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Managing Licenses

Owned by Aliaksei Shautsou (Deactivated)
Jul 27, 2017
25 min read

You must install valid licenses for services and features to function properly in your Infoblox Grid. Licenses are classified by types, as described in License Types. 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 Grid Manager. NIOS displays licenses that are currently active. It also displays the number of licenses that have expired and those that are expiring within the next 30 and 90 days respectively. Click View Licenses to view the list of licenses. For information, see Viewing Member Licenses.
NIOS licenses are valid for SOT (Son Of Trinzic) 2016 hardware appliances, both physical and virtual. A NIOS license can be permanent or have an expiration date.

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. For more information about how to obtain and install static licenses, see Managing Static Licenses.
  • Dynamic: 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 for further allocation. In an environment, such as a CMP (Cloud Management Platform), where you need to spin up multiple remote vNIOS appliances at different times based on business requirements, you can consider installing dynamic licenses. For more information about dynamic licenses and how to use them to pre-provision vNIOS appliances, see Managing Dynamic Licenses and The table below provides information about the IB-FLEX platform and various flavor settings.
  • 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. The currently supported Grid-wide licenses are Security Ecosystem, Reporting Subscription, RPZ, Flex Grid Activation and Fire Eye. For more information, see Managing Grid-wide Licenses. To configure Grid-wide licenses for RPZ, see Grid-wide licenses for RPZ.

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

  • Perpetual: Perpetual licenses are permanent licenses that do not have any expiration dates.
  • Non-perpetual: All non-perpetual licenses have an expiration date, depending on your subscription and the duration of the temporary status.
    • Subscription licenses: You must purchase subscription based licenses from Infoblox to use relevant features. After you buy subscription based licenses, you can use those features for a specified period. You can enable one of several sets of subscription through the Grid Manager. These licenses are Grid-wide licenses and are non-perpetual licenses. For more information, see Subscription Licensing.
    • Temporary licenses: You can enable one of several sets of temporary service licenses through the CLI command set temp_license . They provide licensed features and functionality for the interim, while you wait for your permanent licenses to arrive. However, you can subscribe to licenses again after they expire. Note that pool licenses are not supported as temporary licenses.

Before any non-perpetual (subscription or temporary) licenses expire, an expiration warning appears during the GUI login process. The warning reappears during each login until you renew the license. To renew a license, contact your Infoblox representative or Infoblox Technical Support.

Note: Grid Manager does not distinguish between subscription and temporary licenses.

Managing Static Licenses

Static licenses are individual licenses that are tied to specific hardware IDs, and they cannot be transferred among appliances. Static licenses come pre-installed on physical NIOS appliances according to the software packages you order at the time of purchase. You can also obtain static licenses for your vNIOS virtual appliances. Static licenses are specific to a member. For information about how to obtain static licenses, see Obtaining Static Licenses. For information about how to add static licenses, see Adding Permanent or Subscription Licenses.
Static licenses can be perpetual or non-perpetual. A perpetual license does not have an expiration date. When you install a new static license with an expiration date beyond the existing license, it replaces the existing license. After you install static licenses on the appliance, you can view their status in Grid Manager, as described in Viewing Licenses.

Obtaining Static Licenses

When you receive a new license key for a static license, it is in CSV (comma separated values) format with the following information: serial number, hardware ID, license type, end date, and license string.
For a static license, you can either upload the license file to the appliance or copy the information and paste it in the text field of the Licenses tab -> Member tab of the Infoblox GUI. You must copy the entire string—serial number, hardware ID, license type, end date, and license string—and save it to the text field. For more information, see Adding Permanent or Subscription Licenses .
To obtain permanent static licenses from Infoblox:

  1. After you have set up or pre-provisioned a physical appliance or vNIOS virtual appliance, either log in to the NIOS CLI or open a terminal session for the VM and open the NIOS command line.
  2. Run the command show hwid. Following is an example:
    nios-vm-ib-1420-gm > show hwid
    Hardware ID: 564d41e13a1cc55affb9bad4e3b5c48a
    Copy and paste the Hardware ID value for convenience.
    You can also run a show license command to obtain the same information:
    nios-vm-ib-1420-gm > show license
    Version : 6.11.0-248090
    Hardware ID : 564d41e13a1cc55affb9bad4e3b5c48a
    Note: Make a note of the hardware IDs that you obtain during this procedure. Each of these unique Hardware ID values can be associated with a Registration Number from your Contract Notification email. If a license key is installed for the current VM, that key value also appears in the output for the show license command.
  3. Go to https://support.infoblox.com/app/licenses (you have to log in with your support account) and click the Licenses menu. On the Licenses page, open Submit a license key registration form.
  4. Enter or copy and paste the serial number and hardware ID value for a physical appliance. For a vNIOS appliance, use the hardware ID for both the Serial Number and Hardware ID fields—they are synonymous.
  5. Under the Service and Maintenance categories, select the check boxes for all options for which you have purchased service licenses and/or maintenance licenses.
  6. Enter any Comments if needed.
  7. Click Submit to submit the request for your license keys.

Repeat this procedure for all NIOS and vNIOS appliances in your contract.
Infoblox Technical Support normally processes license key requests on the same day they are received; however, allow 24-48 hours for processing. When you receive the license keys, install the licenses as described in Adding Permanent or Subscription Licenses.

Note: Each VM Registration Number 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 VM Registration Numbers in a
one-to-one ratio. These value pairs are necessary should you need to contact Infoblox Technical Support.

Obtaining License Keys for Existing Appliances

If you are unsure of the license entitlements for one or more of your NOIS and vNIOS appliances, or want to obtain a new listing of your license keys for any reason, do the following:

  1. Go to https://support.infoblox.com/app/licenses (you have to log in with your support account) and click the Licenses menu. On the Licenses page, open Download License Key(s) for one appliance.
    This feature recognizes that any vNIOS appliance is likely to have multiple feature licenses, all of which are tied to a specific Hardware ID.
  2. Enter the Hardware ID number in the Enter one number: field. Following is an example:

Note that serial numbers and Hardware IDs are the same value.

   3. Select how your license key will be provided:

    • Display to Screen
    • Send File
    • .CSV
      The Display to Screen and Send File options allow for direct copying and pasting. Using a .CSV file enables you to use the convenient Upload License File feature for your appliance in NIOS. For more information, see Adding Permanent or Subscription Licenses.

   4. After making your selection, click Generate Keys at the bottom of the panel. Following is an example:

   5. After you receive your key values, you can save them for your records. To install a specific license or licenses, see Adding Permanent or Subscription Licenses.

Downloading License Keys for Multiple Appliances

The Infoblox Technical Support site provides a method for downloading the license keys for multiple VM instances, based on the purchased feature licenses for your products.

  1. Obtain the Hardware ID values. Do this in the order shown from top to bottom of your Contract Notification email.
    As an alternative, you may use the VM Registration Numbers in your Contract Notification email, also separated by commas.
  2. Go to https://support.infoblox.com/app/licenses (you have to log in with your support account) and click the Licenses menu. On the Licenses page, open Download License Key(s) for multiple appliances.
  3. Enter (or copy and paste) each of the Hardware ID values or VM Registration Numbers into the entry field, each in its own row, with a comma at the end of the value. Do not press Return between each value. An example, using VM Registration Numbers:


   4. Click Generate Keys at the bottom of the panel (you may need to scroll down to see it).
      The list of keys may be quite substantial. The list shows the license entitlements and registration keys for all vNIOS VMs that are purchased and listed with Infoblox Technical Support.

   5. After you receive your key values, you can save them for your records. To install a specific license or licenses, see Adding Permanent or Subscription Licenses .

Managing Dynamic Licenses

Dynamic licenses are multiple licenses you obtain for NIOS appliances, both physical and virtual. You can install dynamic licenses in advance for different services and features and deploy them on-demand based on your business needs. The appliance stores these licenses in their respective license pools and allocate them when you deploy vNIOS virtual appliances. When you remove a vNIOS appliance from your Grid, the applicable licenses are automatically released back to the license pool. The appliance adjusts the total number of licenses accordingly. You can use dynamic licenses to automatically pre-provision and deploy vNIOS appliances. For more information about this feature, see About Elastic Scaling.
For a dynamic license, you can either upload the license file to the appliance or copy the information and paste it in the text field of the Licenses tab -> Pool tab of the Infoblox GUI. You must copy the entire string and save it to the text field. When you restore or perform a factory reset operation, you will lose the existing dynamic licenses.
License pools for a particular license type are an aggregate of the subpools that contains the respective license type. Subpools are either perpetual or non-perpetual with different expiration dates. NIOS displays non-perpetual and perpetual subpools with different expiration dates within the same pool.
Dynamic licenses can be allocated from a pool based on the aggregate install count. You can allocate licenses from a pool as long as the allocated count of perpetual and non-perpetual licenses does not exceed the count of perpetual and active non-perpetual licenses that are installed.

Note: You must install both the Enterprise (formerly Grid) and vNIOS licenses on a vNIOS appliance for it to join the Grid. You can add other licenses such as DNS, DHCP, or Cloud Platform depending on how you deploy your vNIOS virtual appliances.

Obtaining Dynamic Licenses

When you purchase licenses for specific features and services, you may deploy the licenses as dynamic licenses. License information is stored in a license file with the following information for each license: LSN-P (License Serial Number - Proxy), LK-P (License Key Proxy, LSN (License Serial Number) and LK (License Key). License keys are generated based on the LPC_UID (License Pool Container Unique ID) of the Grid Master. You must first obtain the LPC_UID of the Grid, also called the Grid license UID from the Grid Master and then contact Infoblox Technical Support to obtain dynamic licenses.
Infoblox stores information related to dynamic licenses in a license file. When you install dynamic licenses, you must upload the entire license file to the Grid Master, as described in Adding Permanent or Subscription Licenses.
To obtain dynamic licenses:

  1. Log in to Grid Manager and obtain the LPC_UID from the Grid Master, as follows:
    1. From the Grid tab, select the Licenses tab -> Pool tab, and then click Export All Licenses from the Toolbar.
    2. Save the CSV file.
    3. Open the CSV file. The LPC_UID is displayed in the SIGNATURE row. Copy this ID. You will need this ID when contacting Infoblox Technical Support.
      Note: You can also use the show license_pool_container CLI command to display the LPC_UID.
  2. Contact Infoblox Technical Support or your Infoblox representative to obtain the dynamic licenses.

Manually Allocating Dynamic Licenses

To allocate a particular feature license to a NIOS member:

  1. From the Grid tab, select the Licenses tab -> Pool tab.
  2. Select the feature license and click the Action icon  (shown as a gear in each row for the table) next to the license, and then select Allocate from the list.
  3. In the Allocate Pool Licenses dialog, click Select Member Node.
  4. From the Member Selector, click the FQDN of the NIOS member on which you want to install the feature license. The appliance displays the member in the To this member: field.
  5. Click Allocate to install this license on the selected member or click Cancel to cancel this action.
    NIOS allocates the license and adjusts the numbers in the Assigned and Available fields in the Pool tab.

Manually Deallocating Dynamic Licenses

To deallocate a particular feature license from a NIOS member:

  1. From the Grid tab, select the Licenses tab -> Member tab.
  2. Select the license and click the Action icon  (shown as a gear in each row for the table) next to the license, and then select Deallocate from the list.
  3. In the Deallocate Pool Licenses dialog, select the license(s) you want to deallocate from the Pool Licenses table.
  4. Click Deallocate to remove the license(s) from the member(s) or click Cancel to cancel this action.
    NIOS deallocates the license from the respective members and adjusts the numbers in the Assigned and Available fields in the Pool tab.

Manually Revoking Dynamic Licenses

To remove a particular feature license from the pool:

  1. From the Grid tab, select the Licenses tab -> Pool tab.
  2. Select the feature license and click the Action icon  (shown as a gear in each row for the table) next to the license, and then select Revoke from the list.
  3. In the Remove Licenses dialog, click the Number field and enter the number of licenses you want to remove for the selected license type.
  4. Click Remove Licenses to remove the license(s) or click Cancel to cancel this action.
    NIOS removes the license(s) and adjusts the numbers in the Assigned and Available fields in the Pool tab.

Managing Grid-wide Licenses

NIOS supports Grid-wide licenses that are valid across the entire Grid. You can obtain Grid-wide licenses for the following features: Security Ecosystem, Reporting Subscription, RPZ, Flex Grid Activation and FireEye. 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. For more information about obtaining Grid-wide licenses, see Obtaining Grid-wide Licenses.
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 of the Licenses tab -> Grid Wide tab of Grid Manager. You must copy the entire string (license type, expiry date, and license string) and save it to the text field. The Flex Grid Activation license is bundled with the following licenses: Grid (enterprise), Unbound, DCA, DNS, the DTC, Software Threat Protection, Threat Protection Update, DNSFW, NXDOMAIN Redirect, FireEye, Threat Analytics and Security Ecosystem. For more information about Flex Grid Activation license, see About the Flex Grid Activation License.
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

Infoblox introduces a permanent license called Flex Grid Activation that you can implement as a NIOS Grid-wide license to enable the following features at the same time: Grid (enterprise), Unbound, DCA, DNS, the DTC, Software ADP, Threat Protection Update, DNSFW, NXDOMAIN Redirect, FireEye, Threat Analytics and Security Ecosystem. This license is valid for IB-FLEX members only. For more information, see About IB-FLEX . After you install the Flex Grid Activation license, you can view it in the Grid tab -> Licenses tab -> Grid Wide tab of Grid Manager. For more information, see Managing Grid-wide Licenses.
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. For more information about this command, refer to the Infoblox CLI Guide.

Obtaining Grid-wide Licenses

When you purchase licenses for specific features and services, the licenses may be Grid-wide licenses. License information is stored in a license file with the following information for each license: LSN-P (License Serial Number - Proxy), LK-P (License Key Proxy, LSN (License Serial Number) and LK (License Key).

License keys are generated based on the license UID of the Grid Master. You must first obtain the UID of the Grid and then contact Infoblox Technical Support to obtain the Grid-wide licenses.

Note: Ensure that you obtain the license UID of the Grid Master. If you use the license UID of a Grid member or an appliance that has not yet joined the Grid, you might not be able to properly install the Grid-wide license.

The license file (CSV) format for Grid-wide licenses are as follows:

GRID_WIDE,license_uid,license_type,[expiry_date],license_string

Infoblox stores information related to Grid-wide licenses in a license file. When you install Grid-wide licenses, you must upload the entire license file to the Grid Master, as described in Adding Permanent or Subscription Licenses.

To obtain Grid-wide licenses:

  1. Log in to Grid Manager and obtain the license UID from the Grid Master, as follows:
    1. From the Grid tab, select the Licenses tab -> Grid Wide tab, and then click Export All Licenses from the Toolbar.
    2. Save the CSV file.
    3. Open the CSV file. The UID is displayed in the SIGNATURE row. Copy this ID. You will need this ID when contacting Infoblox Technical Support.
      Note: To obtain the UID of the Grid, you can use the show license_uid CLI command on the Grid Master. For more information, refer to the Infoblox CLI Guide.
  2. Contact Infoblox Technical Support or your Infoblox representatives to obtain the Grid-wide licenses.

Adding Permanent or Subscription Licenses

To add permanent or subscription licenses:

  1. From the Grid tab, select the Licenses tab -> Member tab or Pool tab or Grid Wide tab and click the Add icon.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • Upload License File: You must use this method to upload dynamic licenses and Grid-wide licenses. Click Select File and navigate to the license file.
    • Paste License(s): Paste the license key in this text field. You must paste the entire string in CSV format: serial number, hardware ID, license type, end date, and license string. If you are pasting multiple licenses, start each string on a new line.
  3. Click Save License(s).
    The appliance validates the license and adds it to the table. Close the browser window and log in to the Infoblox GUI. If you are activating licenses for an HA pair, you must follow this procedure for both nodes.

Note: To transfer licenses between vNIOS on VMware appliances, refer to the Infoblox Installation Guide for vNIOS Software on VMware.

Adding Temporary Licenses

You can use the CLI command set temp_license to generate and install temporary licenses. This can provide licensed features and functionality for the interim, while you wait for your permanent license to arrive.
To generate a temporary license:

  1. 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.
  2. At the Infoblox command prompt, enter set temp_license. The appliance lists the available licenses, and you select those you need.
  3. Enter the number of the licenses you want to install.
  4. Confirm the selection when prompted, and the following message appears:
    Temporary license is installed.

Viewing Licenses

If the appliance is part of a Grid, you must log in to the Grid Master to view license information from Grid Manager. If the appliance is an independent appliance, log in to System Manager on the appliance. If you have transferred licenses from one vNIOS appliance to another, you can view information about the new and replaced licenses.
Grid Manager displays licenses in the Grid tab -> Licenses tab. You can view license information for all static and dynamic licenses, including temporary licenses, in the Member tab, and a summary of dynamic licenses in the Pool tab. For more information, see Viewing Member Licenses.

Viewing Member Licenses

To view information about active licenses, including static and dynamic 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 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, 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. For information about Elastic Scaling, see The table below provides information about the IB-FLEX platform and various flavor settings . 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.
    • 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.

Viewing Dynamic Licenses

You can install dynamic licenses on the Grid Master for future vNIOS appliance deployments. When you install dynamic licenses, the Grid Master store them in a license pool. You can view these licenses and evaluate license usage for vNIOS virtual appliances.
For a particular feature, such as DNS or DHCP, Grid Manager displays dynamic licenses in sub pools so you can view the number of permanent licenses, the number of licenses that are expiring on a particular date, and those that are expired. NIOS highlights the licenses that are going to expire soon using a yellow background. Licenses that are approaching expiry are highlighted with a pink background.

Note: The overall license status for a particular feature reflects the most critical status among all licenses in the pool. For example, if there are expired licenses in the pool, the overall status for this license type appears as expired.

To view dynamic licenses in the pool and their usage information:

  1. Log in to Grid Manager on the Grid Master.
  2. Select the Grid tab -> Licenses tab -> Pool tab. The appliance displays the following information:
    • Feature: The feature for which you have obtained the license.
    • Installed: The number of licenses that have been installed for the specified feature.
    • Assigned: The number of licenses currently allocated to vNIOS virtual appliances.
    • Available: The number of licenses that are currently available for the specified feature.
    • License Model: For vNIOS license only. Indicates the model type of the vNIOS virtual appliance. Note that the vNIOS license you install on the vNIOS appliance must match the appliance model. You can use vNIOS license that has a higher capacity on a vNIOS appliance that has a smaller capacity, but not vice versa. For example, you can install a CP-V1400 license on a CP-V800 or CP-V1400 appliance, but not on a CP-V2200.
    • Limit 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.
    • Limit Value: 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 vNIOS virtual appliance, such as IB-V410 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), and Tier-3 for base (up to 300K qps) performance limits. This is only applicable to the Infoblox-4030 appliance.
    • Expiration: The expiration date and time of the license. It displays Permanent for permanent licenses and Expired for licenses that expired.
  3. Click the arrow mark next to the check box of a specific feature to view the list of licenses and their respective expiration dates.

Viewing Grid-wide Licenses

Grid Manager displays the licenses that are configured for the respective Grid. To view Grid-wide licenses:

  1. Log in to Grid Manager on the Grid Master.
  2. Select the Grid tab -> Licenses tab -> Grid Wide tab. The appliance displays the following information:
    • Feature: The feature for which you have obtained the license.
    • Limit 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.
    • Limit Value: 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 vNIOS 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), and Tier-3 for base (up to 300K qps) performance limits. This is only applicable to the Infoblox-4030 appliance.
    • Expiration: The expiration date and time of the license. It displays Permanent for permanent licenses.

You can do the following:

  • Delete a Grid-wide license. For information, see Removing Licenses.
  • Click the Export icon to export the list of licenses to a .csv file.
  • Click the Print icon to print the list of licenses.

To search for specific licenses in the Member, Pool and Grid Wide tabs, you can use filters and the Go to function (the Go to function is not supported in the Pool tab) to narrow down the list. With the autocomplete feature, you can just enter the first few characters of an object name in the Go to field and select the object from the possible matches. You can also create a quick filter to save frequently used filter criteria. For information, see Using Quick Filters.

Backing Up Licenses

You can back up all the static licenses, dynamic licenses in the license pool container and Grid-wide licenses, in case you need to re-install them at a later time. Infoblox recommends backing up the licenses before removing any of them.

Note: Dynamic licenses are not exported to this file. Dynamic licenses are automatically released and returned to the license pool on the Grid Master when a member leaves the Grid. Unallocated dynamic Licenses are available for allocations.

When you back up the licenses, Grid Manager creates a CSV file that lists the following information for each license: serial number, hardware ID, license type, end date, license string.
To back up licenses:

  1. From the Grid tab, select the Licenses tab.
  2. Click Export All Licenses from the toolbar. Grid Manager generates a CSV file that contains all the licenses. Depending on the browser you use, you can then open the file or save it to a specified location.

Removing License s

You can remove licenses and reset a NIOS appliance to its factory default settings. For example, if you have a NIOS appliance running the DNSone package with the Grid upgrade, but you want to use it as an independent appliance, you can remove the Grid license. Infoblox recommends that you back up licenses before removing them, in case you decide to re-install them at a future time.
When you remove a Grid-wide license, the licensed feature is deactivated on all the members that is affected by the license. On the other hand, when you remove a Grid member from the Grid, the member no longer has the ability to run the feature associated with the Grid-wide license now that is it not part of the Grid.

Note: Exercise caution when removing licenses; you may render an appliance unusable by removing the wrong license. Other feature sets may be affected once you remove a license; for example, removing licensing for DNS and DHCP services will also disable task packs in the NIOS Dashboards –> Tasks page.

To remove an active license:

  1. From the Grid tab, select the Licenses tab -> Member tab or Grid Wide tab.
  2. Select the license and click the Delete icon.
    Check the license that you are about to remove. Note that removing the wrong license can render an appliance unusable.
  3. Click Yes when the confirmation dialog appears.
  4. Close the browser window and log in to the Infoblox GUI.