Managing Riverbed Licenses
This chapter describes the Riverbed licensing methods and how to manage Riverbed licenses. It includes these sections:
Riverbed licensing methods
A license is a string issued by Riverbed that embeds information that ties the license to data to prevent tampering. After you install the license, the system saves it in the configuration database and enables the functionality associated with the license. Riverbed employs these licensing methods:
n Automatic licensing - After you connect your appliance to the network, the appliance automatically contacts the Riverbed Licensing Portal and downloads and installs the licenses.
n Manual licensing - You can manually fetch and activate licenses for Riverbed products using the Riverbed Licensing Portal. To retrieve license keys, follow the instruction at
https://licensing.riverbed.com/index.htm. n Token method - You use tokens to activate Riverbed software, such as the Virtual SteelCentral Controller for SteelHead Mobile, and Virtual Core. For detailed information, see the respective installation guides for these products.
n Factory licensing - You can have all your Riverbed licenses installed at the factory for a small fee.
Automatic licensing
Automatic licensing allows the appliance, once connected to the network, to automatically contact the Riverbed Licensing Portal to retrieve and install license keys onto the appliance. Automatic licensing simplifies inventory management and provides an automated mechanism of fetching licenses for Riverbed products without having to manually activate individual appliances and licenses.
If you are behind a firewall, you can retrieve licenses at the Riverbed Licensing Portal using the email option or by downloading an XML file to the appliance. For detailed information, see
Retrieving licenses using the Riverbed Licensing Portal.
Automatic licensing also works over a web proxy. For details on setting up a web proxy, see the SteelHead User Guide.
If automatic licensing fails, an error message is displayed in the Management Console. Go to the Riverbed Licensing Portal and follow the instructions for retrieving your licenses.
To view licenses on a new appliance
n Connect the new appliance to the network.
The appliance automatically contacts the Riverbed Licensing Portal, which downloads and installs the licenses. The Management Console Licensing page displays a success message, or the Alarm Status page reports an actionable error message.
To replace expired licenses
n Purchase new downloadable licenses to replace the expired license.
At the time of the next scheduled automatic license fetch, the appliance automatically contacts the Riverbed License Portal and downloads the new licenses. The Management Console Licensing page displays a success message, or the Alarm Status page reports an actionable error message. You do not need to delete the expired license. The system uses the license with the latest expiration date.
To fetch a license on demand
1. In the Management Console, choose Configure > Maintenance: Licenses to display the Licenses page.
2. Click Fetch Updates Now.
The Management Console Licensing page displays a success message, or the Alarm Status page reports an actionable error message.
Only administrator users can fetch and install licenses. For detailed information on administrator and monitor users, see the SteelFusion Edge User Guide.
Manual licensing using the Riverbed Licensing Portal
You can retrieve and manage Riverbed licenses using the Riverbed Licensing Portal. After you retrieve a license from the Riverbed Licensing Portal, you must install it.
Retrieving licenses using the Riverbed Licensing Portal
The Riverbed Licensing Portal requires a unique identifier to retrieve a license, such as a serial number, a license request key (activation code), or a token. These steps describe how to retrieve a license using a serial number.
To retrieve your licenses for an appliance using a serial number
2. Enter your appliance serial number as your unique product identifier.
The serial number is on a label located on your appliance. It also appears in the Help tab of the Management Console.
3. Click Next.
4. Provide the contact information for the license, including your name and email.
5. Click Submit to display license information for all the products purchased with the serial number you specified.
6. Click a serial number to see license details.
7. Optionally, if you are behind a firewall, type the email address in the Email address text box and click Email Keys to have the license keys emailed to you.
Click New Search to look for additional license records.
Installing your license keys
Because each license key is generated for a specific appliance, ensure that you install your license key on the appropriate appliance.
To install a license using the Management Console
1. Connect to the Management Console. For details, see the SteelFusion Edge User Guide.
2. Choose Administration > Maintenance: Licenses to display the Licenses page.
3. Click + Add New License to expand the page.
4. Copy and paste the license key provided by the Riverbed Licensing Portal into the text box. Separate multiple license keys with a space, Tab, or Enter.
5. Click Add to display the license in the table.
To install a license using the CLI
1. Connect to the CLI of the appliance and enter configuration mode.
For details, see the SteelFusion Command-Line Interface Reference Manual.
2. At the system prompt, enter these commands:
license install <license-key>
write memory
<license-key> is the license key you retrieved from the Riverbed Licensing Portal.