Product Documentation
Application Delivery Management
14.1-Current Release 13.1
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Scenarios for Flexed or Pooled license expiry and connectivity issues behavior

February 5, 2025
Contributed by: 
C S

This document presents different scenarios of license expiry and connectivity issues behavior in NetScaler MPX, NetScaler SDX, and NetScaler VPX/NetScaler BLX/NetScaler CPX.

Types of Flexed licenses

  • Software instance (VPX/BLX/CPX, SDX, MPX, VPX FIPS)
  • Bandwidth capacity

Scenario: MPX form factor

You are using Flexed/Pooled licensing and the licenses are due to expire soon. The following scenarios explain the behavior when a new license is uploaded on NetScaler Console before and after the term expires, or when a license file is not present.

Before the term expires

If the new license is uploaded before the term expires, and the old license is still valid, two different pools of capacity (old and new) are available.

  • If NetScaler is up and running, it switches to the new Flexed/Pooled license seamlessly after the old license expires.
  • Restart is not required.
  • NetScaler does not require a manual capacity reconfiguration.

After the term expires

NetScaler Console 14.1-38.x or later build

  • Warm reboot to become unlicensed

  • Traffic processing stops immediately

  • Configurations are lost

NetScaler Console earlier than 14.1-38.x build

In this case the existing pool of capacity has expired:

  • NetScaler keeps running licensed until it is restarted.
  • If NetScaler restarts and no valid license file is present, it becomes unlicensed.
  • If NetScaler stays up to pick up the new license, it must be manually reconfigured (capacity reassigned).

Scenario: SDX form factor

You are using Flexed/Pooled licensing and the licenses are due to expire soon. The following scenarios explain the behavior when a new license is uploaded on NetScaler Console before and after the term expires, or when a license file is not present.

Before the term expires

If the new license is uploaded before the term expires, and the old license is still valid, two different pools of capacity (old and new) are available.

  • If NetScaler is up and running, it switches to the new Flexed/Pooled license seamlessly after the old license expires.
  • Restart is not required.
  • NetScaler does not require a manual capacity reconfiguration.

After the term expires

NetScaler Console 14.1-38.x or later build

  • License server configuration from SDX is removed

  • VPX license bandwidth is reduced to 1 Mbps

NetScaler Console earlier than 14.1-38.x build

In this case the existing pool of capacity has expired:

  • NetScaler keeps running licensed until it is restarted.
  • If the Management Service restarts and no valid license file is present, the throughput of all VPX is reduced to 1 Mbps.
  • If the Management Service stays up to pick up the new license, it must be manually reconfigured (capacity reassigned).

Scenario: VPX/BLX/CPX form factor

You are using Flexed/Pooled licensing and the licenses are due to expire soon. The following scenarios explain the behavior when a new license is uploaded on NetScaler Console before and after the term expires, or when a license file is not present.

Before the term expires

If the new license is uploaded before the term expires, and the old license is still valid, two different pools of capacity (old and new) are available.

  • If NetScaler is up and running, it switches to the new Flexed/Pooled license seamlessly after the old license expires.
  • Restart is not required.
  • NetScaler does not require a manual capacity reconfiguration.

After the term expires

NetScaler Console 14.1-38.x or later build

NetScaler instances with expired licenses managed through NetScaler Console stop to process traffic and might result in configuration loss.

NetScaler Console earlier than 14.1-38.x build

In this case the existing pool of capacity has expired:

  • NetScaler keeps running licensed until it is restarted.
  • If NetScaler restarts and no valid license file is present, VPX and BLX become unlicensed and CPX becomes CPX Express.
  • If NetScaler stays up to pick up the new license, it must be manually reconfigured (capacity reassigned).

Summary

The following table summarizes the behavior of all NetScaler form factors if a new license is not applied on NetScaler Console:

Form factor After the license expires After NetScaler restarts
VPX/BLX Keeps running until restart VPX/BLX becomes unlicensed
CPX Keeps running until restart CPX becomes CPX Express
MPX Keeps running until restart MPX becomes unlicensed
SDX Keeps running until restart Throughput of all VPX is reduced to 1 Mbps (rendering them unusable)

Scenarios for connectivity issues behavior

If connectivity breaks between NetScaler and NetScaler Console on-prem server, the behavior is as follows:

  • NetScaler goes into grace for 30 days.

  • During this grace period, licensing functionality continues to work until the thirtieth day.

  • On the thirty-first day,

    • NetScaler VPX/NetScaler CPX/NetScaler BLX and NetScaler MPX undergo a forced reboot and become unlicensed.

    • The throughput on all the VPX on NetScaler SDX is decreased to 1 Mbps.

Scenarios for Flexed or Pooled license expiry and connectivity issues behavior
February 5, 2025
Contributed by: 
C S
February 5, 2025
Contributed by: 
C S

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