Licensing

About licensing

You must activate a valid license on the BIG-IP system before you can use it. To activate a license for the system, you must have a base registration key. The base registration key is a 27-character string that informs the license server about which F5 products you are entitled to license. The base registration key is preinstalled on your system. If you do not already have a base registration key, you can obtain one from F5 Technical Support (support.f5.com/).

If the system is not yet licensed, the Configuration utility prompts you to enter the base registration key. Certain systems might require you to enter keys for additional modules in the Add-On Registration Key List field.

If a BIG-IP device is not licensed and you attempt to load a configuration, the BIG-IP system configuration loads, but the system indicates it is OFFLINE, and will not pass traffic until you apply a license. You need to either add the appropriate license, or remove the configuration elements for the module that is not licensed.

Important: When you install a license for an Add-On module, you must also provision resources for the module.

Activate a license automatically using the Configuration utility

You can license the BIG-IP system using the automatic activation method if the system is configured to route traffic to the Internet.

1. From a workstation attached to the network on which you configured the management interface, type the following URL syntax where <management_IP_address> is the address you configured for device management:

   https://<management_IP_address>

2. At the login prompt, type the default user name admin, and password admin, and click Log in.

   The Configuration utility opens. If this is the first time that you have run the Configuration utility, the system presents the Licensing screen of the Setup utility.

3. Click Activate.

4. For the Activation Method setting, select Automatic.

5. Click Next.

Activate a license manually using the Configuration utility

You can license a BIG-IP system using the manual activation method if the system is not configured to route traffic to the Internet.

1. From a workstation attached to the network on which you configured the management interface, type the following URL syntax where <management_IP_address> is the address you configured for device management:

   https://<management_IP_address>

2. At the login prompt, type the default user name admin, and password admin, and click Log in.

   The Configuration utility opens. If this is the first time that you have run the Configuration utility, the system presents the Licensing screen of the Setup utility.

3. Click Activate.

4. For the Activation Method setting, select Manual.

5. Click Next.

6. For the Manual Method setting, select Copy/Paste Text.

7. For the Step 1: Dossier setting, select and copy the dossier text.

8. Access the F5 license activation tool at https://activate.f5.com/license/dossier.jsp.

9. Paste the dossier text in the box, or if you saved the dossier as a text file, browse to that file.

10. Click Next.

The BIG-IP system reloads the configuration with the license. Traffic processing might be interrupted during this process.

Reactivate a license using the Configuration utility

You can reactivate an expired BIG-IP system license.

1. From a workstation attached to the network on which you configured the management interface, type the following URL syntax where <management_IP_address> is the address you configured for device management:

   https://<management_IP_address>

2. At the login prompt, type the default user name admin, and password admin, and click Log in.

   The Configuration utility opens. If this is the first time that you have run the Configuration utility, the system presents the Licensing screen of the Setup utility.

3. On the Main tab, click System > License.

   The License Summary screen displays.

4. Click Re-activate.

5. For the Activation Method setting, select either Automatic or Manual.

6. Click Next.