Time-Based Licenses; High Availability Considerations; Firmware Upgrade And Downgrade Consideration; Configupload And Configdownload Considerations - HP A7533A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch Base Administrator's Manual

Time-based licenses

A time-based license applies a try-before-you-buy approach to certain features so that you can experience
the feature and its capabilities prior to buying the license. Once you have installed the license, you are
given a time limit to use the feature. The following lists the types of licenses that have this feature:
• FCIP
• Fabric
• Extended Fabric
• Trunking
• Advanced Performance Monitoring
If you downgrade your switch to a version earlier than 6.x, the time-based license will no longer be
available. The license will remain on the switch, but you will not be able to use it.
Once the time-base license is installed you cannot change the time of the switch until the time-based
license is removed. You will need to remove the license, change the date, and then reinstall the license on
the switch.

High Availability considerations

Whenever license database is modified then it is synchronized with the standby CP. When the active CP is
Fabric OS 6.1.0 and has time-based licenses installed, and the standby CP is Fabric OS 6.0.0 or earlier
then, upon HA failover the time-based license would no longer be supported on the director or
enterprise-class platform. You would not have access to the time-based licensed feature until the CPs Fabric
OS 6.1.0 or later. If both CPs have a Fabric OS 6.1.0 or later there will be no change to the time-based
licenses or their associated features.

Firmware upgrade and downgrade consideration

When a time-based license is present on the switch, and you downgrade the firmware to Fabric OS 6.0.0
or earlier, then the firmware downgrade will be blocked.

Configupload and Configdownload considerations

The configdownload and configupload commands will download the legacy, enhanced, consumed
capacities, and time-based licenses.

Expired licenses

Once a license has expired, you will not be able to view it through the licenseShow command. Expired
licenses behave in the same way a license that has been removed from the switch. If your license has
expired, you will need to reboot the switch for the expiry to take affect.

Ports on Demand (POD) licensing

NOTE: See the hardware reference guide for your switch for the specific POD licensing available.
POD licensing is ready to be unlocked in the switch firmware. Its license key may be part of the licensed
paperpack supplied with switch software, or you can purchase the license key separately from HP. You may
need to generate a license key from a transaction key supplied with your purchase, see
license key" on page 35.
Each POD license activates the next group of eight ports in numerical order. For example, the 4/8 SAN
Switch or 4/16 SAN Switch activates the first eight with four port increments. Before installing a license
key, you must insert transceivers in the ports to be activated. Remember to insert the transceivers in the
lowest group of inactive port numbers first.
For example in a SAN Switch 4/32, if only 16 ports are currently active and you are installing one POD
license key, make sure to insert the transceivers in ports 16 through 23. If you later install a second license
key, insert the transceivers in ports 24 through 31. For details on inserting transceivers, see the switch's
Hardware Reference Manual.
"Generating a
Fabric OS 6.x administrator guide 39