You must install valid licenses for services and You must install valid licenses for services and features to function properly in your Infoblox Grid. Different license types that are available are discussed in this topic. You can choose to obtain licenses for the desired features and services, and install them as static, dynamic, or Grid-wide licenses, depending on your network and business requirements.
After you install your licenses, you can monitor them through from Grid Manager. Licenses are listed on the Grid tab -> Licenses tab. Grid Manager also displays the number of licenses that have expired and those that are expiring within the next 30 and 90 days respectively.
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To obtain permanent static licenses from Infoblox:
Log in to the support portal (https://support.infoblox.com) using Google Chrome for best performance.
Click My Products.
An overview page that contains the list of appliance (hosts) maintenance contracts, software entitlements (assigned and unassigned) and subscriptions is displayed.For partners only: In the Select Account drop-down list, select the account for which you want to obtain licenses.
To obtain the license for a new VM:
Click Create Virtual Host.
In the Create Virtual Host dialog box, enter the virtual host hardware ID and choose the license technology as DDI (for NIOS and BloxOne) or NetMRI.
Click Save & Assign Software.
The Manage Software of Host <host name> page is displayed for the host you created.In the Software available to be assigned to Host section, enter the quantity to be assigned in the Qty to Assign field of the applicable license.
Click Assign Software to assign the licenses.
Click the Download License Keys button to download the licenses.
To obtain the license for a new physical appliance:
Click the Hosts tab.
In the search box, enter criteria to search for your appliance.
In the Manage column of your appliance, select Manage Software from the drop-down list.
The Manage Software of Host <host name> page is displayed.Assign licenses to the appliance or unassign them if not needed:
In the Software available to be assigned to Host section, enter the quantity to be assigned in the Qty to Assign field of the applicable license, and click Assign Software.
In the Software currently assigned to Host section, enter the quantity to be unassigned in the Qty to Unassign field of the applicable license, and click Unassign Software.
Click the Download License Keys button to download the licenses.
To obtain the license for an existing physical or a virtual appliance for which you are unsure of license entitlements or want to obtain a new listing of your license keys:
Click the Hosts tab.
In the search box, enter criteria to search for your appliance.
In the Manage column of your appliance, select Download License Keys from the drop-down list.
Additionally, you may assign or unassign licenses and download them from the Manage Software for Host <host name> page as explained in step 5.
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Note Each License Activation ID of a VM should have a Hardware ID associated with it. As you install and spin up each virtual machine, establish written records for each Hardware ID with the License Activation ID of the VM in a one-to-one ratio. These value pairs are necessary should you need to contact Infoblox Technical Support. |
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To download the license information for an individual appliance, click Download License Keys that is available on the My Products tab -> Hosts tab -> drop-down list, or on the Manage Software for Host <host name> page.
To download the DDI license information for all your appliances at a time, click Download All DDI License Keys that is available on the My Products tab -> Hosts tab.
In the Download License Keys dialog that opens, complete the following steps:
Select between TXT or CSV format.
Click Download.
In the Save as dialog, choose the location where you want to save the file.
Click Save.
Managing Dynamic Licenses
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For a Grid-wide license, you can either upload the license file to the appliance or copy the information and paste it in the text field on the Paste License(s) field on the Grid tab -> Licenses tab -> Grid Wide tab of Grid Manager. You must copy the entire string (license type, expiry date, and license string). The Flex Grid Activation license is bundled with the following licenses: Grid, Unbound, DNS Cache Acceleration, DNS, DHCP, DNS Traffic Control, Response Policy Zone, Software Threat Protection, Threat Protection Update, DNSFW, NXDOMAIN Redirect, Dual Engine DNS (only for recursive DNS), Microsoft Management, Threat Analytics, Security Ecosystem, and Cloud Network Automation (applies only to the IB-FLEX Grid Master).
Note the following about Grid-wide licenses:
When you restore or perform a factory reset operation, you will lose the existing Grid-wide licenses.
NIOS restores any Grid-wide licenses that are present in a restored database.
When you restore a database from another Grid, NIOS replaces the UID of the Grid and the Grid-wide licenses from the other Grid.
Static and Grid-wide licenses of the same type can co-exist in the same Grid.
If a member is pre-provisioned for a specific feature, it is allowed to join the Grid that has the Grid-wide license for that feature even if the member does not have a license for that feature.
About the Flex Grid Activation License
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To install a Cloud Network Automation license on an IB-FLEX appliance, it must be set up as a Grid Master.
About the Flex Grid Activation License
FlexGridActivation is a permanent Infoblox license that you can implement as a NIOS Grid-wide license to enable the following features at the same time:
Grid (enterprise)
Unbound
DNS Cache Acceleration
DNS
DHCP
DNS Traffic Control
Response Policy Zone
Software ADP
Threat Protection Update
DNSFW
NXDOMAIN Redirect
FireEye
Threat Analytics
Security Ecosystem
Captive Portal
Microsoft Management
Cloud Network Automation (only if IB-FLEX is used as a Grid Master).
For more information, see About IB-FLEX. After you install the Flex Grid Activation license, you can view it on the Grid tab -> Licenses tab -> Grid Wide tab of Grid Manager.
You can install the Flex Grid Activation license on a Grid Master even if IB-FLEX is not a part of the Grid, but this license is effective only for an IB-Flex member. The Infoblox License Portal allows you to acquire any number of Flex Grid Activation license keys for each individual Grid. To install a temporary license, use the set temp_license CLI command.
About the Flex Grid Activation for Managed Services License
Flex Grid Activation for Managed Services is a combination of all existing Infoblox licenses that you can implement as a NIOS Grid-wide license. If you install this license, you do not need to install each license separately. The Flex Grid Activation for Managed Services license comprises the following licenses:
Grid
Unbound
DNS Cache Acceleration
DNS
DHCP
DNS Traffic Control
Response Policy Zone
NXDOMAIN Redirection
Dual Engine DNS (only for recursive DNS)
Software Threat Protection
Threat Protection Update
Threat Analytics
Security Ecosystem
Microsoft Management
Cloud Network Automation (applies only to the IB-FLEX Grid Master)
You can install the Flex Grid Activation for Managed Services license only on a Grid Master or a standalone appliance. To install a temporary license, use the set temp_license CLI command.
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Note If you install the Flex Grid Activation for Managed Services license, you cannot install the Flex Grid Activation license and if you install the Flex Grid Activation license, you cannot install the Flex Grid Activation for Managed Services license. |
Obtaining Grid-wide Licenses
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Log in to the NIOS appliance through a remote console window.
For more information on how to open a remote console window, refer to the Infoblox CLI Guide.At the Infoblox command prompt, enter
set temp_license
. For more information, see set temp_license.
The appliance lists the available licenses, and you select those you need.Enter the number of licenses you want to install.
Confirm the selection when prompted, and the following message appears:
Temporary license is installed.
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Log in to Grid Manager on the Grid Master or System Manager on an independent appliance.
Select the Grid or System tab -> Licenses tab -> Member tab. The appliance displays the following information:
Type of License: The license category. This can be Static, Dynamic, or Grid Wide, or Paid NIOS. Static licenses are individual licenses you obtain and are currently assigned to specific appliances. These licenses are tied to specific hardware IDs and you cannot deallocate them. Dynamic licenses are pooled licenses that support the Elastic Scaling feature, which enables central tracking, granting, and management of NIOS feature licenses for vNIOS entities in the Grid. You can manually allocate and deallocate dynamic licenses. When installed, Grid-wide licenses are replicated to all members in the Grid. The currently supported Grid-wide licenses are Security Ecosystem, Reporting Subscription, RPZ, Flex Grid Activation, and FireEye. Paid NIOS represents the pay-as-you-go licensing model for vNIOS virtual appliances. In the AWS Marketplace, when you use the Paid NIOS model to launch the vNIOS for AWS virtual appliance, the virtual appliance comes pre-installed with the following permanent licenses: vNIOS, Grid, DNS, and CNA (Cloud Network Automation). As long as the virtual appliance is up and running, you can use the NIOS features that these licenses provide. You cannot add, delete, import, or export Paid NIOS licenses. For information about the Paid NIOS in AWS Marketplace, refer to the Installation Guide for vNIOS for AWS, RPZ, Flex Grid Activation, and FireEye.
Feature: Indicates the features for which the license was installed. For example, if the license was installed for DNS service, this shows DNS.
Name: The FQDN of the appliance.
HA: Indicates whether the appliance is an HA pair.
IPv4 Address: The IPv4 address of the appliance, if applicable.
IPv6 Address: The IPv6 address of the appliance, if applicable.
Hardware ID: The unique hardware ID of the appliance. The ID is highlighted in red if the license on the appliance was removed.
Serial Number: The serial number of the appliance.
Type Context: Depending on the license type, this field displays the attribute (such as Model) that the license controls. This field is blank if the license does not control any attribute type. This field can display one of the following:
Leases: Indicates that this DHCP license supports a specific number of DHCP leases. The number of leases supported is displayed in the Type Details field.
Model: Indicates that this vNIOS license supports a specific vNIOS virtual appliance model. The model supported is displayed in the Type Details field.
Tier: Indicates various levels of performance limits on the DNS cache acceleration license of the Infoblox-4030 appliance. This is only applicable to the Infoblox-4030 appliance.
Type Details: Information about the attribute type that the license monitors. This field can display the following information for each attribute:
Leases: The number of DHCP leases that the DHCP license supports.
Model: The model of the NIOS virtual appliance, such as IB-V1410 or IB-V2215.
Tier: The performance limit value of an Infoblox-4030 appliance with DNS Cache Acceleration, such as Tier-1 for full capacity (up to 1M qps), Tier-2 for high (up to 600K qps), Tier-3 for base (up to 300K qps) performance limits, and Tier-4 (up to 150K qps). This is only applicable to the Infoblox-4030 appliance.
Expiration: The expiration date of the license.
Replaced Hardware ID: The hardware ID of the appliance whose license was removed.
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The following table lists NIOS licenses and the behavior when the subscription licenses expire:
License | Supported Features | When the License Expires |
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Advanced DNS Protection (ADP) / Threat Protection | Advanced DNS Protection / Threat protection | Existing functionality continues to work as is. You can add new custom rules and publish. You may not be able to upload new ruleset, but old rulesets remain functional. |
Software Advanced DNS Protection / Threat Protection (software add-on) | Virtual advanced DNS protection / Threat protection | |
Threat Protection Update | Receive and update threat protection rules and rule updates | |
Threat Protection and Threat Protection Update |
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Security Ecosystem | Outbound Notification | Existing functionality continues to work as is with existing and new endpoints and notifications. Integrations such as the FireEye feed will stop functioning as it is dependent on RPZ. |
FireEye | FireEye | Existing functionality continues to work as is. |
DNS Cache Acceleration (DCA) | DNS Cache Acceleration | Existing functionality continues to work as is. Changes and new additions work fine. |
DNS | DNS | Existing functionality continues to work as is. Allows addition of new zones and networks. |
DNS Traffic Control (DTC) | DNS Traffic Control | Existing functionality continues to work as is. |
Threat Analytics | Threat Insight/Threat Analytics | Existing functionality continues to work as is. New RPZ may not take effect as Named server does not restart after license expiry. |
DHCP | DHCP | Existing functionality continues to work as is. Allows addition of new zones and networks. |
Microsoft Management (MS MGMNT) |
| New data (new zone) added on Microsoft server is not synchronized to NIOS. |
*Cloud Network Automation |
Cloud network automation | Existing functionality continues to work as is. | |
Cloud Platform | Cloud Platform | Existing functionality continues to work as is. The Cloud API is available. In Grid Manager, you can manage cloud objects from the Grid -> Grid Manager -> Cloud-API tab. |
Response Policy Zone (RPZ) | Response Policy Zone | RPZ Feed zones and zone transfer continue to work. RPZ feeds will stop. |
Dual Engine DNS (only for recursive DNS) | Unbound DNS | Functionality continues to work as is. |
NIOS/vNIOS | NIOS services | Functionality continues to work as is. |
Grid |
| Functionality continues to work as is with existing members. You may not be able to add new members to the Grid. |
Query Redirection | Query Redirection/ | Functionality continues to work as is. |
Reporting | Reporting | Reporting functionality continues to work as is and reports update. If the license related to FireEye expires, old data does not show in the FireEye Alerts report. |
Multi-Grid Management (MGM) | Multi-Grid Management | Functionality continues to work as is. |
Network Discovery (ND) | Network Discovery | Functionality continues to work as is. |
*To install a Cloud Network Automation license on an IB-FLEX appliance, it must be set up as a Grid Master.
Licenses that are bundled with multiple licenses:
License | Supported Features | When the License Expires |
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DNSone includes the following licenses:
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The Flex Grid Activation license includes the following licenses:
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| Functionality continues to work as is for all features except for the Grid license, where functionality works for existing members. You may not be able to add new members to the Grid. | |
The Flex Grid Activation for Managed Services license installed only on Grid Master or a standalone appliance, includes the same set of licenses bundled with the Flex Grid Activation license. | Same features as the Flex Grid Activation license. |
*To install a Cloud Network Automation license on an IB-FLEX appliance, it must be set up as a Grid Master.
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Note NTLMv2 is the only authentication method supported for Microsoft servers managed from Infoblox Grids. For information about managing Microsoft Windows servers from Grid Manager, see Managing Microsoft Windows Servers. |
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