Licensing

A license is required to use VMmanager. You can buy it in your client area at eu.ispsystem.com or reseller company. The license has an expiry date and a limited number of used physical CPU cores on cluster nodes.

The license from the VMmanager 5 control panel is not suitable for activating VMmanager 6.

The platform checks the license status through the license6.ispsystem.com server. Access to this resource must be available permanently. Access unavailability may result in license deactivation.

This article contains information about license options and instructions on how to manage your VMmanager license. The procedure for initial license activation is described in the Installation article.

Trial period

When purchasing a license, you can choose a free trial period of 30 days to learn about the features and test VMmanager. The trial license allows you to use up to 100 physical CPU cores on cluster nodes.

A trial license can be activated if no trial or commercial license has been activated on the server before. Otherwise, when trying to activate it, the "Access error" message appears in the interface and the TRIAL_OR_COMMERCIAL_ALREADY_USED error appears in the license check log file. Re-activation of a trial license is possible only on another server.

License limits

Hosting version

Licenses purchased from January 23, 2020 have a limit on the number of physical CPU cores used on cluster nodes.

Licenses purchased before January 23, 2020 have a limit on:

number of virtual machines (VMs);
number of cluster nodes;
number of LXD containers (when using LXD virtualization).

Licenses have a limit on their expiration date. After the expiration of this period, the license can be extended.

Infrastructure version

Licenses purchased from January 23, 2020 have a limit on the number of physical CPU cores used on cluster nodes.

Licenses purchased before January 23, 2020 have a limit on:

number of virtual machines (VMs);
number of cluster nodes;
number of LXD containers (when using LXD virtualization).

Licenses can be permanent or have lifetime limits. After the expiration of this period, the license can be extended.

Changing license limits

If the license limit is exceeded, the creation of new VMs in the platform will be blocked. To make it possible to add new VMs, delete unused VMs or purchase a license with a higher limit. For the Infrastructure version, you can purchase an additional resource package to increase the limits.

To determine the limit type, review the license information in your сlient area. Changing the limit type for a license is not supported.

Updating the license information

Three days before the license expiry, VMmanager interface displays a message prompting to renew it. After renewing the license, you need to update the license information in VMmanager.

Before expiry date

To update the license information, in the right menu click the icon → System information → Update the license.

After expiry date

After expiry of the license, VMmanager will be blocked. Cluster nodes and VMs operation will not be affected, but management via VMmanager will no longer be available. To reactivate VMmanager:

Renew your license in the client area.
Click the Settings button in the pop-up message about the blocking or in the right menu click the icon → System information in the right menu.
In the License token field enter the value of the license token.
Click the Activate button.
If the activation failed, generate a new license token in your client area and follow the instructions in the subsection Actions when changing the license token.

After restoring from backup

After restoring the platform from a backup, you have to reactivate the license. For Infrastructure version, the activation has to be performed within seven days after the restore. After this period expires, the platform will be blocked. For more information about backups, see Creating platform backups.

Actions when changing the license token

If you change the company purchasing the license, the license token value will change. For example, if you ordered a trial period in your client area at eu.ispsystem.com, and then purchased a license from an ISPsystem license reseller company.

To update information about such a license:

Connect to VMmanager via SSH protocol with superuser permission (the default level is root).
Delete all files from the /opt/ispsystem/license/ directory except machine_id:
```
find /opt/ispsystem/license/ -type f -not -name 'machine_id' -delete
```
In VMmanager interface, in the right menu click the icon → System information.
In the License token field enter the value of the license token.
Click the Activate button.

Resource package activation

If you use the Infrastructure version, you can purchase an additional resource package to increase the limits. After you purchase a resource package, you need to activate it:

In the right menu click the icon → System information → Activate package button.
Enter the code from your resource package certificate.
Click the Activate button.

The resource package has an expiration date and is purchased for a specific license. It cannot be activated in another instance of the platform.

License management via terminal

You can manage the license via the terminal using the vm systemd-service. Possible actions:

Activate a license using a token

vm license update -t <license_token>

Get information about a license token

vm license info

Output the logs of the licensing service

vm license logs

Comments to the command

Check the availability of the license server

vm license check

Useful tips