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Overview - Requesting and Installing a License

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

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These basic steps are described in more detail below.

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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).

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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

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Collecting the Fingerprint Data on the License Server

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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).

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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).

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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.

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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.

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