Licensing

This guide describes how to update or register a new license for a CloudShark system.

The License File

The license file is a cryptographically signed plain-text file containing the following information:

  • The expiration date of the system’s Subscription or Maintenance and Support Agreement (MSA)
  • The list of expansions that have been purchased and that are enabled
  • The unique host ID of the machine the license is locked to
  • The number of user accounts permitted on this system

A valid license must be installed in order to use CloudShark.

CloudShark is node-locked to a single system identified by a unique host ID.

Alternate license deployments

If you are using Docker, have multiple dev/staging instances, or are looking at deploying a fail-over configuration, it may make sense for you to run a stand-alone license server. Please contact Support to discuss this option.

Updating your license

When the MSA for a system is renewed, or if additional expansions are purchased, the license file must be updated for the changes to become effective.

Upgrade Steps

  1. Visit the QA Cafe Customer Lounge and login with your email address.

  2. Download the updated license for your system.

  3. Copy the file to your system under the directory /usr/cloudshark/etc/licenses/.

  4. Restart the license server by running:

systemctl restart qacafe-rlm
  1. Restart CloudShark for the new license to take effect.
systemctl reset-failed cloudshark-\* && systemctl restart cloudshark-full
  1. Verify the new license is picked by visiting the Appliance Setup -> System Info page within CloudShark.

Registering a permanent license

To register a permanent license you will need to send the hexadecimal host ID of the system to QA Cafe. You can print the host ID of the system by running the command:

/usr/qacafe/bin/rlmutil rlmhostid ether

This command may return multiple host IDs. In that case, select a host ID that matches the Ethernet address of a network interface that will permanently be configured on your system. For example, an elastic network interface if you are in an Amazon AWS environment. You can display all of the network interfaces by running ip addr.

Copy the host ID and submit a registration request in the QA Cafe Customer Lounge. We will reply when your updated license file is available for download. Alternatively, you can e-mail the output of this command to support@qacafe.com and the support team will assist you.