Portworx Licensing
Introduction
Starting with the v1.2.8 release, the Portworx products support the following license types:
| License type | Description |
|---|---|
| Portworx Developer | Embedded into px-developer, free license that supports select functionality. |
| Trial | Automatically installed with px-enterprise, enables functionality for 30 days. |
| Portworx Enterprise VM | Enterprise license, suitable for Virtual Machine (VM) installs on-prem and in cloud |
| Portworx Enterprise Metal | Enterprise license, suitable for installs on any bare metal hardware |
Depending on the type of the container you are installing, a different license will be automatically activated:
- px-developer container activates free “PX-Developer” license, and
- px-enterprise automatically activates the “Trial” license (limited to 30 days), which can be upgraded to a “PX-Enterprise” license at any time.
Checking your License
A brief license summary is provided with the pxctl status command:
pxctl statusStatus: PX is operational
License: Trial license (expires in 30 days)
[...]More details about each individual licensed feature is displayed via pxctl license list command, ie.:
pxctl license listDESCRIPTION ENABLEMENT ADDITIONAL INFO
Number of nodes maximum 1000
Number of volumes maximum 1024 [...]
Virtual machine hosts yes
Product SKU Trial expires in 30 daysLicensed features
In the table below, we can see the overview of features that are controlled via licensing as of PX v1.2.8.
| Description | Type | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Number of nodes maximum | number | Defines the maximum number of nodes in a cluster |
| Number of volumes maximum | number | Defines max number of volues on a single node |
| Volume capacity [TB] maximum | number | Defines max size of a single volume |
| Storage aggregation | yes/no | Defines if volumes may be aggregated across multiple nodes |
| Shared volumes | yes/no | Defines if volumes may be shared w/ other nodes |
| Volume sets | yes/no | Defines if volumes may be scaled |
| BYOK data encryption | yes/no | Defines if volumes may be encrypted |
| Resize volumes on demand | yes/no | Defines if volumes can be resized |
| Snapshot to object store | yes/no | Defines if volumes may be snapshotted to Amazon S3, MS Azure and Google storage |
| Cluster level migration | yes/no | Defines if applications and data (using K8s namespace) can be migrated between paired clusters |
| Disaster Recovery (PX-DR)[Add-on] | yes/no | Enables synchronous and asynchronous DR features (requires 2.1 or later, needs additional license) |
| Virtual machine hosts | yes/no | Software may be deployed on VMs (including Amazon EC2, OpenStack Nova, etc…) |
| Bare-metal hosts | yes/no | Software may be deployed on commodity hardware |
Type of Licenses
PX-Developer License
The “PX-Developer” license is a default license for px-developer containers. The “PX-Developer” license is permanent and free, and provides a select set of functionality. It supports the following features:
pxctl license listDESCRIPTION ENABLEMENT ADDITIONAL INFO
Number of nodes maximum 3
Number of volumes maximum 256
Volume capacity [TB] maximum 1
Storage aggregation no feature upgrade needed
Shared volumes yes
Volume sets yes
BYOK data encryption no feature upgrade needed
Resize volumes on demand no feature upgrade needed
Snapshot to object store no feature upgrade needed
Bare-metal hosts yes
Virtual machine hosts yes
Product SKU PX-Developer permanentTrial License
The “Trial” license activates automatically when the px-enterprise is installed. The trial license provides the full product functionality (except PX-DR) for 30 days.
DESCRIPTION ENABLEMENT ADDITIONAL INFO
Number of nodes maximum 1000
Number of volumes maximum 1024
Volume capacity [TB] maximum 40
Storage aggregation yes
Shared volumes yes
Volume sets yes
BYOK data encryption yes
Resize volumes on demand yes
Snapshot to object store yes
Bare-metal hosts yes
Virtual machine hosts yes
Product SKU Trial expires in 6 days, 20:40
EXPIRATION
When the trial period expires, one will no longer be able to create new volumes or volume snapshots. The normal functionality may be restored at any time, by purchasing and installing the “PX-Enterprise” license.
UPGRADE NOTES
- The “Trial” license can be upgraded into a “PX-Enterprise” license by contacting support@portworx.com, and activating via the “activation code” or via the license file (see PX-Enterprise below for details)
- The “Trial” license itself cannot be upgraded or extended with another “Trial”, or downgraded into “PX-Developer” license.
PX-Enterprise License
The “PX-Enterprise” license is our most flexible license, which comes with a number of options. Please reach out to support@portworx.com to determine which type of “PX-Enterprise” license will work best for your needs.
License sharing
Once installed, the PX-Enterprise license is “locked” to a single PX-Cluster via the unique UUID identifier of the cluster. Such license (or, license-file) will not work on other clusters.
Installation
The easiest way to install the “PX-Enterprise” license, is via the “Activation ID” (reach out to us at support@portworx.com for purchasing licenses), ie:
pxctl license activate c0ffe-fefe-activation-123Note that the “license activation” process will require active Internet connection from the PX-nodes to the license-server, as the activation process automatically registers the cluster UUID, generates and installs the license on the cluster. Upon activating the license on one PX-node, all remaining PX-nodes will automatically update to the new license.
Install on air-gapped environments
Customers that do not have an active Internet connection on their PX-cloud, will need to be guided by the Portworx support (can be reached at support@portworx.com) , and will follow a slightly different process.
Customers will be asked to provide the Cluster UUID information (available via pxctl cluster list command):
pxctl cluster listCluster ID: MY_FAVORITE_PX_CLUSTER
Cluster UUID: f987ad4b-987c-4e7e-a8bd-788c89cc40f1
Status: OK [...]Upon supplying the “Cluster UUID”, the customers will get their “license file”. The “license file” will need to be uploaded to one of the PX-nodes, and activated via the following command:
pxctl license add license_file.binFinally, please note that the license installation is a non-obtrusive process, which will not interfere with the data stored on the PX volumes, nor will it interrupt the active IO operations.
License transfer
From PX Enterprise 1.4.0 onwards, a valid enterprise license can be transferred between two Portworx clusters. Both Portworx clusters need to be operational at the time of license transer. The source cluster must have a valid PX-Enterprise license, while the destination cluster can have either a valid or expired Trial license, PX-Developer, or expired PX-Enterprise license.
License transfer command requires ‘clusterUUID’ from the source cluster, (available via pxctl cluster list command) and remote PX cluster node IP.
pxctl license transfer -hNAME:
pxctl license transfer - Transfer license to remote PX cluster
USAGE:
pxctl license transfer <clusterUUID> <remoteIP>
DESCRIPTION:
Command swaps licenses between the two Portworx clusters.
Note that both Portworx clusters need to be operational at the time this
command is ran.
The source cluster must have a valid PX-Enterprise license, while the
destination cluster can have either a valid or expired Trial license,
PX-Developer, or expired PX-Enterprise license.
EXAMPLE:
pxctl license transfer f91531d9-bf65-46f5-9619-eb99128e3270 10.0.15.201- The license transfer happens directly between the Portworx clusters, so at least one node from source cluster must have a network connectivity to a node in the target Portworx cluster.
- After the successful license transfer, the two Portworx clusters will have swapped identities, and licenses (for example, Portworx cluster A will have Trial license originally from Portworx cluster B, while the cluster B will have the PX Enterprise license originally from cluster A)
For information on purchase, upgrades and support, please reach out to us at support@portworx.com