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. ONTAP enables you to manage feature licenses and monitor feature usage and license entitlement risk.
All license keys are 28 characters in length. Licenses installed prior to ONTAP 8.2 continue to work in 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 ONTAP 8.2 or later, or you perform a controller replacement procedure for a node in a cluster running ONTAP 8.2 or later), 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 (login required). If you cannot locate your license keys from the Software Licenses page, contact your sales or support representative.
ONTAP enables you to manage feature licenses in the following ways:
The cluster base license is required for the cluster to operate. ONTAP does not enable you to delete it.
ONTAP enables you to monitor feature usage and license entitlement risk in the following ways:
The summary includes counter information such as the number of weeks a feature was in use and the last date and time the feature was used.
The feature usage status can be not-used, configured, or in-use. If the usage information is not available, the status shows not-available.
The risk status can be low, medium, high, unlicensed, or unknown. The risk status is also included in the AutoSupport message. License entitlement risk does not apply to the base license package.
If the evaluation process determines that the cluster has a license entitlement risk, the command output also suggests a corrective action.