KB Article 000001496
Mar 9, 2023•Knowledge
Hosts, Software, and Subscriptions
The My Products page contains Serial Numbers and Activation IDs classified as Hosts, Assigned and Unassigned Software, and Subscriptions.
Hosts: Hosts include the serial number of physical and virtual appliances owned by your organization.
- Serial numbers of physical appliances are numeric and contain 16 digits.
- The serial number of virtual appliances are alphanumeric and contain 32 characters.
Assigned Software: Assigned Software displays the Activation IDs against the Serial Numbers assigned to them. Activation IDs purchased by your organization can contain Perpetual or Subscription licenses, depending on the SKU (product identifier):
Unassigned Software: Unassigned Software displays the Activation IDs available to be assigned. This list includes only the Activation IDs which generate Permanent licenses (-SW-).
Subscriptions: Subscriptions tab displays all the Activation IDs purchased as subscriptions (-SUB- or -SWTL-). These include license-generating items for assigning to a Serial Number, with the Cloud-based subscriptions managed through the Cloud Service Portal (https://csp.infoblox.com).
License Activation
License Activation is a 3-step process that involves:-
- Assigning the Activation ID to the Serial Number (Host).
- Retrieving/Downloading the license strings/file.
- Installing the retrieved license strings/file through the CLI or GUI.
1) Assign/Unassign Licenses
Once a purchase is completed the customer contacts listed on the Order will receive a shipment notification email, displaying details such as Activation IDs, SKU, SKU description, Quantity, Start Date, End Date, etc. Each type of license installed on the appliance enables a specific feature for the appliance/Grid. To obtain any additional licenses/features, please contact your Infoblox Account team.
Physical appliances are usually purchased with their licenses on the same Contract. The Activation IDs are auto-assigned to the serial number, and you can directly retrieve the license strings/file through the portal. To retrieve the license strings, navigate to My Products > Hosts and locate the serial number as shown below.
Click on Manage Software to view the Activation IDs currently assigned to the Host with the Activation IDs available to be assigned to the Host. Use the option ‘Download License Keys’ to view the license strings or to download the license file.
Virtual appliances are created in the customer environment, and Infoblox sells only the Activation IDs for them. To use the licenses purchased for a VM, the serial number of the VM needs to be created by the customer, as a Host using the option ‘Create Virtual Host’: 
To assign licenses to an existing serial number, locate the same under Hosts and click Manage.
Note:- Customer needs to choose the right technology while creating the VM serial number as a Host (i.e., DDI or NetMRI).
Grid-Wide Licenses are assigned to the Grid UID** and not to the serial number of a member appliance. To retrieve Grid-Wide licenses, the Grid UID is to be created as a VM Host using the option: ‘Create Virtual Host’ and the respective Activation ID needs to be assigned to this Host.
** The Grid UID is obtained by running the command “show license_uid” from the Grid Master CLI.How to Unassign Licenses?Navigate to My Products > Hosts and locate the serial number of the Infoblox appliance from which you are looking to UnAssign licenses. Click on the Arrow on the right side and select Manage Software. The next page displays the Activation IDs currently assigned (Red Box) and the Activation IDs which are available to be assigned (Green Box).
To UnAssign an Activation ID, click on the + icon under QTY TO UNASSIGN.
2) How to Retrieve/Download LicensesThe license can be retrieved from the support portal using multiple ways, depending on how it is going to be installed in the environment. The license can be retrieved from the support portal using multiple ways, depending on how it is going to be installed in the environment.
To retrieve DDI licenses
License features are enabled on DDI appliances (e.g., TE, TR, ND, PT, etc.) upon applying the accurate license strings to the appliance.
- If you want to install DDI license keys through the CLI of any member appliance, copy the license string associated with each feature, and install the same using the set license command.
- If you want to install DDI license keys through the Infoblox GUI, click Download to obtain the license strings as a notepad file, in an installable format.
To retrieve NetMRI licensesNetMRI licenses are installed on the appliance as a license file (with extension .gpg).
The support portal displays the URL for the license file, which is a cumulative result of all the device packs assigned. The same can be copied and pasted to a new browser tab, to obtain the license file:-
Note: - Contact Infoblox Support to generate NetMRI licenses for an OC appliance (Operations Center). Device packs are not purchased for OC appliances, and the device count of an OC is the sum of all the collector appliances which are a part of it.3) Installing Licenses after Assigning them through Support Portal.
Install license keys through the GUI or the CLI of the appliance.
Once the licenses are retrieved, as per Step 2, follow the below steps to install them on the appliance:
To install DDI license keys through CLI:
- From the CLI of the member appliance, issue the set license command.
- Enter the license key when prompted.
- Press y to install the license key or press n to discard the license key.
To install DDI license keys through GUI:
- Select the Grid tab > select the Licenses tab > click the Add icon (plus symbol +).
- Upload the license file (.txt file) downloaded from the Support Portal. You can also paste the license (from the notepad file) directly by selecting Paste License(s) option.
- Click Save License(s).
To install Grid-Wide license keys through CLI
- From the Grid Master CLI, issue the set license command.
- Enter the license key string.
- Press y to install the license key or press n to discard the license key.
To install Grid-Wide license keys through GUI
- Select the Grid tab > select the Licenses tab > Grid-Wide > click the Add icon (plus symbol +).
- Upload the license file that you generated from the Support site. You can also paste the license (from the notepad file) directly by selecting Paste License(s) option.
- Click Save License(s)
To install NetMRI licenses
To install the license file from the CLI:
-
Use SCP or FTP to import the license file into the /Backup directory of NetMRI.
-
From the CLI, issue the license <filename> command, replacing <filename> with the name of the license file.
To install the license file from the Web User Interface:
-
Login to GUI with the "admin" account. Only the admin account has the privilege to access "License Management".
-
Go to Settings > General Settings > License Management.
-
Go to the License Installation section.
-
Browse, locate, and select the license file.
-
Click OK.
Commonly Used CLI Commands for DDI appliances
|
show hwid
|
Displays the Hardware ID/Serial Number of the Infoblox appliance.
|
|
show license
|
Displays the licenses which are currently running on the appliance.
|
|
set license
|
This command is used to install a license string through the CLI of the appliance. Gridwide license strings are installed through the CLI of the Grid Master, using the same command.
|
|
show license gridwide
|
Displays all the Grid-wide licenses in a Grid when the command is run on the CLI of GM.
|
|
show license all
|
Displays all the license features (member-specific and Gridwide) running on all the appliances which are a part of the same Grid. This command is run from the CLI of the Grid Master.
|
|
show license_uid
(show license_pool_container)
|
Displays the Grid UID (LPC_UID) on which Grid-Wide licenses are assigned. This command is run from the CLI of the Grid Master.
|
If you own a Blox One Subscription, and if you are looking for the associated licenses or access to our Cloud Service Portal, please refer to the below document:-
Frequently asked questions:
Question: Is there any service impact while license installation (service/product restart, downtime, etc)?
Answer: Not all the licenses require a service restart. For instance, post installing the NIOS license, you will be given a message that a restart will happen, but once you install the license, the device will restart.
We recommend installing the license during the maintenance window.
Question: When should we install the renewed licenses? Should it be installed on the date of expiration of the current licenses?
Answer: The updated/renewed licenses can be installed at any point before the current licenses expire and it replaces the existing licenses and reflect the new end dates.
Question: How can we export All licenses?
Answer: Navigate to My Products and click on 'Download all licenses' as shown below. You can export the file in a CSV or TXT format.
