Socket-based licensing

Overview

Infrascale socket-based licensing for the virtual Backup & Disaster Recovery appliance considers the number of populated CPU sockets in an ESX or ESXi host(s) being backed up.

The license is counted by CPUs, not by CPU cores. So, if you have an ESX or ESXi host with two CPUs each having four cores, it would require two sockets, not eight. Backing up VMs from three hosts with two CPUs each, requires a license for six sockets. The first time a VM is backed up from a host, the number of sockets needed to cover that host will be taken from the pool of available licensed sockets, and assigned to that host.

The license does not take into account:

• the number of VMs or physical clients

• empty CPU sockets on the motherboard of an ESX or ESXi host

• the number of virtual CPUs used by the virtual appliance

• the number of virtual NICs used by the virtual appliance

• the size of the backup storage volume

View licensed sockets

To view the list of hosts using the socket license, and the licensed sockets used by those hosts:

1. Log in to the Management Console of the virtual appliance.

2. On the Settings tab, click Licenses in the Tools group.

3. Click Advanced, and see the Registered Hypervisors list.

Allocate licensed socket to another host

You can withdraw a licensed socket from one host and allocate it to another, for example, if you want to switch from backing up the test hosts to the production hosts.

For this, in the Management Console of the virtual appliance:

1. Go to the Settings tab.

2. In the Tools group, click Licenses.

   In the Registered Hypervisors list, you will find the hosts and licensed sockets used by them.

3. Select one or more hosts, and then click Revoke to remove the hosts from the list and to return the sockets they were using to the pool of available licensed sockets.

   A new host will be allocated sockets from the pool of available licensed sockets upon the first time a VM is backed up from that host.

Revokes remaining count

The revokes remaining count indicates how many times you have withdrawn a licensed socket from an ESX or ESXi host. You can revoke a licensed socket a fixed number of times.

It is calculated per host, but not per socket. For example, if you revoke a licensed socket from the host A, then allocate it to the host B, and then allocate it to the host A again, the count will decrease by one for each host.

To view the revokes remaining count, in the Management Console of the virtual appliance:

1. Go to the Settings tab.

2. In the Tools group, click Licenses.

3. In the Registered Hypervisors list, see the Revokes Remaining column.

If the revokes remaining count for a host that uses a licensed socket reaches 0, you will need to contact Infrascale Support to remove it from the list of hosts that use the socket license so the licensed socket in use could be allocated to another host.

Frequently asked questions

Backup Failure: The number of licensed sockets has been exceeded by this clients VM host