Product Documentation
ADC
14.1 - Current Release 13.1 13.0 12.1
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Licensing overview

September 3, 2024
Contributed by: 
C B S

NetScaler offers a wide range of product editions and licensing models for MPX and VPX appliances, to meet your organization’s needs.

For proper operation of a NetScaler appliance, it must have one of the NetScaler family edition licenses. The ADC product line has three family editions:

  • Standard Edition

    Note

    The standard edition has reached End-of-Sale (EOS) and is only available for renewal.

  • Advanced Edition
  • Premium Edition

For more information, see the data sheet. The data sheet is available on www.netscaler.com.

Select a NetScaler edition. Then select an MPX or a VPX license offering based on the following criteria:

  • Perpetual and subscription (yearly and hourly subscription)
  • vCPU and bandwidth
  • on-premises and cloud

NetScaler VPX Express license

VPX Express for on-premises and cloud deployments does not require a license file, and it offers the following features:

  • 20 Mbps bandwidth
  • Starting with NetScaler release 14.1 build 29.65, VPX Express includes all the advanced features that are available with the Premium license.
  • Maximum 250 SSL sessions
  • 20 Mbps SSL throughput

After you are satisfied, you can purchase a license using one of the following options:

  • A standalone NetScaler VPX license.

  • NetScaler Pooled Capacity license for VPX instances. For more information, see NetScaler Pooled Capacity.

NetScaler fixed bandwidth (throughput) license

Fixed bandwidth perpetual licenses are EOS and you must now use fixed bandwidth subscription licenses. Fixed bandwidth subscription allows you to run a fixed throughput deployment in any form factor (MPX/SDX/VPX/BLX). After deploying your NetScaler, you must fetch your license files from the license server and download a license manually to each device (on-premises or cloud).

Notes:

  • Only advanced and premium editions are supported.
  • Edition and bandwidth upgrades are not supported.
  • Migration to pooled capacity license is not supported.

NetScaler Flexed license

NetScaler Flexed licensing is the new licensing framework aimed at simplifying the license management process. Your Flexed license includes software instance licenses (VPX/CPX/BLX, SDX, and MPX) and bandwidth capacity licenses. You must apply the Flexed licenses on the NetScaler Console service or NetScaler Console on-prem. You can then allocate them across all NetScaler form factors deployed in cloud or on-prem.

For more information about Flexed licenses on NetScaler Console, see Flexed license.

For more information about Flexed licenses on NetScaler Console service, see Flexed license.

NetScaler Pooled license

Use NetScaler Console to create a licensing framework that comprises a common bandwidth and an instance pool. For more information, see NetScaler Pooled Capacity.

Note:

NetScaler Console can host both Pooled and Self Managed Pool licenses. To use the required license, configure the license server on NetScaler and check out the capacity from the appropriate pool. The ADC CLI and GUI configuration steps for the Pooled and Self Managed Pool license are the same.

NetScaler Self Managed Pool license

From NetScaler release 13.1 build 30.x onwards, NetScaler instances support the Self Managed Pool license. With this license, you can simplify and automate license file uploads to a license server. Use NetScaler Console to create a licensing framework that comprises a common bandwidth or vCPU and instance pool.

To use the Self Managed Pool license, configure the license server to the SelfManagedPool license mode on NetScaler and check out the required capacity. Use the show ns license command after rebooting the NetScaler appliance to find out the license that is configured.

Important

If your system is configured with Pooled Capacity license but want to migrate to Self Managed Pool license without impacting the traffic flow, ensure that the target server has the required Self Managed Pool license.

You can migrate only between the following compatible licenses:

  • Pooled Capacity to Self Managed Pool, and conversely.
  • vCPU to Self Managed vCPU, and conversely.

To migrate the license, run the following command:

add ns licenseserver (<licenseServerIP> | <serverName>) -forceUpdateIP -licensemode [CICO | Pooled | SelfManagedPool | VCPU | SelfManagedvCPU]

Example:

add licenseserver 192.0.2.246 -forceUpdateIP -licensemode selfManagedvcPU

Configure Self Managed Pool license using the CLI

To add the license server config to the NetScaler appliance, run the following command:

add ns licenseserver (<licenseServerIP> | <serverName>) [-port <positive_integer>] -licensemode [CICO | Pooled | SelfManagedPool | VCPU | SelfManagedvCPU]
<!--NeedCopy-->

Example:

add ns licenseserver 192.0.2.246 -port 27000 -licensemode SelfManagedPool
<!--NeedCopy-->

Note:

The show ns licenseserverpool command displays only licenses based on the specified license mode. Hence, the licenses are fetched faster. To get an inventory of all the licenses, run the show ns licenseserverpool -getallLicenses command. If the license mode is not specified, the Pooled Capacity licenses are displayed by default.

To modify the system capacity, run the following command:

set ns capacity ((-bandwidth <positive_integer> -unit ( Gbps | Mbps )) | -platform <platform>) [-Edition <Edition>]
<!--NeedCopy-->

Example:

set ns capacity -bandwidth 3 -unit gbps -edition enterprise
<!--NeedCopy-->

Note:

Capacity is checked out from the license pool of the license server.

To reboot the NetScaler appliance, run the following command:

reboot [-warm]
<!--NeedCopy-->

To display the state of all the licensed features and configured license mode, run the following command:

show ns license
<!--NeedCopy-->

Sample output of show ns licenseserverpool command:

`show ns licenseserverpool` command output

Sample output of show ns licenseserverpool -getallLicenses command:

`show ns licenseserverpool -getallLicenses` command output

Sample output of show license command:

show license command output

Configure Self Managed Pool license using the GUI

Complete the following steps to configure the Self Managed Pool license:

  1. Navigate to System > Licenses > ADC License > Manage Licenses > Add New License.
  2. In the Licenses page, select the Use remote licensing radio button, and choose your license mode from Remote Licensing Mode.
  3. Enter the server IP address and the license port details.
  4. Provide the NetScaler Console access credentials.
  5. Click Continue.

The Citrix Licensing System

VPX licensing on cloud

VPX deployment is supported on public cloud providers such as Azure, AWS, and Google. For more information, see the following documents:

Licensing overview
September 3, 2024
Contributed by: 
C B S
September 3, 2024
Contributed by: 
C B S

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