NIOS 9.0.1 and later versions support Trinzic X6 series hardware and software appliances. The base hardware models of the series are: TE-906, TE-1506, TE-1606, TE-2306, and TE-4106. The X6 series hardware appliances support software models of the Trinzic X6 series and some models of the X5 series. For information on the software models supported by a base model, refer to the respective hardware installation guide available in the Infoblox Documentation portal or the latest Infoblox NIOS Release Notes available in the Infoblox Support portal.

For services and features to function properly in an Infoblox Grid, valid licenses must be installed on the appliances. A Trinzic X6 series hardware appliance comes with a set of temporary licenses installed on it, which will last for 60 days. For licenses after the 60-days period, contact the Infoblox Support to obtain the appropriate license strings and then run the set license command to install the licenses.

NIOS allows you to install multiple licenses at a time, either from Grid Manager or the CLI. After you install the licenses, you can monitor them 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 will expire within the next 30 and 90 days respectively.

To enable the cloud platform feature on a Trinzic X6 series appliance member, you must install the Cloud Platform feature license. All of the X6 series appliances support the Cloud Platform license. Unlike Trinzic X5 series, there are no dedicated CP appliances in the X6 series appliances.

The impact of NIOS 9.0.1 on licensing is as follows:

• If you install new feature licenses in NIOS 9.0.1, NIOS verifies the new licenses by comparing it with the existing ones, validates them, and reports whether the new licenses are valid or invalid. When you save the result, all valid licenses are installed.

• If you replace a Trinzic X5 series appliance with a Trinzic X6 series appliance, the existing licenses that are still active can be transferred over to the newer appliance after getting new license-keys based on the replaced X6 series appliance. Active perpetual licenses are applied as subscription licenses as perpetual licenses are not offered from NIOS 9.0.1 onwards.

• In case of VMs, you must reprovision the VM resources based on the X6 series hardware model that you chose for the deployment.

This topic includes the following sections:

License Types

Infoblox licenses are divided into the following classes:

• Static: Static licenses are member specific. They are installed and tied to the Grid Master or specific Grid members. Static licenses are mapped to the hardware ID for each individual NIOS or vNIOS appliance.

• Dynamic: Dynamic licenses are not offered from NIOS 9.0.1 onwards. Only the active subscriptions that you obtained for NIOS physical and virtual appliances from NIOS versions prior to 9.0.1 are supported.
  These are floating licenses that are dynamically allocated to specific Grid members in the Grid. Dynamic licenses belong to a license pool, which is associated with the entire Grid. When not in use, they can be released back to the pool of licenses.

• Grid-wide: Grid-wide licenses are associated with the entire Grid. They are not tied to any particular member. When installed, Grid-wide licenses are replicated to all members in the Grid. Although a Grid-wide license entitles all Grid members to run a particular feature, other conditions and factors determine whether the feature can be enabled on a particular member. For example, a member might not be able to run the Reporting and Analytics feature because it does not have the reporting appliance model. Grid-wide licenses that are supported are Security Ecosystem, Reporting Subscription, RPZ, Threat Analytics, Flex Grid Activation, and FireEye. To configure Grid-wide licenses for RPZ, see Grid-wide licenses for RPZ.

The static, dynamic, and Grid-wide licenses can have one of the following terms of duration:

• Subscription licenses: The subscription licenses come with an expiry date and will remain valid until the expiry of the contract. After subscription licenses expire, the renewed licenses must be downloaded from the support portal and applied. These licenses can be static or Grid-wide licenses. For more information about Subscription Licensing, see Licensing Requirements.

• Temporary licenses: You can enable one of several sets of temporary service licenses through the CLI command set temp_license. The duration for a temporary license is 60 days. They provide licensed features and functionality for the interim, while you wait for your permanent or subscription licenses to arrive. After these licenses expire, you cannot subscribe to the temporary licenses again.

Before the subscription or temporary licenses expire, an expiration warning appears during the Grid Manager login process. The warning reappears during each login until you renew the license. To renew a license, contact your accounts representative at Infoblox.

Adding Licenses

For a physical appliance of Trinzic X6 series, you must install licenses for the supported NIOS software models using the CLI only. Installing the NIOS software model licenses from Grid Manager (by uploading the license file or pasting the license information) is not supported.

You can add static or subscription licenses using one of the following CLI commands:

• set license: Contact the Infoblox Support to obtain the license string and then use this command to add the license.

• set temp_license: Use this command to generate and install temporary licenses. For more information, see the Adding Temporary License section.

Verifying Licenses

When you install new feature licenses in NIOS 9.0.1, you can check whether the licenses being installed are valid, view the comparison between the existing and newly added licenses, and verify for any license conflicts by clicking Verify License(s). If the licenses pass validation, you can see the licenses that will be applied and those that will be discarded or overwritten, and you can either confirm or cancel applying new licenses.

To verify the static and Grid-wide licenses that are currently assigned or allocated to NIOS and vNIOS appliances:

1. Log in to Grid Manager on the Grid Master or System Manager on an independent appliance.

2. Select the System tab -> Licenses tab -> Member tab or Select the Grid tab -> Licenses tab -> Member tab or Pool tab or Grid-Wide tab.

3. Click Add dialog.
   You can either upload the CSV file to the Grid or copy the license information from the .txt file and paste it in the Paste License(s) field.
   Note that when you paste multiple licenses, ensure to paste each string on a new line.

4. Click Verify License(s).
   The Verifying licenses dialog box displays the following information:

   • TYPE: License type, for example nios or DNS.

   • Hardware/Grid License ID: Hardware ID or License Unique Id.

   • Name: Grid member name.

   • License String: New and Existing license(s) string.

   • Expiration: New and Existing expiration dates of the license(s).

   • Status: Valid or Invalid.

   • Message: An appropriate message if it is Invalid. N/A, if it is valid.

5. Click Save All Valid License(s). After this step, you can view the results.

Reshaping of NIOS Licenses

A Trinzic X6 series hardware appliance model supports software models of the X6 series and some models of the X5 series. The naming convention used for the software appliance models is as follows:

• TE-xxxx: Models that support features other than network discovery and reporting.

• ND-xxxx: Models that support network discovery.

• TR-xxxx: Models that support reporting.

For any Trinzic X6 series hardware appliance, you may reshape NIOS by switching one supported software appliance model to another based on your requirement. Depending on the models switched, the change automatically triggers either a product restart or a repartitioning of the storage disk. For the software models supported by a hardware appliance, refer to the specific hardware installation guide available in the Infoblox Documentation Portal.

The following table lists the impact of NIOS reshape activity:

Licensing Limitations in NIOS 9.0.1

From Trinizic X6 series appliances, Cloud Platform feature is offered through a license rather than a CP-xxxx virtual appliance. The limitations of the Cloud Platform license has been called out in this section along with other limitations of NIOS 9.0.1.

Cloud Platform License Limitations

• The license can be applied only on a Grid member but not on a Grid Master, a Grid Master Candidate, or a standalone appliance.

• The license cannot be applied on a member that has Network Insight or Reporting license installed.

• The license is independent of Cloud Network Automation license.

• The license is supported on a Trinzic X6 series hardware and software models (VM) but not on X5 series hardware and VM.

• If you need to delete a Grid member that has a Cloud Platform license installed, you must first delete the Cloud Platform license and then delete the member.

• The license can be installed on a Grid Master through cloud-init, However, Infoblox recommends that you set it as a Grid member before joining it to the Grid.

• A vNIOS member that has a Cloud Platform license installed, is not allowed to join a Grid if it is being configured as a Grid Master or a Grid Master Candidate.

• If a Grid member that has the Cloud Platform license installed is disassociated from its Grid Master by running the set nogrid command, you must retain it as a Grid member because the Cloud Platform license is not supported on a Grid Master or a standalone appliance.

Other Limitations

• Perpetual/permanent licenses are not supported on Trinzic X6 series appliances.

• Installing NIOS software model licenses for X6 series physical appliance from Grid Manager is not supported. You must install them from the CLI.

• When installing multiple licenses, ensure to sequence the order of installation in such a way that the dependency conflict does not occur.

• If you install a Multi-Grid Management license, you must manually perform a product restart using either the CLI or Grid Manager to set up Multi-Grid management.

• TR (reporting) and ND (Discovery) appliances will not run DDI.

• Revoking or disassociating a pool license from a member is not supported. If you replace an expired pool license with an active license, the license is installed as a new license leaving the expired license as is. If a valid static license is installed for the same feature, then the dynamic license is deleted and returned to the pool it belongs.

• Downgrading NIOS on a Trinzic X6 series appliance to a version prior to 9.0.1 is not supported. Trinzic X6 series appliances are supported only from NIOS 9.0.1 onwards.

• Installing NIOS software model licenses that are not compatible with a Trinzic X6 series physical appliance may show a successful message when installed using the CLI. Such licenses are not installed in the backend.
  For example: If you install an TE-2326 license over an TE-4126 appliance using the CLI, the installation shows a successful message but the license is not installed.
  For the list of supported appliances, see the hardware installation guide available of the specific X6 appliance or the Infoblox NIOS Release Notes that is available in the Infoblox Support portal.