License Management
Overview
ZStack Cube Ultimate uses a hyper-converged Ultimate Edition license. On the ZStack Cube Ultimate main menu, click the profile icon and choose License Management. Then, the License Management page is displayed. This page displays current software's licensing protocol, version, and license status, and allows you to centrally manage the hyper-converged license (base), distributed storage license (base), and module licenses (plus).
Licensing Mechanism
Licensing in ZStack Cube Ultimate is supplied in
different functionality packages as hyper-converge license (base), distributed
storage (base), and module license (plus).
- Hyper-Converged License (Base)
- Provides the basic and essential features of the Cloud, which can meet the mainstream business requirements.
- Covered functionalities: Ultimate Trial and Ultimate Prepaid
- Distributed Storage License (Base)
- Provides distributed storage services, which can meet the mainstream storage requirements.
- Covered functionalities: Distributed Storage Enterprise Trial and Distributed Storage Enterprise Prepaid.
- The services enabled by this license depend on the specific
authorized modules you purchase, including Block Storage, Object
Storage, and High-Performance Block
Storage.
Note: The object storage and
high-performance block storage can only be used in
conjunction with a block storage license.
- Module License (Plus)
- Provides add-on features or feature enhancements to meet the specific business requirements.
- Covered functionalities: VMware Management, Tenant Management, ARM64 Management, Backup Service, Continuous Data Protection (CDP) Service, Cryptography Security Compliance, Baremetal Management, Elastic Baremetal Management, Alibaba Cloud Hybrid Cloud Management, 5x8 (7x24) After-Sales Service, SR-IOV NIC Service, GPU Service, Billing Management, CloudFormation, Auto-Scaling Service, SDN Network, Container Management-CPU, and Container Management-vCPU.
- A hyper-converged license is required to install module licenses.
The licensing mechanism is detailed as follows.
| Licensing Mechanism | Functionality Covered | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hyper-Converged License (Base) | Ultimate Trial |
Provides a full set of computing, storage, and network
virtualization features, and enhanced features such as GPU,
CloudFormation, and auto-scaling. This helps to meet the
various and flexible business requirements.
|
| Ultimate Prepaid |
Provides a full set of computing, storage, and network
virtualization features, and enhanced features such as GPU,
CloudFormation, and auto-scaling. This helps to meet the
various and flexible business requirements.
|
|
| Distributed Storage License (Base) | Enterprise Trial | Provides a full set of
distributed storage services for the platform.
|
| Enterprise Prepaid | Provides a full set of
distributed storage services for the platform.
|
|
| Plus License | VMware Management |
Manages all the features of vCenter and provides an
independent CPU license for VMware compute nodes.
|
| Tenant Management |
Provides the full functionalities of Tenant Management, such as project management, organizational structure, users, permissions, and Cloud operations, during the licensed period.
|
|
| ARM64 Management |
Provides a specified number of ARM hosts within the licensed
period, and provides stable support for ARM64 servers.
|
|
| Backup Service |
Backs up VM data to backup servers online in various
scenarios, such as local backup, remote backup, and hybrid
cloud backup. This enhances the data reliability.
|
|
| Continuous Data Protection (CDP) Service |
Provides second-level and fine-grained continuous data
protection for VM instances, ensuring that VM instances can
quickly recover when a failure occurs.
|
|
| Cryptographic Security Compliance |
Provides applications with cloud security capabilities based
on commercial cryptography, meeting the requirements of
commercial cryptography application security assessments.
|
|
| Baremetal Management |
Provides a specified number of dedicated physical servers
within the licensed period to ensure the high performance
and stability of core applications.
|
|
| Elastic Baremetal Management |
Provides the license for managing specified number of
flexible physical servers during the licensed period,
improving the ease of use and flexibility in addition to
ensuring the high performance and stability of physical
servers.
|
|
| Alibaba Cloud Hybrid Cloud Management |
Provides all features of Alibaba Cloud Hybrid Cloud
Management, realizing the interconnection between the
control plane and the data plane.
|
|
| Container Management-CPU |
Provides independent CPU license for an enterprise-level
container service, enabling you to conveniently use
multiple-tenant management, multiple cluster management,
resource allocation, CI/CD, microservice governance, and
other container-related features.
|
|
| Container Management -vCPU |
Provides independent vCPU license for an enterprise-level
container service, enabling you to conveniently use
multiple-tenant management, multiple-cluster management,
resource allocation, CI/CD, microservice governance, and
other container-related features.
|
|
| 5x8 (7x24) After-Sales Service |
Provides 5x8 or 7x24 official after-sales technical support
within the specified period.
|
|
| SR-IOV NIC Service |
Allows you to generate VF NICs from physical NICs based on
the SR-IOV specification and allocate these VF NICs to VM
instances. This provides VM instances strong I/O performance
comparable to that of physical NICs.
|
|
| GPU Service | Allows you to passthrough a physical GPU
(pGPU) to VM instances or divide a pGPU into multiple virtual
GPUs (vGPUs) and distribute the vGPUs to VM instances. This
empowers VM instances with strong computing capabilities of
physical GPUs.
|
|
| Billing Management | Provides billing methods like that of the
public cloud, uses pricing lists to manage billing of resources
of various unit prices, and offers billing services to the admin
and tenants based on the pricing lists.
|
|
| CloudFormation | Uses stack templates to batch deploy and
configure resources and manage the lifecycle of the resources.
In addition, offers designers that allow efficient orchestration
of cloud resources.
|
|
| Auto-Scaling Service | Allows automatic scale-in or scale-out of VM
instances based on the load balancing result of application
workloads, thereby improving resource utilization, lowering
maintenance costs, and securing stable business operations.
|
|
| SDN Network | Supports hardware SDN integration and
provides advanced network service management capabilities based
on OVS-DPDK software SDN networks.
|
Note:
- For more details, contact us by sending emails to sales@zstack.io.
- If you need to upgrade or renew your license, require any other assistance, contact the official technical support via 400-962-2212.
Licensing Method
ZStack Cube Ultimate supports two licensing methods: USB key and
request key.
- Licensing by USB Key
- You can obtain the authorization by inserting only one USB key into the management node.
- If you are using a dual-MN environment, insert only one USB key.
- The Plus licenses authorized by an USB Key cannot be deleted.
- Licensing by Request Key
- You can obtain the authorization by uploading the license file to the management node.
- You can upload both the Base license and Plus license at the same time by using a tar.gz package.
- If you are using a dual-MN environment, we recommend that you upload the license file on the management node where the virtual IP address is located.
Install a License
You can install a license by using a USB key or a request key, as described in the following topics.
Install a License by Using a USB Key
To install a license by using a USB key, follow these steps:
- Insert the USB key into the management node.
- Refresh the UI. On the License Management page, click the Refresh button to the left of Upload License.
- After the refresh, the complete licensing information is displayed.
Note:
- You can update the license by using a key ID or a request key.
- USB key licensing supports distributed storage licenses for ZStone storage only. Distributed storage licenses for ZCE-X storage are not supported by this licensing method.
- Module licenses (Plus licenses) authorized by a USB key cannot be deleted.
- If you are using a dual-MN environment, note that:
- Only one USB key needs to be inserted for licensing.
- If the node with the USB key inserted fails, remove the USB key and insert it into another healthy node to ensure business continuity.
Install a License by Using a Request Key
To install a license by using a request key, follow these instructions.
On the License Management page, click Upload License in the upper right corner. In the displayed Upload License window, upload the obtained license file.
Note:
- You can update the license by using a key ID or a request key.
- You can upload hyper-converged licenses (Base licenses), distributed storage licenses (Base licenses), and module licenses (Plus licenses) together or separately by using a tar.gz package or a .txt file.
- If you are using a dual-MN environment, download the request key and upload the license on the management node where the virtual IP address is located. This updates the licensing information on all management nodes.
- Click the refresh button in the upper right corner of the License Management page to reload the license.
- Only the admin can load or delete licenses. Hyper-converged licenses (Base licenses) and distributed storage licenses (Base licenses) cannot be deleted.
Manage a License
On the main menu of ZStack Cube Ultimate, choose . The License Management page is displayed.
The following table lists the actions that you can perform on a license.
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Upload License | Upload a license on the UI.Note:
|
| Copy Key ID | Copy the key ID required to generate a license. You can update the license by using a key ID. |
| Download Request Key | Download the request key required to generate a license. |
| Delete Plus License | Delete a module license added to the platform.Note: Module licenses (Plus licenses) authorized by a USB key cannot be deleted. |
License Status
A license has the following statuses.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Valid | A valid hyper-converged license has been added. The corresponding status is displayed as Valid. |
| Expired | If a hyper-converged license, distributed storage license, or module license expires, the corresponding status is displayed as Expired and the licensed features become unavailable. If a module license expires, its entry on the main menu cannot be accessed. |
License Exception Reminder
- When the remaining license period is less than 15 days, a banner prompt appears after you log in to the platform.Note:
- A reminder is displayed when the remaining period of the 5x8 (7x24) after-sales service is less than 30 days. Contact the platform service provider to renew the license and maintain official technical support.
- Click Check in the banner prompt to open the License Management page. Renew the license as soon as possible to continue using the product.
- When the platform license expires, you are redirected to the License Management page after login. Contact the platform service provider to renew the license.Note:
- If the hyper-converged license (Base license) expires, existing workloads continue to run. Do not perform any operations, such as reconnecting hosts, image storage, or primary storage, because these reconnections will fail and may affect the workloads.
- If the distributed storage license (Base license) expires, existing workloads continue to run. Do not perform any operations, such as reconnecting hosts, image storage, or primary storage, because these reconnections will fail and may affect the workloads.
- If a module license (Plus license) expires, all features provided by that module become unavailable. For example, if the Tenant Management license expires, the project login page is locked.
- If the hyper-converged license (Base license) expires but a module license (Plus license) remains valid, you can view resources covered by that module but cannot operate on them. For example, if the hyper-converged license expires but the Tenant Management license remains valid, you can log in from the project login entry but cannot operate on resources.
- If resource usage exceeds the licensed quota when you update a license, most platform features are restricted. Update the license to expand the quota. The restrictions are as follows:
- You can log in to the platform and obtain, refresh, and view resource status.
- You can reduce resource usage by deleting hosts, vCenters, clusters, or VM instances, changing host status, or expunging VM instances.
- You can manage licenses, including downloading request keys, copying key IDs, uploading licenses, and deleting licenses.
- All other operations are restricted.
Licensing Record
On the main menu of ZStack Cube Ultimate, choose . The Licensing Record page is displayed.
The admin can view the licensing history on the UI, including the product license type, issue date, expiration date, authorized items, licensed quota, status, and upload time.