We’re still deploying Avaya’s Ethernet Routing Switch 8600s and now with 5.x software and above you need an Advanced License to run an IST/SMLT cluster. In the previous 3.x and 4.x software you didn’t need the Advanced License, just the Base License to run an IST/SMLT cluster. You’ll need a license for each Ethernet Routing Switch 8600.
Correction: As pointed out by Masch below in the comments you do not need an Advanced or Premium License to run SMLT on the Ethernet Routing Switch 8600. You do need an Advanced License to run SMLT on the Ethernet Routing Switch 8300. I’m not really sure why I was under that impression or if I mixed the ERS8300 and ERS8600 up.
Once you purchase an Advanced License from Avaya (or a reseller) you’ll receive a certificate with a license authorization code. You need to take that code along with the MAC address of the Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 and go to the Avaya eLicensing Portal. The portal is a little different from most sites in that you don’t create an account but rather you create a license bank securing it with a password. You upload your license authorization code to your license bank and then from the license bank you generate a license file by entering the MAC address of the switch. You then download the license file that you just generated and upload that file to your switch.
You can place the license file on your TFTP server and then download it from there or you can upload it directly using FTP (assuming you have it enabled). In the example below I’ll place the file on my TFTP server and copy the license file down from there to the Ethernet Routing Switch 8600.
ERS-8610:5# copy l10.1.1.1:/sw8600r1-lic.lic /flash/license.lic Device /flash has 15101952 bytes of free
With the license file uploaded let’s try to load the license into the switch;
ERS-8610:5# config load-license License File does not exist License File does not exist License File does not exist
You need to make sure that the license file is located at /flash/license.dat. In this example I uploaded it to the wrong filename (license.lic) so I’ll rename it now with move command;
ERS-8610:5# mv /flash/license.lic /flash/license.dat
Let’s try that again;
ERS-8610:5# config load-license
Now we can check to see that the license is installed properly.
ERS-8610:5# show license all License file name : license.dat License Type : ADVANCED MD5 of Key : 6d97e0c5 f74a9540 xxxxxxxx 570b7512 MD5 of File : 9ee16adc 97c3394b xxxxxxxx abf81e72 Generation Time : 2011/12/06 06:17:26 Expiration Time : Base Mac Addr : 00:1d:42:xx:xx:xx flags : 0x00000022 SITE MEMO memo : Advanced License
Now if you have multiple CPU/SFs you need to copy the license file to the standby CPU/SF. If you have savetostandby enabled in your boot.cfg file then all you need to-do is to save the configuration. If you don’t have savetostandby enabled you need to manually copy the license file to your standby CPU/SF (copy /flash/license.dat 127.0.0.6:/flash/license.dat if slot 6 was your standby CPU/SF).
ERS-8610:5# save config Save config to file /flash/config.cfg successful. Save license to file license.dat successful. Save to slave file /flash/config.cfg successful. Save license file license.dat to standby successful.
Cheers!
I have often wondered what happened if you upgraded to v5 and the lic file was not present? will the 8600 just run the base features after the 60 trial ends?
It will run until you reboot the switch (after the eval period has expired).
Cheers!
so after the 60 days and a reboot it fails back to base features only, or does the switch fall over?
The evaluation license would no longer be valid after the reboot so the Advanced features would no longer function. I believe Nortel/Avaya made a point of not disabling the advanced features without a reboot to prevent an operational issue. I’m not 100% sure what would actually happen if you had a switch configured in an IST cluster pair and the switch booted without a valid license. If VLACP was configured it might keep those ports down, allowing the remaining fully license IST switch to provide all the connectivity, etc.
that is understandable…..
so its safe to assume that as long as you were only using base features you can use v5 indefinitely without having a lic file.
Advance License is NOT required to run SMLT cluster on ERS8600 with version 5.x and above. This functionality is covered by Base License. Please see page 66 in Avaya Networking Licensing Guide (http://support.avaya.com/css/P8/documents/100123702). However, ERS8300 does require Advanced License for running SMLT
I’m not sure why I was under that impression….
We had covered this topic in the past;
http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2009/12/upgrade-nortel-ethernet-routing-switch-8600-v5-1-1-1/#comment-1537
http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/07/ers-8600-advanced-license-grandfather-chassis/
Thanks Masch for the heads-up!
Here’s the license features for the ERS8300 switch;
Cheers!
Too late now, but if your switch was under maintenance as of 7/1/2008, you could receive a “grandfathered” Advanced license, but going back into my extensive e-mail archive, this was only available until 7/1/2009.
After obtaining the license I had to open a ticket as I insisted – thankfully – that I wanted the licenses placed into my existing License Bank, and through a roundabout way, I was able to get this done. As I later found, after a particular upgrade (probably 5.0 to 5.1), the new software didn’t like my Advanced license and I had to regenerate and redownload the license from the Nortel/Avaya licensing site.
We covered the grandfather licensing quite a few years back now;
http://blog.michaelfmcnamara.com/2008/07/ers-8600-advanced-license-grandfather-chassis/
Interesting that you had to regenerate the license key. I have about 30 ERS8600s that I had a grandfathered license applied to and while they all haven’t been upgraded to 5.x software I haven’t had any issues with any of the ones that have (~ 11).
Cheers!