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Domain Locked Licensing Overview

SBC Core Portfolio deployments (SBC 5400, SBC 7000, SBC SWe, and SBC CNe) support a domain locked licensing model (DL). In contrast to node-locked licensing, a domain locked license is tied to an administrative domain rather than the hardware ID for a specific host server or the UUID for a specific node instance. A domain locked license is bound to the domain through public/private key-pairing and it defines the features and capacity allowed for all nodes within the domain. DL provides flexibility in cloud environments where the number and placement of nodes sometimes varies. Contact your Ribbon representative for more information on available licensing options and to complete the ordering process that is required prior to implementing DL.

DL is implemented using license management capabilities within the Ribbon Application Management Platform (RAMP). RAMP provides the public key used to bind the license to the local domain and is used for associating license data with eligible nodes. The basic steps to implement domain locked licensing are as follows:

  • Log into RAMP managing the SBC Core cluster and copy the RAMP domain public key.
  • Submit the copied public key, along with the order details, to the self-service licensing portal to generate a license bundle file that incorporates the domain public key.
  • Install the DL license bundle on RAMP.
  • From RAMP, add the feature licenses to the SBC cluster configuration. The licenses are added to the OAM which then replicates the configuration (including licenses) to the SBC nodes. 

Refer to License Management in the RAMP documentation for specific procedures to locate and copy the public key, install a license bundle, and associate feature licenses with SBC nodes.

After these preparations are completed on RAMP, enable domain-based licensing on the SBC cluster by configuring the license mode as "domain." Save and activate the configuration. The OAM node for the cluster provides the configuration update to each SBC node in the cluster. The nodes then enable or disable features based on the license definition in their configuration.

Important

The DL license bundle must be added to the SBC cluster configuration before or at the same time you change the license mode to "domain." Changing license mode to domain locked on an active system without a DL license bundle installed will result in a service outage.

Note
  • If you push the count-based license, the "show table system licenseInfo" table displays "USAGE LIMIT" as 999999.
  • If you push the ON/OFF-based license, the "show table system licenseInfo" table displays "USAGE LIMIT" as 1.
Note

The in-use column does not increment for the active sessions if the license type is ON/OFF.

Domain Locked Licensing Infrastructure

Domain Locked Licensing infrastructure supplies critical services for a successful subscription deployment:

• Centralized subscription licensing management
• Recognition of licensed product(s) feature(s) successful delivery
• Accounting for licensed product(s) feature(s) successful delivery through supplementary quotes for events such as domain locked license growth


Domain Locked Licensing Infrastructure is uniquely suited to address shared licensing commercial offers such as True Forward Subscription, Network Wide Domain Locked Licensing, and Multiyear Domain Locked Licensing deployments: 

  • The efficient “sharing” of licensed product features across a multi-node network, to emulate the “movement” of licenses to where they are required
  • Support for accounting of licensed product feature consumption above an amount purchased by the customer, to permit growth without service interruption
  • Support for ephemeral product operation, where products can scale-in/out at run time without concerns for license “apportioning” which otherwise would result in service interruption higher costs

A domain locked license agreement requires customers to deploy and operate the Domain Locked Licensing infrastructure per product specifications for successful subscription-related product consumption. 



Initial Deployment

The following figure presents the sequence of actions that flow from the signing of a domain locked license to the point where end nodes are ready to begin delivering services.

  1. Initial domain locked license quote is made available to the customer, and the customer signs a Purchase Order to signal acceptance of both the Terms and Conditions of the offer as well as the licensed product(s) feature(s) they wish to activate for the period of the agreement.
  2. Ribbon IT forwards to the customer a license file that encapsulates the ordered Licensed product(s) feature(s) as Feature License Keys.
  3. The customer loads the license file into the RAMP License Manager, and confirms the expected range, quantity and expiration date of Feature License Keys is recognized, correct and available for use.
  4. The customer (from the RAMP License Manager) assigns at least one unit of each desired Feature License Key into the end nodes as desired to activate licensed feature operation.
  5. The end nodes are now ready to begin offering the ordered domain locked license related services.


Steady State Operations

The Domain Locked Licensing network topology comprises three major network actors:
• End nodes (for example, SBC, PSX, WebRTC Gateway), where domain locked license product features are delivered;
• RAMP (Ribbon Application Management Platform) where centralized domain locked license-related license management is undertaken, along with aggregation of licensed product feature delivery reports and submission;
• RAP (Ribbon Audit Portal) that reconciles licensed product feature delivery reports for domain locked license accounting and action.


Adding License Capacity

In domain locked licensing mode, you can add to your existing license definition following the same process to load another license bundle file onto RAMP, and using RAMP to assign the additional features licenses to the SBC clusters. The resulting set of licenses features and capacity for the cluster is the aggregate of the existing license and the added license.

Configuring DL Options

Use the SBC CLI or access the SBC Configuration Manager UI from RAMP to enable domain locked license mode and optionally specify license capacity limits for the nodes in the cluster. Refer to Modifying SBC Cluster Configuration.

Enabling Domain Locked License Mode

Caution

To avoid a service outage, ensure your DL licenses are already installed if you reconfigure an SBC cluster into domain locked license mode.


By default, SBC license mode is set to nodeLocked. Use the following CLI commands to place the SBC in domain locked (DL) license mode:

Enable Domain License Mode using CLI
% set system licenseMode mode domain
% commit

Or, in the SBC Configuration Manager UI:

  1. Go to All > System > License Mode  The License Mode window opens.
  2. In Mode, select Domain.
  3. Click Save.

Displaying Domain Locked License Bundle Information

Use the following command to output information on the domain locked license bundles loaded into the system.

 > show table system licenseDomainBundleInfo

Or, in the SBC Configuration Manager UI:

Go to All > System > License Domain Bundle Info  The License Domain Bundle Info window opens.

The following license information is output:

  • activeLicenseMode – The licensing mode currently in use by the SBC
  • bundleName – License bundle name
  • expirationDate – License expiration date
  • featureName – license keys for each licensed feature
  • generationDate – The date the license was generated
  • installDate – The date the license was installed
  • licenseId – License ID
  • lineId – The line ID for the license feature entry
  • purchaseOrderId – The purchase order ID specified when the license was generated
  • usageLimit – Usage limit for the licensed feature


Shut Off Calls if License Manager Doesn't Refresh After 90 Days

Note

This functionality is not supported on the MRFP.

The SBC Core products include the capability to shut off calls when there is no License Manager refresh in the last 90 days. The DL architecture requires the user to have the node/instance register with the license manager to report the usage, and then refresh the registration periodically. If the SBC instance is not successfully registered with the license manager in 90 days, the SBC stops processing calls after sending warning alarms to the user. 

The SBC Core registers with the License Manager once per day, independent of the registration status.

Feature behavior:

ActionConditionsResult

The SBC runs with the licenseMode set to domain


  • At least one DL license bundle is present containing a feature with a count of at least one
The SBC attempts to register with the License Manager

The SBC sends a registration request to the License Manager

  • The License Manager responds with a 200 OK
  • The resulting parameter in the returned message is set to "success"
The registration is considered as successful.

The SBC sends a registration request to the License Manager

  • The License Manager responds with a 200 OK
  • The result parameter in the returned message is set to "failed"
  • The registration is considered as failed
  • The license counts are not affected; however, a 90-day timer is initiated
  • This 90 day period can be extended with the new REG-GRACE-D license
The SBC sends a registration request to the License Manager
  • A response is not received, or
  • An HTTP return code (except 200) is returned
  • The license counts are not affected
  • However, a 90-day timer is initiated

The SBC fails to register with the License Manager for 90 days


All license counts are set to 0

The License Manager returns a response field called lastCollectionTime (In addition to the registration status)

(This represents the previous time the License Manager detected at least one license was consumed – either a counted license was consumed while making a call, or an on/off license is present)

  • No on/off-licenses are present, and
  • No calls are made
The License Manager rejects the registration after 90 days

The lastCollectionTime in the LicenseManager response is older than one day


The start of the grace period is not updated, even if the registration is successful

A licensed feature, REG-GRACE-D, is added (This is a counted license) 


  • The value of this license is added to the default 90-day grace period
  • A total of 90 days + the count in the grace license is allowed before a successful registration is received
  • The total counts of all REG-GRACE-D are additive

NOTE: On a 1-to-1 system, the GRACE period remaining is identical on both systems.

All DL licenses on the SBC Core expire (Example: trial license scenario)


The SBC will not attempt to register with the License Manager. When new DL licenses are installed, the 90 day grace period will restart.

An action command is added to test the License Manager settings or to trigger a new License Manager registration after a previous registration request failed. 


This provides an opportunity for the operator to rectify the condition on the License Manager that caused a registration to fail, and to retry the request.

The installed count for any DL-counted license is greater than 0


A count of 999999 is available for that license (except for REG-GRACE-D feature)

NOTE: If all the license bundles containing a particular feature expire, the count for that feature reaches 0 and the calls requiring that feature do not succeed. The licenseRequired table is no longer supported to limit the license count.


The SBC Core identifies the RAMP server addresses running the License Manager Micro Service through the following methods:

    • If the SBC auto-registers with RAMP through the LCA, the same EMS address and user/password information is used to communicate with the License Manager.
    • If the SBC does not auto-register with RAMP, then the new CLI parameters have been added to specify the address and user/password information of the RAMP servers. If the values of these new parameters are set, those values are used instead of any auto-registration data.

To configure a License Server, refer to: