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Configure Flexed licensing

November 20, 2024
Contributed by: 
C

Note:

If you have pooled licenses, and have now purchased and applied Flexed licenses, the combined entitlement now appears in the Flexed license dashboard.

The NetScaler Flexed licensing allows you to share bandwidth or instance licenses across different NetScaler form factors. Use this Flexed capacity for the instances that are in the data center or public clouds. When an instance no longer requires the resources, it checks the allocated capacity back into the common pool. Reuse the released capacity on other NetScaler instances that need resources.

You can use Flexed licensing to maximize the bandwidth utilization by ensuring the necessary bandwidth allocation to an instance and not more than its need. Increase or decrease the bandwidth allocated to an instance at run time without affecting the traffic.

To use NetScaler Flexed licensing, you must attach an NetScaler Console agent to an NetScaler instance. NetScaler instances check in and check out licenses from NetScaler Console through an agent.

You can perform the following tasks in NetScaler Console:

  1. Upload the Flexed license files (bandwidth pool or software instance pool) to the license server.

  2. Upload the SDX or MPX zero capacity licenses to the SDX or MPX hardware, and allocate licenses from the license pool to NetScaler instances on demand.

    • Check out the licenses from NetScaler instances based on the minimum and maximum capacity of the instance.

Flexed licensing in NetScaler Console

You can download Flexed licenses, including bandwidth, instance, and Z-cap licenses from citrix.com. For more information, see Licensing guide for NetScaler.

NetScaler Flexed licensing states

The Flexed licensing states indicate the license requirement on an NetScaler instance. The NetScaler instances configured with Flexed licensing display one of the following states:

  • Allocated: Instance is running with proper license capacity.

  • Grace: Instance is running on a grace license.

  • Connection lost: Communication from NetScaler Console to the instance is not working.

Before you begin

Ensure that the following prerequisites are met before you configure Flexed licensing:

  • Install and register an agent in NetScaler Console. To install and register an agent, see Getting started.

  • Ensure that all registered agents are in the UP state for Flexed licensing to work properly. If agents are in DOWN state but not yet decommissioned or terminated, bring them to UP state. If DOWN agents are decommissioned or terminated or not in use anymore, delete them from NetScaler Console.

  • The 27000 and 7279 ports are available to check out licenses from NetScaler Console to an instance. See, System requirements.

Step 1 - Apply licenses in NetScaler Console

  1. Navigate to NetScaler Licensing > License Management.

  2. In the License Files section, select Add License File and select one of the following options:

    • Upload license files from a local computer. If a license file is already present on your local computer, you can upload it to NetScaler Console.

    • Use license access code. Specify the license access code for the license that you have purchased from Citrix. Then, select Get Licenses. Then select Finish.

    Note:

    At any time, you can add more licenses to NetScaler Console from License Settings.

  3. Click Finish.

    The license files are added to NetScaler Console. The License Expiry Information section lists the licenses present in the NetScaler Console and the remaining days to expiry.

  4. In License Files, select a license file that you want to apply and click Apply licenses.

    This action enables NetScaler instances to use the selected license as a Flexed license.

Step 2 - Register NetScaler Console as a license server and allocate licenses

You can register the NetScaler Console as a license server to a NetScaler instance using an agent.

Register an NetScaler Console agent using the GUI

In the NetScaler Console GUI, register the NetScaler Console agent associated with an NetScaler instance.

  1. Log in to NetScaler GUI.

  2. Navigate to System > Licenses > Manage Licenses.

  3. Click Add New License.

  4. Select Use remote licensing and select the remote licensing mode from the list.

  5. In the Server Name/IP address field, specify the associated NetScaler Console agent’s IP address that is registered with the NetScaler Console.

  6. Select Register with NetScaler Console.

  7. Enter your NetScaler Console agent credentials to register an instance with NetScaler Console and click Continue. In NetScaler Console, one of the agents is the license server.

    Manage license in ADC

  8. In Allocate licenses, select the license edition and specify the required bandwidth.

    For the first time, allocate licenses in NetScaler. You can later change or release the license allocation from the NetScaler Console GUI.

    Allocate licenses from NetScaler GUI

  9. Click Get Licenses.

    Important

    Warm restart the instance if you change the license edition. The configuration changes do not take effect until you restart the instance.

Add an agent using the CLI

If a NetScaler instance has no GUI, use the following CLI commands to add an agent associated with an instance:

  1. Log in to the NetScaler console.

  2. Add the associated agent’s IP address that is registered with the NetScaler Console:

    > add ns licenseserver <adm-agent-IP-address> -port <adm-agent-license-port-number>
<!--NeedCopy-->

  3. View the license bandwidth available in the license server:

    > sh ns licenseserverpool
<!--NeedCopy-->

  4. Allocate the license bandwidth from the required license edition:

    > set ns capacity -unit gbps -bandwidth <specify-license-bandwidth> edition <specify-license-edition>
<!--NeedCopy-->

    Important

    Warm restart the instance if you change the license edition.

    reboot -w

    The configuration changes do not take effect until you restart the instance.

Step 3 - Edit Flexed Thoughput Capacity for NetScaler instances

  1. Navigate to NetScaler Licensing > Flexed Licensing > Dashboard.
  2. In the Licensed NetScalers section, select an instance and click Edit Thoughput Capacity.
  3. In the Edit Thoughput Capacity page, enter a number in the Allocate column.
  4. Click Submit.

NetScaler MPX-Z

MPX-Z is the Flexed-capacity enabled NetScaler MPX appliance. MPX-Z supports bandwidth pool for only Premium edition licenses.

MPX-Z requires a license before it can connect to the License Server. You can install the MPX-Z license by using one of the following ways:

  • Uploading the license file from a local computer.
  • Using the instance’s hardware serial number.
  • The License Access Code from the System > Licenses section of the instance’s GUI.

If you remove the MPX-Z license, MPX becomes unlicensed. The instance licenses are released to the license server.

You can dynamically modify the bandwidth of an MPX-Z instance without a restart. A restart is required only if you want to change the license edition.

Note:

When you restart the instance, it automatically checks out the Flexed licenses required for its configured capacity.

NetScaler SDX-Z

SDX-Z is the Flexed-capacity enabled NetScaler SDX appliance. SDX-Z supports bandwidth and instance pool for the Premium edition licenses.

SDX-Z requires a license before it can connect to the License Server. You can install the SDX-Z license by using one of the following ways:

  • Uploading the license file from a local computer.
  • Using the instance’s hardware serial number.
  • The License Access Code from the System > Licenses section of the instance’s GUI.

If you remove the SDX-Z license, SDX becomes unlicensed. The instance licenses are released to the license server.

You can dynamically modify the bandwidth of an SDX-Z instance without a restart. A restart is required only if you want to change the license edition.

Note:

When you restart the instance, it automatically checks out the Flexed licenses required for its configured capacity.

NetScaler high-availability pair

Before you begin, ensure that the NetScaler Console server is configured as a license server. For more information, see Configure NetScaler Console as a license server

When you allocate the bandwidth to an NetScaler HA pair, the NetScaler Console checks out the allocated bandwidth to the primary instance. You must repeat the process for the secondary instance.

To allocate pool licenses to a NetScaler HA pair, see Allocate Flexed licenses to NetScaler instances

The Flexed Capacity page displays the instances and their allocated capacity separately.

Configure Flexed licensing
November 20, 2024
Contributed by: 
C
November 20, 2024
Contributed by: 
C

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