Note

Network-wide licensing using a site license server (SLS) has been discontinued and is no longer available on SBC 8.0 and later releases.

You need a valid license from Ribbon to enable functionality on Ribbon SBCs.

Available licensing offers include: Node-Locked Licensing, True Forward subscription, Multiyear Domain Locked subscription and Network-Wide Licensing.

Each SBC license provides a base set of capabilities to which additional features and capacity can be added and enabled as required. Ribbon offers multiple licensing options to meet various customer use cases and deployments.

Licensing ModelsDescription
Node-Locked Licensing

Node-Locked Licensing is the traditional and most common method of licensing on SBC. All sessions and features are locked to a specific SBC node, identified through its hardware serial number or Virtual Machine Universal Unique Identifier (UUID).  

Domain Locked Licensing

Domain Locked Licensing (DL) is offered to SBC SWe cloud and CNe deployments where SBC instances may be brought up and down dynamically based on traffic. In this model, a domain 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. When a new SBC node is brought up, it can leverage licenses from the domain pool.

  • True Forward Subscription – This licensing method relies upon the DL Licensing infrastructure for successful operation. DL Licensing supplies critical services for a successful subscription deployment, namely:
    • For a defined term (1 year, 3 year, other) using a “Take anywhere” flexibility for on-premises and public cloud.
    • 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 True Forward Growth.
  • Multiyear Domain Locked (MDL) – Subscription, 5-year term, with license tracking and true up, on-premises only
    • Shared among nodes
    • Managed by RAMP
    • Not supported on CNF deployments
  • Network Wide Domain Locked (NWDL) – Perpetual with license tracking and true up, on-premises only
    • Shared among nodes
    • Managed by EMS and RAMP
    • Not supported on CNF deployments

Domain Locked Licensing require customers to agree to share license usage data with Ribbon. 

For details about terms and conditions about Domain Locked Licensing, contact your Ribbon sales representative.

Network-Wide Licensing

This is a deprecated license model replaced by the Domain Locked Licensing model.

Ribbon provided a network-wide licensing (NWL) option for customers who did not want licensing capacity to be defined on each node level. Instead, they purchased a total number of sessions and a feature set intended to meet the requirements of their entire network.

Note that NWL used the same underlying node-locked licenses, but additional ‘burst’ licenses were installed to allow flexibility in capacity.


Ribbon Product License Offers

Offer

Commercial Model

Features & Flexibility

Availability

Node Locked (NLL)

Perpetual; maintenance quoted separately

  • On-premises only
  • Licenses fixed to node
  • EMS & RAMP management
  • Available
  • EMS support ends Q2 2024

True Forward (Subscription)

Subscription, 1-year, 3-year, or other term; maintenance included

  • “Take anywhere” flexibility for on-premises & public cloud
  • Licenses shared among nodes
  • RAMP management
  • Instance migration and CNF

Available

MDL - Multiyear Domain Locked (Subscription)

Subscription, 5-year term, with license tracking and true up; maintenance quoted separately

  • On-premises only
  • Bridge between existing perpetual offers and True Forward Subscription
  • Licenses shared among nodes
  • RAMP management
  • No instance migration or CNF

Available

NWDL – Network Wide Domain Locked

Perpetual with license tracking and true up; maintenance quoted separately

  • On-premises only
  • Licenses shared among nodes
  • EMS & RAMP management
  • No instance migration or CNF
  • Available
  • EMS support ends Q2 2024

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