Licensing

ECS licensing is capacity-based. The ECS license file is a single file that contains base and add-on software features. A license applies to a single VDC. In geo-federated systems, each VDC requires a license. In a VDC configuration with multiple racks, the license file includes the total capacity for all racks in the VDC.

The ECS license file contains the following information.

• Feature: ViPR Unstructured (base feature) and may include ECS Server Side Encryption (free software add-on feature)
• Type: Permanent or Temporary
• Status: Licensed or Expired
• Entitlement: Describes the maximum storage licensed for the VIPR Unstructured feature in TB.
• VDC Serial Number: The software ID of the VDC
• PSNT: The quantity of PSNTs (racks) in the VDC. Each rack in a VDC has a product serial number tag (PSNT). In a VDC with multiple racks, multiple PSNTs map to the serial number of the VDC. Click the right-facing arrow > next to the Feature name in the licensing table to expand and display the PSNT values.
• Activated Site: The license site number for the physical site where ECS will be installed
• Expiration: If the license is temporary, the license expiration date displays. If the license is permanent, the date the license was issued displays.

Once the license is activated, the information contained in the license file displays on the Settings > Licensing page in the ECS Portal.

In each of these scenarios you can obtain the license as described in Obtain the Dell EMC ECS license file.

If you are upgrading from ECS 3.2.0.x to 3.3, you must contact your ECS customer support representative to perform internal license configuration. In ECS 3.3, the licensing scheme changed so that racks in a single VDC all have the same VDC serial number. Prior to 3.3, racks in a single VDC had different VDC serial numbers. This change impacts how licensed capacity entitlements are reported and therefore require Dell EMC support.