Configuring local licensing· 0

About local licensing· 0

Registering and installing a license· 0

License registration and installation workflow· 0

Identifying the license storage· 1

Compressing the license storage· 1

Obtaining required information for license registration· 2

Installing an activation file· 2

Display and maintenance commands for license management 3

 

Managing licenses

About licenses

To use license-based features, you must purchase licenses from H3C and install the licenses.

To obtain information about license-based features, their licensing status, and license availability, execute the display license feature command on the device. Then, you can purchase and install licenses as needed.

License types

H3C offers preinstalled, trial (or temporary), and formal licenses. Support for preinstalled and trial licenses varies by device model. For more information about the license options available for the device, see the license matrixes document for the device.

Preinstalled licenses

Preinstalled licenses are built into a system and are available for use on initial startup of the system. Users do not need to activate them.

A preinstalled license is typically time limited.

When a preinstalled license expires, the license-based feature becomes unavailable. To continue to use the feature, you must purchase and install a formal license for it.

Trial licenses

Trial licenses are provided for you to verify the functionality of premium features so you can make an educated purchase decision.

A trial license is time limited.

When a trial license expires, the license-based feature becomes unavailable. To continue to use the feature, you must purchase and install a formal license for it.

To obtain a trial license for a feature:

1.     Contact your H3C sales representative or technical support.

2.     Register the trial license key with H3C License Management Platform to obtain an activation file.

3.     Install the activation file to activate the feature.

Formal licenses

To gain most from a license-based feature, purchase a formal license for it.

Formal licenses are available with different validity periods. For more information, see the license matrixes document for the device.

To install a formal license for a feature:

1.     Purchase a software license certificate through an official channel.

2.     Access H3C License Management Platform, and then enter the license key in the certificate and the required device information to obtain an activation file.

3.     Install the activation file in the target system.

Basic concepts

The following information describes the basic concepts that you might encounter when you register, install, and manage licenses.

H3C License Management Platform

H3C License Management Platform provides product licensing services for H3C customers. You can access this system to obtain an activation file.

H3C License Management Platform is accessible at http://www.h3c.com/en/License/.

Software license certificate

A software license certificate allows users to use a license-based feature. It contains license key, license capacity, and other information.

License key

A license key uniquely identifies a license.

·     To obtain a formal license key, purchase a software license certificate. The authorization serial number in the software license certificate is the license key.

·     To obtain a trial license key, contact your H3C sales representative or H3C technical support. Support for trial licenses depends on the device model. For more information, see the license matrixes document for the device.

Device serial number

A device serial number (SN or S/N) is a barcode that uniquely identifies a device. It comes with the device and must be provided when you request a license in H3C License Management Platform.

Device ID (DID) and DID file

A DID is a string of characters that uniquely identifies a hardware device. A DID file stores the DID and other information. The device comes with a DID or DID file. You must provide the DID or DID file when you request a license for the device on H3C License Management Platform.

Activation file

An activation file binds a license to a system.

To use a license-based feature on a system, you must perform the following tasks:

1.     Use the license key and the system’s SN and DID information to obtain an activation file from H3C License Management Platform.

2.     Install the activation file on the system.

License storage

License storage is a persistent storage of fixed size for storing licensing information. This information includes the licensing state, validity period, and other related information.

Data in the license storage persists through reboot. This ensures licensing accuracy and continuity.

Restrictions and guidelines: License management

Management operation restrictions

·     Purchase licenses from H3C official channels.

·     For licenses that have been installed on the device, execute the display license command to view the license validity period. To use a license-based feature continuously, install a new license for the feature before the old license expires.

·     Licenses are typically device locked. To ensure a successful licensing, use the following licensing guidelines:

a.     When you purchase a license certificate, verify the following items:

-     Make sure the license is compatible with the target device.

-     Make sure its licensed functionality and capacity meet your requirements.

b.     When you obtain an activation file, make sure the provided license key and hardware information are correct.

c.     Install the activation file on the correct target device.

·     Make sure no one else is performing license management tasks while you are managing licenses on the device.

You can manage licenses only on the default context. Any license operation performed on the default context takes effect on all contexts. For information about contexts, see Virtual Technologies Configuration Guide.

File operation restrictions

When you manage a DID file or activation file, follow these restrictions and guidelines:

·     To avoid licensing error, do not modify the filename or edit the file content.

·     Before you install an activation file, download the activation file to the storage media of the device such as flash memory. When installing an activation file, the device automatically copies the activation file to the license folder in the root directory of the storage media. The license folder stores important files for licensing. For licensed features to function correctly, do not delete or modify the license folder or the files in this folder.

Configuring local licensing

About local licensing

Local licensing requires license activation device by device. It is applicable to small-sized networks.

To install a license on a device:

1.     Obtain the license key and the device SN and DID information of the device.

2.     Access H3C License Management Platform to apply for an activation file based on the license key and the device's SN and DID information.

3.     Install the activation file on the device to activate the license.

The activation file for a license is device locked. You cannot install the activation file for one device to activate the license on another device.

Figure 1 Local licensing procedure

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Registering and installing a license

License registration and installation workflow

The procedures for installing formal licenses and trial licenses are the same, as shown in Figure 2.

This chapter only describes the operations performed on the device. For more information, see the licensing guide for the device.

Figure 2 License registration and installation workflow

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Identifying the license storage

To identify the free space of the license storage, execute the following command in any view:

display license feature

From the command output, view the Total and Usage fields to examine whether the remaining license storage is sufficient for installing new licenses. If the remaining license storage is not sufficient, compress the license storage.

Compressing the license storage

About this task

The license storage stores licensing information and has a fixed size.

You can compress the license storage to delete expired license information to ensure sufficient storage space for installing new licenses.

If no licenses have been installed on the device, you do not need to compress the license storage.

Prerequisites

The compression operation might make the DID change. You will be unable to install the activation file obtained by using the old DID on the device. As a best practice, install all activation files registered with the old DID before performing a compression.

If you have not installed an activation file registered with the old DID, take the following actions:

·     If the license storage is sufficient, install the activation file on the device. For more information, see the license user guide.

·     If the license storage is insufficient and the activation file cannot be installed after the compression, contact H3C Support.

Procedure

1.     Enter system view.

system-view

2.     Compress the license storage.

In standalone mode:

license compress

In IRF mode:

license compress chassis chassis-number

Obtaining required information for license registration

To obtain SN and DID information, execute the following command in any view:

In standalone mode:

display license device-id slot slot-number

In IRF mode:

display license device-id chassis chassis-number slot slot-number

Installing an activation file

About this task

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CAUTION: Back up an activation file before you install it. If the activation file is inadvertently deleted or becomes unavailable for some other reason, you can use the backup activation file to restore the license.

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To obtain a license, install an activation file for the license on the device.

Prerequisites

Use FTP or TFTP to upload the activation file to be installed to the device. If FTP is used to transfer the activation file, set it in binary mode.

Installing an activation file

1.     Enter system view.

system-view

2.     Install an activation file.

In standalone mode:

license activation-file install license-file

In IRF mode:

license activation-file install license-file chassis chassis-number

You can install a single .ak file or multiple .ak files through one operation. To install multiple .ak files, save all activation files in the same directory and specify the directory as the value of the license-file argument.

Display and maintenance commands for license management

Execute display commands in any view.

 

Task	Command
Display detailed license information.	In standalone mode: display license [ activation-file ] In IRF mode: display license [ activation-file ] [ chassis chassis-number ]
Display the SN and DID information.	In standalone mode: display license device-id In IRF mode: display license device-id chassis chassis-number
Display brief feature license information.	display license feature

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