Managing licenses (cluster administrators only)

A license is a record of one or more software entitlements. Installing license keys, also known as license codes, enables you to use certain features or services on your cluster.

When you set up a cluster, the setup wizard prompts you to enter the cluster base license key. Some features require additional licenses. Data ONTAP feature licenses are issued as packages, each of which contains multiple features or a single feature. A package requires a license key, and installing the key enables you to access all features in the package. For information about the license packages, see the knowledgebase article Data ONTAP 8.2 Licensing Overview and References on the NetApp Support Site.

Starting with Data ONTAP 8.2, all license keys are 28 characters in length. Licenses installed prior to Data ONTAP 8.2 continue to work in Data ONTAP 8.2 and later releases. However, if you need to reinstall a license (for example, you deleted a previously installed license and want to reinstall it in Data ONTAP 8.2 or later, or you perform a controller replacement procedure for a node in a cluster running Data ONTAP 8.2 or later), Data ONTAP requires that you enter the license key in the 28-character format.

You can find license keys for your initial or add-on software orders at the NetApp Support Site under My Support > Software Licenses. For instance, you can search with the serial number of a node to find all license keys associated with the node. Your search results will include license information for all nodes in the cluster. You can also search by cluster serial number or sales order number. If you cannot locate your license keys from the Software Licenses page, you should contact your sales or support representative.

Data ONTAP enables you to manage licenses in the following ways:

•	Add one or more license keys (system license add)

•	Display information about installed licenses (system license show)

•	Display the packages that require licenses and their current license status on the cluster (system license status show)

•	Delete a license from the cluster or a node whose serial number you specify (system license delete)

The cluster base license is required for the cluster to operate. Data ONTAP does not enable you to delete it.

•	Display or remove expired or unused licenses (system license clean-up)

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Adding licenses

If your storage system software was installed at the factory, System Manager automatically adds the software to its list of licenses. If the software was not installed at the factory or if you want to add additional software licenses, you can add the software license through the Add Licenses dialog box.

Deleting licenses

You can use the Licenses window to delete any software license installed on a cluster or a node.