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Applying XClarity Orchestrator licenses

Lenovo XClarity Orchestrator is a for-fee application. You can use XClarity Orchestrator for free for up to 90 days using the free-trial license; however, after the free trial expires, you must purchase and install appropriate licenses to continue using applicable XClarity Orchestrator functions and to get XClarity Orchestrator service and support.

Before you begin

For information about purchasing licenses, contact your Lenovo representative or authorized business partner.

A license is needed for each managed device that supports advanced functions (server configuration and OS deployment).
  • A chassis license provides licenses for 14 devices.
  • For System x3850 X6 (6241) scalable complex servers, each server needs a separate license, regardless of partitions.
  • For System x3950 X6 (6241) scalable complex servers, if not partitioned, each server needs a separate license. If partitioned, each partition needs a separate license.
  • The following devices do not support advanced functions and therefore do not require licenses for these features; however, a license must be purchased for each of these devices to get XClarity Orchestrator service and support.
    • ThinkServer servers
    • System x M4 servers
    • System x X5 servers
    • System x3850 X6 and x3950 X6 (3837) servers
    • Storage devices
    • Switches

You must be a member of a user group to which the predefined Supervisor role is assigned.

About this task

XClarity Orchestrator supports the following licenses.
  • XClarity Orchestrator. Enables orchestrator and base management functions and entitlement for XClarity Orchestrator service and support.

    For orchestrator functions, a license is required in XClarity Orchestrator for every device that supports server configuration and OS deployment. For XClarity Orchestrator service and support, a license is required for every managed device.

    License compliance is determined based on the number of managed devices. The number of managed devices must not exceed the total number of licenses in all active XClarity Orchestrator license keys. When the number of XClarity Orchestrator licenses is not compliant (for example, if licenses expire or if managing additional devices exceeds the total number of active licenses), you have a grace period of 90 days to install appropriate licenses. If the grace period (including the free trial) licenses ends before the required number of licenses is installed, XClarity Orchestrator functions (including analytics) are disabled for all devices. When you log in, you are redirected to License Information page where you can apply additional licenses.

    For example, if you manage an additional 100 ThinkSystem servers and 20 rack switches using an existing XClarity Administrator instance that you are managing through XClarity Orchestrator, you have 90 days to purchase and install 100 additional XClarity Orchestrator licenses before all functions are disabled in the user interface. Licenses for the 20 rack switches are not needed to use the XClarity Orchestrator functions; however, they are needed if you want service and support for XClarity Orchestrator. If XClarity Orchestrator functions are disabled, the functions are re-enabled after you install enough licenses to be back in compliance.

    Important
    The base XClarity Orchestrator license is a prerequisite for the XClarity Pro and XClarity Orchestrator Analytics licenses. If the number of XClarity Pro or XClarity Orchestrator licenses is compliant, but the number of active base licenses is not compliant, all XClarity Orchestrator functions (including analytics functions) are disabled for all devices.
  • Lenovo XClarity Pro. Enables advanced management functions (server configuration and OS deployment).

    A license is required in XClarity Orchestrator for each device that supports advanced-management functions.

    License compliance is determined based on the number of managed devices. The number of managed devices must not exceed the total number of licenses in all active XClarity Pro license keys. When the number of XClarity Pro licenses is not compliant, you have a grace period of 90 days to install appropriate licenses. If the grace period (including the free trial) ends before the required number of licenses is installed, the server configuration and OS deployment functions are disabled for all devices.

    For more information about XClarity Pro licenses, see Licenses and the free 90-day trial in the Lenovo XClarity Administrator online documentation.

  • XClarity Orchestrator Analytics. Enables analytics functions.

    A license is required in XClarity Orchestrator for each device that supports advanced-management functions.

    License compliance is determined based on the number of managed devices. The number of managed devices must not exceed the total number of licenses in all active XClarity Orchestrator Analytics license keys. When the number of XClarity Orchestrator Analytics licenses is not compliant (for example, if licenses expire or if managing additional devices exceeds the total number of active licenses), you have a grace period of 90 days to install appropriate licenses. If the grace period (including the free trial) ends before the required number of licenses is installed, the Monitoring > Analytics menus are disabled and you cannot view analytics reports or create custom alert rules and queries for all devices.

A license is not tied to specific devices.

The activation period starts when the licenses are redeemed.

Licenses are installed using a license activation key. After you redeem licenses, you can create an activation key for all or a subset of your available licenses, and then download and install the activation key in XClarity Orchestrator.

Each time XClarity Orchestrator becomes non-compliant, the grace period resets to 90 days.

If licenses are already installed, new licenses are not required when upgrading to a new release of XClarity Orchestrator.

If you are using a free trial license or if you have a grace period to become compliant, and you upgrade to a later version of XClarity Orchestrator, the trial license or grace period resets to 90 days.

When upgrading XClarity Orchestrator or if an error condition occurs that requires you to restore the activation keys, you can either use exported keys or download all activation keys (for each customer ID) from the Features on Demand web portal, and then import the activation keys (either as individual activation keys or collectively as a key ZIP file) into XClarity Orchestrator.

You can view a list of your current software licenses from the Features on Demand web portal.

Procedure

To install XClarity Orchestrator licenses, complete the following steps.

  1. Contact your Lenovo representative or authorized Business Partner to purchase licenses based on the number of devices that you want to manage.

    After purchasing licenses, an authorization code is sent to you in an electronic proof of entitlement email. You can also retrieve the authorization code from the Features on Demand web portal by clicking Retrieve authorization code. If you do not receive the email and you purchased the license through a Business Partner, contact your Business Partner to request the authorization code.

    The authorization code is a 22-character alphanumeric string. You will need the authorization code to complete the next step.

  2. Retrieve the activation keys for the licenses.
    • Creating activation keys from an authorization code
      1. Open the Features on Demand web portal from a web browser, and log in to the portal using your email address as your user ID.
      2. Click Request activation key.
      3. Select Input a Single Authorization Code.
      4. Enter the 22-character authorization code, and click Continue.
      5. Enter your Lenovo customer number in the Lenovo Customer Number field.
      6. Enter the number of licenses that you want to redeem in the Redeem Quantity field, and then click Continue.

        To redeem all the available licenses in this key, match the number in Available licenses field.

        If you redeem a subset of available licenses, you can redeem the remaining licenses in another activation key using the same authorization code.

      7. Follow the prompts to enter product details and contact information, and click Continue to generate the activation key.
      8. Optionally specify additional recipients to receive the activation keys.
      9. Click Submit to send the activation keys.

        The person assigned to the purchase order and the additional recipients will receive an email with the activation key. The activation key is a file in .KEY format.

        Note
        You can also download activation keys (individually or in batch) from the Features on Demand web portal by clicking Download link.
    • Downloading existing activation keys
      1. Open the Features on Demand web portal from a web browser, and log in to the portal using your email address as your user ID.
      2. Click Retrieve History.
      3. Select “Search history via Lenovo Customer Number” as the Search type.
      4. Enter your Lenovo Customer number in the Search Value field. The customer number format is 121XXXXXXX.
      5. Click Select all to download all activation keys or select individual activation keys from the list.
      6. Click Email to email the keys to you, or click Download to download the keys to your local system.
  3. Apply licenses in XClarity Orchestrator.
    1. From the XClarity Orchestrator menu bar, click Maintenance (Maintenance icon), and then click the Licenses tab to display the License Information card.
      License Information card
    2. Click the Import and Apply icon (Import icon) to apply the licenses.
    3. Drag and drop the activation key file for the licenses that you want to apply to the Import dialog, or click Browse to locate the file.
      Tip
      To import multiple activation keys, compress the .KEY files into a ZIP file, and select the ZIP file for import.
    4. Click Import to import and apply the licenses.

      When the installation is complete, the activation (license) key is listed in the table with the number of installed licenses and the activation period (start and expiration dates).

  4. If you applied the valid licenses after functions were disabled, log out and then log in again to enable the applicable functions.

After you finish

You can perform the following actions from the License Information card.

  • Save one or more selected activation keys to the local system by clicking the Save icon (Save As icon).
    Tip
    When you export multiple activation keys, the files are downloaded as a single ZIP file.
  • Delete a specific activation keys by clicking the Delete icon (Delete icon).

Getting help

  • If you have issues and you used a Business Partner, contact your Business Partner to verify the transaction and entitlement.
  • If you did not receive your electronic proof of entitlement, authorization codes, or activation keys, or if they were sent to wrong person, contact one of the regional representatives, based on your geography.
  • If information about my entitlement is not correct, contact Lenovo Support at SW_override@lenovo.com and include the following information.
    • Order number
    • Your contact information, including email address
    • Your physical address
    • Changes that you want made
  • If you have issues or questions about downloading the license, contact Lenovo Support at -eSupport_-_Ops@lenovo.com.