Solved: Licensing UCS Central 1.1(1a)

Reynolds1973 · ‎07-25-2013

Having an issue getting UCS Central licensed for the 5 initial domains. Following documentation; I go out to license portal but there is no field for a GUID.

I've clicked on just about every link with in the portal but have found nowhere to enter the UCS Central GUID.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Documentation says:

Step 1 On the menu bar, click Operations Management.

Step 2 In the Navigation pane, click License Management.

Step 3 In the Work pane, select the General tab.

Step 4 Under the UCS Central Details, click GUID to copy the GUID of the Cisco UCS domain to the clipboard.

Step 5 Click Cisco SWIFT to open the License Administration Portal.

Step 6 Login to the License Administration Portal, and enter the GUID and your email address.

Cisco sends you the license file by email. The license file is digitally signed to authorize use on only the specified Cisco

UCS domain.

Step 1 On the menu bar, click Operations Management.

Step 2 In the Navigation pane, click License Management.

Step 3 In the Work pane, select the General tab.

Step 4 Under the UCS Central Details, click GUID to copy the GUID of the Cisco UCS domain to the clipboard.

Step 5 Click Cisco SWIFT to open the License Administration Portal.

Step 6 Login to the License Administration Portal, and enter the GUID and your email address.

Cisco sends you the license file by email. The license file is digitally signed to authorize use on only the specified Cisco

UCS domain.

Stephan Christl · ‎01-13-2014

Hello Daniel,

To obtain a license (5 domains are for free) you have to order the product L-UCS-CTR-INI= at Cisco (this is free of charge). After ordering the product you will receive a PAK, with which you can generate a license file together with the GUID shown within UCS Central (see screenshot).

After you have downloaded the license file to your UCS Central appliance, you can install it.

You should now see no more faults.

BR Stephan

View solution in original post

padramas · ‎07-25-2013

Hello Justian,

Can you please provide screen shot of Operations Mgmt > license Mgmt screen ?

From CLI,

connect service-reg

scope license

show server-host-id

Padma

Reynolds1973 · ‎07-29-2013

Padma,

Thanks for looking at this and sorry it took a couple of days to get back. I've registered 3 domains since taking this screen shot and I receive no errors. However, I do not see any information on the domains on any of the tabs. Except under license Management. There it shows 3 registered domains and the Grace Period Used has incremented by 3 days.

Additionally, I did have an UCS Central 1.0(1a) appliance stood up that I was playing with prior to scrapping it and standing up the 1.1(1a) version. Since I hadn't gotten very far I deleted the 1.0 version and deployed new (instead of upgrade). However, I was able to register a single domain and the various tabs were populated with information with the 1.0 version. Unless ports changed (which I have not checked) I don't think its an access issue.

-Justian

padramas · ‎07-29-2013

Hello Justian,

Characters after " VDH= " is the GUID of the central that needs to be used for Central licenses.

Here is the screen shot from lab system

Padma

Reynolds1973 · ‎07-29-2013

Padma,

That I understand. My issue is that when I go out to the license portal there isn't a field for the GUID.

Clicking on the 'Cisco SWIFT' hyperlink in UCS Central takes me to this page:

https://tools.cisco.com/SWIFT/LicensingUI/Quickstart And I've tried putting the hex code (with and without the VDH=) into about every field I can find. I've followed every link under 'Get New' or the License Wizard.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer questions on the forum.

- Justian

padramas · ‎07-29-2013

Thanks for the clarification !!

I will look it up but do not hold your breath on this one :-)

Please open a TAC service request with licensing team to issue your licenses.

Padma

Bruce Heimlich · ‎07-29-2013

Hi Justian,

I just had someone open a case for this identical issue, where they are not seeing any field in which to enter the GUID. I am starting to look into this and I will update you, when I learn more.

Thanks.

-Bruce

Reynolds1973 · ‎07-29-2013

Bruce,

Thanks for the update!

Bruce Heimlich · ‎07-31-2013

Hi Justian,

Can you please try connecting to the License Management Portal and see if you can access the Host ID Field? If so, please try using that versus the GUID Field and let me know your results.

Thanks.

-Bruce

Reynolds1973 · ‎08-01-2013

Bruce,

I had to dig a little to find a field labeled Host ID but I did find one. However, it did not work. I'm following up with our Cisco vendor and contracts to make sure my account has the needed permissions to complete this.

Thanks,

Justian

Bruce Heimlich · ‎08-01-2013

Hi Justian,

Thank you for the update. Please let me know the outcome of your contract verification. I have been in touch with the development team and if the Host ID Field does not allow you to continue, we will likely have to open a bug against this and have it looked at.

Please do let me know.

Thanks.

-Bruce

Samuel Yan · ‎08-12-2013

Hi Justian,

I am experiencing the same issue when I try to obtain the license from the Cisco website and was wondering if it was just a matter of lack of permissions in my account or any missing steps.

Any details would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Simone

Bruce Heimlich · ‎08-12-2013

Hi Simone,

I have opened a bug in regard to this issue. In the meantime, I am trying to obtain more information. In the meantime you can alternatively, starting with UCS Central 1.1, still download it from cisco.com. However, each time you add a domain, there is a 120 day counter that starts.

You will initially get a warning message within the UCSM. You can still use it but the warning messages will increase in severity as you approach the expiration date.

I will have more as this issue moves forward.

Thanks.

-Bruce

Stephan Christl · ‎08-19-2013

Same issue here.

Walter Dey · ‎08-19-2013

I'm confused ! Normally, customer has to order a SKU, gets a PAK, goes to http://tools.cisco.com/SWIFT/LicensingUI/Quickstart and gets a license file, which he installs.

Q. does this apply to UCS Central 1.1a as well

Q. does he have to oder UCS Central SKU for each UCS domain and gets 5 PAK's for 0 $ (for the same GUID), and the additional ones cost

Q. does he need a maintenance contract, even for UCS domains 1-5 ?