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Licensing

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.

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.

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