PowerScale: Isilon: OneFS 8.2.x - 9.x and later License Activation Guide

Information reported has been taken from these resources:

• 8.2 Web Administration guide
• 8.2 CLI Administration guide
• 9.5 Web Administration Guide
• 9.5 CLI Administration Guide
• OneFS eLicensing Workflows and FAQs

Review these documents for more detailed information.

Licensing
All Isilon/PowerScale software and hardware must be licensed through Dell Technologies Software Licensing Central (SLC).

A license file contains a record of active software licenses and cluster hardware. One copy of the license file is stored in the SLC repository, and another copy of the license file is stored in the cluster. The license file on the cluster and the license file in the SLC repository must match. The license file contains a record of the following:

• OneFS license
• Optional software module licenses
• Hardware information

Software licenses
Your OneFS license and optional software module licenses are contained in the license file on your cluster. Your license file must match your license record in the Dell Technologies Software Licensing Central (SLC) repository.

Ensure that the license file on your cluster, and your license file in the SLC repository match your upgraded version of OneFS.

Advanced cluster features are available when you activate licenses for the following OneFS software modules:

• CloudPools
• Security hardening
• HDFS
• PowerScale Swift
• SmartConnect Advanced
• SmartDedupe
• SmartLock
• SmartPools
• SmartQuotas
• SnapshotIQ
• SyncIQ

For more information about optional software modules, contact your Dell Technologies sales representative.

Hardware Tiers
Your license file contains information about the Isilon/PowerScale hardware that is installed in your cluster.

Your license file lists nodes by tiers. Nodes are placed into a tier according to their compute performance level, capacity, and drive type.

Your license file contains line items for every node in your cluster. However, pre-Generation 6 hardware is not in the OneFS licensing model.

License status
The status of a OneFS license indicates whether the license file on your cluster reflects your current version of OneFS. The status of a OneFS module license indicates whether the functionality provided by a module is available on the cluster.

Licenses exist in one of the following states: 

View license information
You can view information about the current license status for OneFS, hardware, and optional Isilon/PowerScale software modules.

For OneFS 8.2.2 and 9.5

WebUI Procedure:

1. Log in to the OneFS cluster using WebUI
2. Click Cluster Management > Licensing

CLI Procedure 
Log in to the CLI run the # isi license list command.

Adding and removing licenses

For OneFS 8.2.2: Update your license file by generating an activation file, submitting the activation file to Dell Software Licensing Central (SLC), then uploading an updated license file to your cluster.

You must update your license file after you:

• Add or remove hardware
• Add or remove optional software modules

Generate a license activation file
To update your license file, you must first generate a license activation file that contains the changes you want to make to your license file.

1. Run the isi license generate command to add or remove licenses from your activation file and designate a location to save your activation file.

The following command adds a OneFS license and saves the activation file, named <cluster-name>_activation.xml to the /ifs directory on your cluster:

# isi license generate --include OneFS --file /ifs/<cluster-name>_activation.xml

The following command adds OneFS and SyncIQ licenses, removes your CloudPools license, and saves the new activation file:

# isi license generate --include OneFS --include SyncIQ --exclude Cloudpools --file /ifs/<cluster-name>_activation.xml

2. Save the activation file to your local machine. After you have a copy of the activation file on your local machine, you can submit the file to Dell Software Licensing Central (SLC).

Submit a license activation file to SLC
After generating an activation file in OneFS, submit the activation file to Dell Software Licensing Central (SLC) to receive a signed license file for your cluster.

Before you submit your activation file to SLC, you must generate the activation file through OneFS and save the file to your local machine.

1. From your local, internet-connected system, go to Dell EMC Software Licensing Central (SLC) .
2.  Log in to the system using your Dell credentials.
3.  Click ACTIVATE at the top of the page. A menu appears with two options: Activate and Activate by File.
4. Click Activate by File. The Upload Activation File page appears.
5. Confirm that your company name is listed next to Company. If your company name is not displayed, click Select a Company and search with your company name and ID.
6.  Click Upload.
7. Locate the activation file on your local machine and click Open. This is an XML file. The file was originally generated with the name activation.xml but you may have saved it with a different name.
8. Click the Start the Activation Process button. The Apply License Authorization Code (LAC) page appears.
9. In the Missing Product & Quantities Summary table, confirm that there is a green check in the column on the far right. If any row is missing a green check in that column, you can search for a different LAC by clicking the Search button and selecting a different available LAC.
10. Click the Next: Review button.
11. Click the Activate button. When the signed license file is available, SLC sends it to you as an email attachment.

Your signed license file may not be available immediately.

The signed license file is an XML file with a name in the following format: ISLN_nnn_date.xml

For example:  ISLN_15002_13-Feb-2019.xml

1. Download the signed license file to your local machine, in a directory where you can locate it for the next procedure. For example, save it in /ifs on your local machine.

Upload the signed license file
After you receive a signed license file from Dell Software Licensing Central (SLC), upload the file to your cluster.

Run the isi license add command: # isi license add --path <file-path-on-your-local-machine>

For example, the following command uploads the signed license file that you had previously copied into a directory named /ifs on your local machine: # isi license add --path /ifs/ISLN_15002_13-Feb-2019.xml

Activating trial licenses
You can activate a trial license that allows you to evaluate an optional software module for 90 days.

Run the isi license add command.

The following command activates a trial license for the CloudPools and SyncIQ modules:
# isi license add --evaluation Cloudpools --evaluation SyncIQ

For OneFS 9.5
You can allow OneFS to automatically communicate with Software Licensing Central and update your license file, or you can update your license file manually.

Your license file should be updated when you:

• Require the activation of an optional software module.
• Add new hardware.
• Upgrade existing hardware.

Enable automatic license activation using SupportAssist
The automated process to update a license file requires that SupportAssist is connected to Dell Technologies Support and that the remote support option is enabled. This is enabled by default when SupportAssist is enabled.

1. Enable SupportAssist.
2. Enable remote support using the # isi supportassist settings modify --enable-remote-support command.

Enable automatic license activation using SRS
If you are using SRS to update your license file, then SRS and the in-product activation option must both be enabled. This is enabled by default when SRS is enabled.

1. Enable SRS.
2. Enable in-product activation using the # isi license activation start command.

Update a license activation file manually
To update the license file, generate a license activation file (xml file) and submit it to Dell Technologies Software Licensing Central (SLC).

WebUI Procedure 

1. Click Cluster Management > Licensing.
2. In the OneFS License Management area, click Open Activation File Wizard.
3. Click the checkboxes next to the software modules to select or clear the contents of your activation file.
   Modules that are pre-selected are in your license file. You can clear a module to remove the license.
   To undo changes that were made to the list, click Revert changes at the bottom of the page.
4. Click Review Changes.
5. Review the changes that you are planning to make to the activation file.
   The Contents of Activation file area contain a list of all licenses that are in the activation file.
   This page also lists licenses that you selected to remove from the activation file, and licenses that were selected to add.
6. Click Create file.
7. Review the full contents of the activation file. The OneFS license and a summary of the hardware tiers are also displayed on this summary page.
8. Click Accept.
9. Click Download activation file. Save the activation file to the local machine.
10. Click Complete process.
    Now that you have a copy of the activation file on your local machine, you can submit the file to Dell Technologies Software Licensing Central (SLC).

CLI Procedure
Run the isi license generate command to create an activation file, or to add or remove licenses from your activation file.
The command includes the --file parameter to designate the location to save your activation file. The following command adds a OneFS license and saves the activation file, named <cluster-name>_activation.xml to the /ifs directory on your cluster:
# isi license generate --include OneFS --file /ifs/<cluster-name>_activation.xml

1. The following command adds OneFS and SyncIQ licenses, removes your CloudPools license, and saves the new activation file: # isi license generate --include OneFS --include SyncIQ --exclude Cloudpools --file /ifs/<cluster-name>_activation.xml
2. Save the activation file to your local machine.

Submit a license activation file to SLC
After you generate an activation file in OneFS, submit the activation file to Dell Technologies Software Licensing Central (SLC) to receive a signed license file for your cluster.

Before you submit your activation file to SLC, you must generate the activation file through OneFS and save the file to your local machine.

Procedure:

1. From your local, internet-connected system, go to Dell Software Licensing Central (SLC).
2. Log in to the system using your Dell Technologies credentials.
3. Click ACTIVATE at the top of the page.
   A menu appears with two options: Activate and Activate by File.
4. Click Activate by File.
   The Upload Activation File page appears.
5. Confirm that your company name is listed next to Company.
   If your company name is not displayed, click Select a Company and search with your company name and ID.
6. Click Upload.
7. Locate the activation file on your local machine and click Open.
   This is an XML file. The file was originally generated with the name activation.xml, but you may have saved it with a different name.
8. Click the Start the Activation Process button.
   The Applied License Authorization Code (LAC) page appears.
9. In the Missing Product & Quantities Summary table, confirm that there is a green check in the column on the far right.
   If any row is missing a green check in that column, you can search for a different LAC by clicking the Search button and selecting a different available LAC.
10. Click the Next: Review button.
11. Click the Activate button. When the signed license file is available, SLC sends it to you as an email attachment.
    Your signed license file may not be available immediately.
    The signed license file is an XML file with a name in the following format: ISLN_nnn_date.xml
    For example, ISLN_15002_13-Feb-2019.xml
12. Download the signed license file to your local machine, in a directory where you can locate it for the next procedure. For example, save it in /ifs on your local machine.

Upload the updated license file
After you receive an updated license file from Dell Technologies Software Licensing Central (SLC), upload the updated file to the cluster.

WebUI Procedure:

1. Click Cluster Management > Licensing.
2. In the Upload and activate a signed license file area, click Browse, and select the signed license file.
3. Click Upload and Activate

CLI Procedure:
Run the isi license add command: 
# isi license add --path <file-path-on-your-local-machine>

Activate a trial license
You can activate a trial license to evaluate a OneFS software module for 90 days.

WebUI Procedure:

1. Click Cluster Management > Licensing.
2. In the Manage trial versions of software modules area, click Manage Trials.
3. Click the check box next to the software modules that you want to evaluate.
4. Click Start Trial.

CLI Procedure:
Run the isi license add command.
The following command activates a trial license for the CloudPools and SyncIQ modules:
# isi license add --evaluation Cloudpools --evaluation SyncIQ

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How to Obtain a Dark Site License?

• To obtain your permanent Isilon Gen6 license for a Dark Site, follow the "Update license file activation manually" then "Activate-By-File" process. If unable to do so, raise a Service Request for Licensing’s assistance.
• Include the following information in the Service Request:
  • .XML Activation File (if possible) This does not affect the customer’s dark site status.
  • Sales Order or License Activation Code (LAC)
  • GUID/Cluster ID
  • Node Serial Numbers
  • Features
  • Capacity to be Activated

What if you do not have your LAC handy?
You can open a Service Request (SR) with licensing in the description, so it is routed to a support representative with the ability to help with specific licensing requests. You can also search SLC for your LAC.

What login credentials are required for SLC during the license generation process?
Use the same credentials that you use to log in to Dell Technologies Support. If you do not remember your password, use the Forgot Password link to reset the password.

What is a cluster SWID?
The software ID (SWID) of a cluster is not the same as the node serial number. When a license file is obtained from SLC, the signed license file contains the SWID. Once the license.xml file is uploaded onto the OneFS cluster (by using the WebUI or the CLI), OneFS reads the SWID from the file and applies it for the entire cluster. All nodes in a cluster use the same SWID. It can be found in the following command on PowerScale:

# isi license list

How To Obtain Isilon Evaluation Licenses
Isilon evaluations allow customers to try the features before purchase to see if they work in the environment. Below are multiple options to request an Evaluation License for PowerScale.

• Through OneFS
  Activate a trial license procedure above
• Through Sales
  Contact your Sales Account Manager and request an evaluation order to be placed for the needed features. This is done when you do not want to use the 'manage trial' section on OneFS.
• Through Licensing
  Raise a Service Request and provide the following information:
  • Feature
  • The Tier of the feature
  • Duration - 90 days typical limit
  • Capacity
  • Node Serial Numbers
  • Site Information - Customer Site ID
  • Copy of the .XML Activation file.
  • If you are looking for one or two features to be added, provide the activation file but call out the features you are looking for.

Who to contact when there is an issue with licensing?
Whenever there is a problem with licensing, you or the account team should create an SR.

Follow these steps to create an SR:

1. Log in to the Dell Technologies Support site and use Live Chat (between the hours of 12:00 AM Eastern Monday and 11:59 PM Eastern Friday). The chat team assists and creates a service request for you.
2. Contact the live support line by calling 800-782-4362, option 4, option 4, at any time for assistance.

In the SR description, include the following information:

• Word Licensing so that the SR gets routed to the licensing team
• Hardware (Example: Generation 5, Generation 6, or node types F800, NL410)
• OneFS version

Based on the impact appropriate severity for the SR, the normal response time for SRs related to licensing is two business days. When the SR is created with a Severity Sev1, the licensing team contacts the SR requestor in about 30 minutes. It does not mean that the problem can be resolved in 30 minutes. Common issues that are encountered during the licensing process are:

• You do not know the correct SiteID associated with the entitlement
• Even when the correct SiteID is used, licenses are not available in the entitlement if you have not purchased the requested licenses, or if there is a mismatch in the entitlements.