Manual Chapter : License Management

Applies To:

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BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 7.1.0
Manual Chapter

License Management

How do I manage software licenses for my devices?

A software license is specific to F5 product services (for example, BIG-IP LTM, BIG-IP APM, and so forth), and is organized in a
license pool
. From BIG-IQ Centralized Management, you can easily manage licenses in those pools for numerous devices. That means you don't have to log in to each individual BIG-IP VE device to activate, revoke, or reassign a license.
After you activate your subscription or ELA registration key for a pool license from BIG-IQ, you can assign the license to a managed, or unmanaged, BIG-IP VE device. If you assign a license from a license pool to a BIG-IP device and later decide you don't need that device licensed, you can revoke the license and assign it to another BIG-IP VE device. This process is similar to a library, where you loan (assign) a license to a BIG-IP device when it is required, and check the license back into the license pool on BIG-IQ (revoke it from the device) so it is available to assign to another BIG-IP VE. This flexible licensing model helps keep track of the licenses, and manage your operating costs.
There are 3 types of devices you can manage licenses for:
Managed BIG-IP devices
From BIG-IQ, you assign licenses to and revoke license from BIG-IP devices using each device’s SSL certificate for authentication over an SSL connection.
Unmanaged BIG-IP devices
From BIG-IQ, you assign licenses to and revoke licenses from BIG-IP devices using each BIG-IP device’s IP address, user name, and password for authentication over an SSL connection.
Unreachable devices
Unreachable devices (sometimes referred to as disconnected devices) are devices that BIG-IQ can generate licenses for without direct communication between BIG-IQ and BIG-IP. Because there is no direct communication between BIG-IQ and BIG-IP, clients must provide additional device information as input. The client is responsible for installing the license on BIG-IP. To do that, use an API call through a third-party computer or program that communicates with BIG-IQ to get a license from BIG-IQ and assign it to the BIG-IP device by a method of your choosing. The third party makes a similar API call to BIG-IQ for revoking a license. For more information about these API calls, see mgmt-api.
To manage licenses for BIG-IQ devices, you must be assigned to one of the following roles:
  • Admin
  • Device Manager
  • License Manager

Types of license pools

There are four types of license pools. You can assign, revoke, and reassign licenses from these pools as needed.
License Pool Type
Description
Purchased Pool
Prepaid pool of a specific number of concurrent license grants for a single BIG-IP service, such as LTM. For example, a purchased pool of 25 licenses for BIG-IP LTM allows you to license up to 25 concurrent BIG-IP VE systems for LTM.
Utility Pool
Designed for service providers, utility pools contain licenses for BIG-IP services you grant for a specific unit of measure (hourly, daily, monthly, or yearly). This means you can pay for licenses as needed with no limit to the number of licenses you can grant. From BIG-IQ, you can automatically submit a license usage report. F5 uses that report to calculate billing based on the licensed services, duration of the license grant, and the unit-of-measure pricing. To purchase a utility pool license, you must have a master service agreement.
Volume Pool
Prepaid subscription (1 and 3 year terms) for a fixed number of concurrent license grants for multiple BIG-IP services. To purchase a volume pool, you must have a master service agreement.
Registration Key Pool
A pool of single standalone BIG-IP VE registration keys for one or more BIG-IP services. Because you are managing these registration keys from BIG-IQ (instead of directly from the BIG-IP device), you can revoke and reassign a license to BIG-IP VE systems without having to contact F5 to allow the license to be moved.

Options for adding and activating a license pool

Add and activate a purchased, volume, or utility license pool on a BIG-IQ connected to the internet (automatic method)

To add and activate a license, you must have a base registration key. You get your key from F5 Networks, typically in the form of an email. If you do not have a base registration key, contact the F5 Networks sales group (
f5.com
).
You can use this procedure to automatically contact the F5 license server for activation if F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management system is:
  • Connected to the public internet.
  • Able to access the
    activate.f5.com
    site.
  • Existing firewalls allow port 443 to pass through.
You add and activate a purchased, volume, or utility pool license so you can make it available for assignment to BIG-IP VEs in your network. When you activate a volume or pool license using this method, BIG-IQ activates the associated offerings automatically.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Licenses
    .
  3. Click the
    Add License
    button.
  4. In the
    Base Registration Key
    field, type or paste the registration key, and into the
    Add-on Keys
    field, type or paste any associated add-on keys.
  5. For the
    Activation Method
    setting, select
    Automatic
    .
  6. Click the
    Activate
    button at the bottom of the screen.
  7. Review the EULA, and if you agree with the terms, click the
    Accept
    button at the bottom of the screen.
Activating licenses with offerings can take 5-10 minutes, depending on the number of offerings. A status bar displays on the licenses and license properties pages to show you the progress. When the activation status displays as
Active
, you can assign a license from the pool to a BIG-IP VE device.
If a license or offering fails to activate, the license displays with a yellow triangle next to it in the list. You'll need to reactivate that license and its offerings. For individual offerings, you can add an optional description for identification after activation.

Add and activate a purchased license pool on a BIG-IQ not connected to the internet (manual method)

To add and activate a license, you must have a base registration key. You get your key from F5 Networks, typically in the form of an email. If you do not have a base registration key, contact the F5 Networks sales group (
f5.com
).
Activate a pool license and make it available for assignment to BIG-IP VEs in your network. If BIG-IQ Centralized Management system is not connected to the public internet, you can use this procedure for activation, rather than automatically contacting the F5 license server.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Licenses
    .
  3. Click the
    Add License
    button.
  4. In the
    License Name
    field, type a name to identify this license.
  5. In the
    Base Registration Key
    field, type or paste the registration key, and into the
    Add-on Keys
    field, type or paste any associated add-on keys.
  6. For
    Activation Method
    , select
    Manual
    and click the
    Get Dossier
    button.
    The BIG-IQ system refreshes and displays the dossier in the
    Device Dossier
    field.
  7. Select and copy the text displayed in
    Device Dossier
    .
  8. Click the
    Access F5 manual activation web portal
    link.
    The F5 Product Licensing site opens.
  9. Click the
    Activate License
    link.
  10. Paste the dossier into the
    Enter Your Dossier
    box and click the
    Next
    button.
  11. Review the EULA, and if you agree with the terms, click the
    Accept
    button at the bottom of the screen.
  12. Select the license and copy and paste it into the
    License Text
    box.
  13. Click the
    Activate
    button at the bottom of the screen.
If a license or offering fails to activate, the license displays with a yellow triangle next to it in the list. You'll need to reactivate that license and its offerings. For individual offerings, you can add an optional description for identification after activation.

Add and activate a volume or utility license pool on a BIG-IQ not connected to the internet (manual method)

You must have a base registration key before you can add and activate a licensed pool. You get your from F5 Networks, typically in the form of an email If you do not have a base registration key, contact the F5 Networks sales group (
f5.com
).
You add and activate a pool license to make it available for assignment to BIG-IP devices in your network. If the BIG-IQ Centralized Management that you're activating a license on is not connected to the public internet, you can activate the registration key using this manual procedure, rather than automatically contacting the F5 license server.
Volume and utility pool licenses contain offerings.
Offerings
are specific to the services based on F5 Networks' Good, Better, Best licensing structure. If you are manually contacting the F5 Networks license server to activate those registration keys, you must activate each associated offering individually.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Licenses
    .
  3. Click the
    Add License
    button.
  4. In the
    License Name
    field, type a name to identify this license.
  5. In the
    Base Registration Key
    field, type or paste the registration key, and into the
    Add-on Keys
    field, type or paste any associated add-on keys.
  6. For
    Activation Method
    , select
    Manual
    and click the
    Get Dossier
    button.
    The BIG-IQ system refreshes and displays the dossier in the
    Device Dossier
    field.
  7. Select and copy the text displayed in
    Device Dossier
    .
  8. Click the
    Access F5 manual activation web portal
    link.
    The F5 Product Licensing site opens.
  9. Click the
    Activate License
    link.
  10. Paste the dossier into the
    Enter Your Dossier
    box and click the
    Next
    button.
  11. Review the EULA, and if you agree with the terms, click the
    Accept
    button at the bottom of the screen.
  12. Select the license and copy and paste it into the
    License Text
    box.
  13. Click the
    Activate
    button at the bottom of the screen.
    The license displays in the list as
    Pending
    .
  14. Click the name of the license, then the name of a pending offering.
  15. Copy the contents of the
    Device Dossier
    box.
  16. Paste the dossier into the
    Enter Your Dossier
    box and click the
    Next
    button.
  17. Select the license and copy and paste it into the
    License Text
    box.
  18. Click the
    Activate
    button at the bottom of the screen.
  19. Repeat steps 14-18 for each pending offering.
If a license or offering fails to activate, the license displays with a yellow triangle next to it in the list. You'll need to reactivate that license and its offerings. For individual offerings, you can add an optional description for identification after activation.

Create a registration key pool for standalone BIG-IP VE licenses

You create a registration key pool for standalone licenses to help you manage a group of standalone BIG-IP VE registration keys.
  1. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Licenses
    .
  2. Click the
    Add RegKey Pool
    button.
  3. Type a
    Name
    to identify this pool.
  4. Click
    OK
    .
The new RegKey Pool properties screen displays.
You can now add registration keys to this pool using one of the following methods:
  • Import registration keys to BIG-IQ from a CSV file and automatically activate them.
  • Add and activate registration keys from BIG-IQ connected to the internet (automatic method).
  • Add and activate registration keys from BIG-IQ not connected to the internet (manual method).

Add and activate a standalone registration key on a BIG-IQ connected to the internet (automatic method)

You must have your base registration key before you can activate it. You get this from F5 Networks, typically in the form of an email. If you do not have a base registration key, contact the F5 Networks sales group (
f5.com
).
You can automatically contact the F5 license server for activation if the BIG-IQ system meets these criteria:
  • Is connected to the public internet.
  • Is able to access the
    activate.f5.com
    site.
  • Existing firewalls allow port 443 to pass through.
You add and activate standalone registration keys to a registration key pool to make them available for assignment to BIG-IP VE devices from BIG-IQ Centralized Management. This gives you the flexibility to assign and revoke licenses as needed for your managed devices, without requiring you to contact F5.
You cannot re-activate (or import) registration keys from currently-active BIG-IP VE licenses. For devices in your network already licensed, contact F5 Support for assistance in transferring them to BIG-IQ for license management. Create a pool for each type of service the registration key is licensed for. It's best not to create a registration pool that contains keys for licenses with different/mixed services.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Assignments
    .
  3. Click on the name of the registration key pool you want to activate a license for.
  4. For the
    Activation Method
    setting, select
    Automatic
    .
  5. Click the
    Activate
    button at the bottom of the screen.
  6. Review the EULA, and if you agree with the terms, click the
    Accept
    button at the bottom of the screen.
If a license or offering fails to activate, the license displays with a yellow triangle next to it in the list. You'll need to reactivate that license and its offerings. For individual offerings, you can add an optional description for identification after activation.

Add and activate a standalone registration key on a BIG-IQ not connected to the internet (manual method)

You must have your base registration key before you can activate it. You get this from F5 Networks, typically in the form of an email. If you do not have a base registration key, contact the F5 Networks sales group (
f5.com
).
You add and activate standalone registration keys to a registration key pool to make them available for assignment to BIG-IP VE devices from BIG-IQ. This gives you the flexibility to assign and revoke licenses as needed for your managed devices, without requiring you to contact F5. If your BIG-IQ system is not connected to the public internet, you can activate the registration key using this manual procedure, rather than automatically contacting the F5 license server.
You cannot re-activate (or import) registration keys from currently-active BIG-IP VE licenses. For devices in your network that are already licensed, contact F5 Support for assistance in transferring them to BIG-IQ for license management. Create a pool for each type of service the registration key is licensed for. It's best not to create a registration pool that contains keys for licenses with different or mixed services.
  1. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Licenses
    .
  2. Click the
    Add RegKey Pool
    button.
  3. In the Registration Key Pool Name box, type a name for this pool.
  4. Click the
    AddRegKey
    button.
  5. In the
    Base Registration Key
    field, type or paste the registration key, and into the
    Add-on Keys
    field, type or paste an associated add-on keys.
  6. For the
    Activation Method
    setting, select
    Manual
    .
  7. Click the
    Generate Dossier
    button.
    The screen refreshes to display the dossier.
  8. Select and copy the dossier.
  9. Click the
    Access F5 manual activation web portal
    link.
    The F5 Product Licensing site opens.
  10. Paste the dossier into the
    Enter Your Dossier
    box and click the
    Next
    button.
  11. Click the
    Activate License
    link.
  12. Review the EULA, and if you agree with the terms, click the
    Accept
    button at the bottom of the screen.
  13. Select the license and copy and paste it into the
    License Text
    box.
  14. Click the
    Activate
    button at the bottom of the screen.
If a license or offering fails to activate, the license displays with a yellow triangle next to it in the list. You'll need to reactivate that license and its offerings. For individual offerings, you can add an optional description for identification after activation.

Import and activate registration keys in bulk

Before you can start this task, you must create a CSV file with the registration keys you saved in
regkey,notes/comments
format. After you add a registration key (regkey) pool, you can import the CSV to activate the registration keys all at once.
With BIG-IQ, you can easily import and activate a large number of registration keys.
A regkey pool should contain BIG-IP VE standalone registration keys only and should not contain pool licenses such as a utility or volume or purchased pool license. The standalone registration keys in the regkey pool should be of the same type. For example, don't mix LTM and ASM registration keys. If you have multiple types of registration keys, use separate regkey pools for each. It's best to activate registration keys of the same type at once. For example, don't mix LTM and ASM registration keys.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Licenses
    .
  3. Click the
    Add RegKey Pool
    button.
  4. Type a name for this pool.
  5. Click the
    Import CSV
    button, navigate to the file, and click
    Open
    .
  6. Click
    Save & Close
    .
BIG-IQ imports and activates the registration keys.
When import and activation are complete, you can assign a registration key to a BIG-IP VE device.

Assigning, revoking, and changing a license or license pool

Once you have activated a license on F5 BIG-IQCentralized Management, you can assign and revoke those licenses for your managed and unmanaged BIG-IP VE devices in your network.
Unmanaged devices
are devices that are located in your network, but that are not in the BIG-IQ Centralized Management system's BIG-IP Inventory list.

Assign a license to a BIG-IP VE device

After you have activated a license's registration key, you can assign it to a BIG-IP VE device.
To assign a license to an unmanaged device in your network, you must have the device's admin user name and password.
You assign a license to a BIG-IP VE device to authorize the device to run F5 services that support your applications.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Licenses
    .
  3. Click the name of the license you want to assign to a device.
  4. Click the name of the offering.
  5. Click the
    License Devices
    button.
  6. For managed devices, from the
    Devices
    list, select the device you want to license and move it to the
    Member Devices
    list.
  7. For unmanaged devices (devices in your network, but you are not managing from BIG-IQ), type the device's address, user name, and password in the
    Unmanaged Devices
    section.
  8. Click the
    Assign
    button at the bottom of the screen.

Revoke pool license from a BIG-IP VE device

Before you can revoke a license for a device in your network, you must have the device's IP address.
When fewer devices are required for your applications, you can revoke licenses to reassign them to other BIG-IP VE devices, as needed. This procedure allows you to revoke a single license.
When you revoke a BIG-IP license, BIG-IQ removes it from the BIG-IP. When the license is removed, that BIG-IP is no longer operable and won't be able to manage traffic.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Assignments
    .
  3. Select the check box next to the device you want to remove a license from.
  4. If this is an unmanaged device, type the BIG-IP system's administrator's
    Username
    and
    Password
    .
    Unmanaged devices
    are devices that are located in your network, but are not in the BIG-IQ system's BIG-IP Inventory list. These fields do not display if this is a managed device.
  5. Click the
    Revoke
    button at the bottom of the screen.

Change a pool license for a BIG-IP VE device

You must have activated and assigned a license to a BIG-IP VE device before you can change the license.
F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management makes it easy to change a specific license offering on a BIG-IP VE as traffic increases, as requirements for different services come up, or if you need to change the unit of measure for billing purposes. Use this procedure to change a single pool license offering.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Assignments
    .
  3. Select the check box next to the name of the device you want to change a license for and click the
    Change License
    button.
  4. If this is an unmanaged device, type the BIG-IP system's administrator's
    Username
    and
    Password
    .
    Unmanaged devices
    are devices that are located in your network, but are not in the BIG-IQ system's BIG-IP Inventory list. These fields do not display if this is a managed device.
  5. In the New Assignment area, from the
    License Type
    list, select the type of license pool you want to select another license from.
  6. From the
    License
    list, select the license you want to assign to this device.
  7. Click the
    Assign
    button at the bottom of the screen.

Re-license a BIG-IP device with the same license

If you make a change to an assigned BIG-IP license (for example, if you purchase an add-on key for a license), you'll need to re-license the BIG-IP device the license is associated with.
Use this procedure to re-license a managed BIG-IP device.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Licenses
    .
  3. Click the license name.
  4. Select the check box next to the license and click the
    Refresh
    button.
BIG-IQ re-licenses the BIG-IP device to which this license was previously assigned to.

Active and historical pool license usage reports

Pool license usage reports give you insight into how you're using your pool licenses. You can run these reports for both currently-assigned and previously-assigned pool licenses. These reports can help you budget for future license purchases.

Create an active usage report to see how the BIG-IP VE devices are currently licensed

Before you can create a usage report, you must have already licensed BIG-IP VE devices.
You can create an active usage report to see details about how BIG-IP devices that are currently licensed for a specific license type. This report contains all assigned licenses and is available in a CSV format. This makes it easy for you to reformat and share the information in any way you want.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Reports
    .
  3. Click the
    Generate
    button.
  4. For the
    Type
    option, select
    Active Report
    .
  5. Select a license type from the list to narrow the results to the license type you want to create a report for.
  6. From the
    Available
    list, click the license you want to run a report for, and click the arrow to move it to the
    Selected
    list.
  7. Click the
    Download
    button at the of the screen to generate the report.

Create a historical usage report to see how the BIG-IP VE devices were licensed during a specific time period

Before you can create a historical usage report, you must have already licensed BIG-IP VE devices.
You can create a historical usage report to see how you've been using certain license types during a specific time period. This can help you plan and budget for future resources. This report is available in a downloadable CSV format to make it easy for you to reformat and share the information in any way you want.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Reports
    .
  3. Click the
    Generate
    button.
  4. For the
    Type
    option, select
    Historical Report
    .
  5. Select a license type from the list to narrow the results to the license type you want to create a report for.
  6. From the
    Available
    list, click the license you want to run a report for, and click the arrow to move it to the
    Selected
    list.
  7. In the Usage Period area, in the
    Starting Date
    and
    Ending Date
    fields, type the date range for the report. Alternatively, click the calendars and navigate to the dates.
  8. Click the
    Download
    button and select an option to open the file, or save the file.

License usage billing reports

A utility billing report provides F5 Networks the information it needs to accurately bill for your license usage. You can manually create and submit a utility billing license usage report to F5, at the frequency specified in your license agreement. You can also create a schedule for generating utility license reports on a regular basis.
When you create a report or a report schedule, keep in mind:
  • If you activated your utility pool on 1-Jan-2019 and generate a report on 1-Feb-2019, the report includes all usage between 1-Jan-2019 and 31-Jan-2019.
  • If you generate another report on 1-Apr-2019, the report includes all usage between 1-Feb-2019 and 31-Mar-2019.

Providing permissions to run license usage reports

For users to view and create license usage reports, they must have the permissions granted by an administrator. To grant permissions to a user, you complete the four tasks included in this procedure:
  • Create a role type and provide that role type permissions to the licensing service. Steps 1-5
  • Create a custom resource group, associate it with the licensing service, and add the utility billing report object. Steps 6-10
  • Create a custom role and associate it with the resource group you added. Steps 11-16
  • Add a user and associate it with the role with permissions to the utility billing reports. Steps 17-20
  1. At the top of the screen click
    System
    , at the left select
    ROLE MANAGEMENT
    Role Types
    , and then click the
    Add
    button.
  2. Type a
    Name
    and an optional
    Description
    for this role type.
  3. Towards the middle of the screen, from the
    Select Service
    list, select
    Device
    , select the check box next to
    Utility Billing Reporting
    , and click the
    Add Selected
    button.
  4. In the Selected Object Types area, select the
    Add
    check box to add a specific type of permission for this role type.
    You might have to decrease the size of the bottom half of the screen (using the horizontal bar right above the
    Object Type
    list) to see the permission settings.
  5. Click the
    Save & Close
    button.
  6. On the left, under
    ROLE MANAGEMENT
    click , and then click the
    Add
    button.
  7. Type a
    Name
    and an optional
    Description
    for this resource group.
  8. Towards the middle of the screen, from the
    Select Service
    list, select
    Device
    .
  9. From the
    Select Object Type
    list, select
    Utility Billing Reporting
    , and then click the
    Add Selected
    button.
  10. Click
    Save & Close
    .
  11. On the left, click
    Roles
    .
  12. At the left of the Roles page, select
    CUSTOM ROLES
    Service Roles
    , and then click the
    Add
    button.
  13. Type a
    Name
    and an optional
    Description
    for this role.
  14. From the
    Role Type
    list, select the custom role type that you created.
  15. From the
    Resource Groups
    Available
    list, select the custom resources group you created, and move it to the
    Selected
    list.
  16. Click
    Save & Close
    .
  17. On the far left, select
    USER MANAGEMENT
    Users
    , and then click the
    Add
    button.
  18. Type a
    User Name
    ,
    Full Name
    , and
    Password
    for this user.
  19. From the
    Roles
    Available
    list, select the custom role you created, and move it to the
    Selected
    list.
  20. Click
    Save & Close
    .
This user now has permissions to create, view, and submit utility license usage reports.

Create a license usage report and submit it to F5 Networks for billing

You create a license usage report to submit to F5 Networks for billing purposes.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Reports
    .
  3. Click the
    Generate
    button.
  4. For Type, select
    Utility Billing Report
    .
  5. From the
    Available
    list, click the license you want to run a report for, and click the arrow to move it to the
    Selected
    list.
  6. Select a
    Submission Method
    .
  7. If you want to obscure the device's host name and IP address in the report, select
    Yes
    for
    Obfuscate Data
    .
  8. Click
    Submit
    at the bottom of the screen.
When BIG-IQ successfully generates the report and submits it to F5 Networks, it also downloads and it displays in the reports list. If the report fails to create properly, the system displays an error message. If this happens, you can automatically re-submit the report from the license reports screen. Alternatively, you can email a copy to
vesubscriptions@f5.com
.

Create a license usage report schedule

Before you can create a license usage billing report schedule, you must be in a role with permissions to view and modify utility billing reports.
If F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management cannot access
api.f5.com
or pass traffic through port 443, you must manually submit the report to F5 Networks instead of submitting automatically. Manually submit your report to
vesubscriptions@f5.com
You create a schedule so that BIG-IQ can automatically license generate usage reports at the same time every month for all your utility licenses.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Reports
    .
  3. Click the
    Schedule
    button at the top of the screen.
  4. For
    Schedule Status
    , select the
    Enable
    check box.
  5. Select
    Automatically submit report to F5
    for the
    Submission Method
    .
    If BIG-IQ cannot access
    api.f5.com
    or pass traffic through port 443, you must manually submit the report to F5 Networks offline, instead of submitting it from BIG-IQ. For information about how to manually submit the report offline, contact F5 Support.
  6. Specify the
    Day of the Month
    (from
    1
    to
    28
    ), the
    Start time
    hour
    (from
    0
    to
    23
    ) and
    minute
    (from
    0
    to
    59
    ) that you want BIG-IQ to create the utility reports.
  7. If you want to obscure the device's host name and IP address in the report, select
    Yes
    for
    Obfuscate Data
    .
  8. If you want BIG-IQ to send an email when the report is created, select the
    Enable
    check box for
    Email Notification
    , and type one (or more) email address(es) in the box, separated by commas.
  9. Click the
    Save & Close
    button.
BIG-IQ will create license usage reports on the day of the month and the time you specified. If you enabled email notification, BIG-IQ also sends a notification to the email address(es) specified to let them know the reports are available. When BIG-IQ successfully generates the report and submits it to F5 Networks, it also displays it in the reports list.

Resend a license usage report to F5 Networks

When BIG-IQ Centralized Management creates a license usage report, it retains a copy of that report in the license report list. If you need to re-send a report to F5 (for example, in the event an automatic submission failed), you can do so from that screen.
Alternatively, you can email the report to
vesubscriptions@f5.com
.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    Devices
    .
  2. On the left, click
    LICENSE MANAGEMENT
    Reports
    .
  3. Select the check box next to the utility billing report that you want to send, and click the
    Send To F5
    button.