...

Overview - Requesting and Installing a License

Perform the following basic steps to request and install a license:

...

These basic steps are described in more detail below.

...

License Installation Using the Command-Line

Running the esxi_bind Command (VMware environment only)

The esxi_bind command sets up the necessary communication connection between the VE license server and the ESXi host / the vCenter Server.

It must be run on the license server (and the backup license server, if applicable):

• once before the first license is requested, and
• again should the user credentials, the password, or the address data for the access to the ESXi host / the vCenter Server change. Please make sure that the password of the selected user account does not automatically expire after a certain time period. This would cause disruptions in the license server operation and make it impossible for clients to receive their license.

Perform the following steps:

1. Use ssh to log in on the license server instance (assuming that username/password login is possible for an on-premises VMware installation).
   # ssh <user>@<license-server-ip>
   where
   
   1. <user> is the user for interactive login associated with your license server system
   2. <license-server-ip> the ip address of your license server system
      
2. Become the privileged user and run the esxi_bind program.
   1. Become the root user: # sudo -i
   2. Run the esxi_bind program: # /opt/license-server/esxi_bind -a <address> -u <username> -p <password>
where
      1. <address> is the IP address of the ESXi host or vCenter Server
      2. <username> is a user with administrative rights on the ESXi host or vCenter Server
      3. <password> is the password of the administrative user
3. If the command is successful, it will create the file /opt/license-server/config.ini containing the connection data (the password is encrypted).

Insert excerpt
PDC:__Include: Installing a License on the VE License Server PDC:__Include: Installing a License on the VE License Server name VEesxi_bind nopanel true

Div
class pagebreak

Collecting the Fingerprint Data on the License Server

...

1. Use ssh to log in on the license server instance.
   # ssh -i ~/.ssh/<mykey> <user>@<license-server-ip>
   where
   1. <mykey> is the private key of the key-pair you associated with your cloud instance
      (for an on-premises VMware installation where login with username/password is allowed, it is not needed)
   2. <user> is the user for interactive login associated with your license server instance (e.g., opc on OCI, centos for a CentOS instance on AWS, or the custom user on your VMware virtual machine or your physical server;
      for an instance installed from a prepackaged Charon-SSP VE marketplace image, use sshuser)
   3. <license-server-ip> is the ip address of your license server system
      
2. Become the privileged user and run the c2v program.
   1. Become the root user: # sudo -i
   2. Run the c2v program: # /opt/license-server/c2v --filename <my-file>.c2v --platform <my-platform>
where
      1. <my-file>.c2v is the path and name under which you want to store the fingerprint. The file type is C2V (customer-to-vendor)
      2. <my-platform> indicates the platform on which the license server runs (possible values: physical, aws, oci, gcp, azure, ibm, nutanix, or esxi)
3. Copy the resulting C2V file to your local system (unless you can send email from the license server system).

...

1. Copy the V2C file to the license server (e.g., with SFTP).
2. Use ssh to log in on the license server instance.
   # ssh -i ~/.ssh/<mykey> <user>@<license-server-ip>
   where
   1. <mykey> is the private key of the key-pair you associated with your license server instance
      (for an on-premises VMware installation where login with username/password is allowed, it is not needed)
   2. <user> is the user for interactive login associated with your license server instance (e.g., opc on OCI, centos for a CentOS instance on AWS, or the custom user on your VMware virtual machine )or you physical server;
      for an instance installed from a prepackaged Charon-SSP VE marketplace image, use sshuser)
   3. <license-server-ip> is the ip address of your license server system
      
3. Become the privileged user and run the v2c program.
   1. Become the root user: # sudo -i
   2. Run the v2c program: # /opt/license-server/v2c -f <my-file>.v2c
where <my-file>.v2c is the path and name under which you want to store the fingerprint. The file type is V2C (vendor-to-customer).

...

Check the license server log file to see if the server started successfully or reported an error. Use the following command (as the privileged user):
# cat /opt/license-server/license_log/license.log

The log should indicate that the license server is ready to serve licenses.

...

Important product-specific license parameters:

License Installation Using the Web Interface

The license server provides a web interface to display important license characteristics, to display license client systems, and to enable license updates.

...