nGeniusPULSE v3.

1
Licensing Guide

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 1
Product Use ............................................................................................................................................... 1
Licensing Overview .................................................................................................................................... 2
License Requirements ............................................................................................................................... 2
Convert All-in-One to Distributed ............................................................................................................... 5
Obtaining Licenses ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Applying Licenses ...................................................................................................................................... 9
Troubleshooting........................................................................................................................................ 11
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ....................................................................................................... 13
Appendix .................................................................................................................................................. 14
Support Contact Information .................................................................................................................... 15

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019
Introduction
This document describes the process for licensing the nGeniusPULSE appliance. Configuration
information can be found on the product's Administration help links.

nGeniusPULSE online help can be found at https://downloads.netscout.com/nGeniusPulse/v26/Introduction.html.

Product Use
Use of this product is subject to the End User License Agreement (https://www.netscout.com/legal/terms-
and-conditions) or which accompanies the product at the time of shipment or, if applicable, the legal
agreement executed by and between NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC., and the purchaser of this product
(“Agreement”).

Government Use and Notice of Restricted Rights: In U.S. government (“Government”) contracts or
subcontracts, Customer will provide that the Products and Documentation, including any technical data
(collectively “Materials”), sold or delivered pursuant to this Agreement for Government use are
commercial as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) 2.101and any supplement and further
are provided with RESTRICTED RIGHTS. All Materials were fully developed at private expense. Use,
duplication, release, modification, transfer, or disclosure (“Use”) of the Materials is restricted by the terms
of this Agreement and further restricted in accordance with FAR 52.227-14 for civilian Government
agency purposes and 252.227-7015 of the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement
("DFARS") for military Government agency purposes, or the similar acquisition regulations of other
applicable Government organizations, as applicable and amended. The Use of Materials is restricted by
the terms of this Agreement, and, in accordance with DFARS Section 227.7202 and FAR Section 12.212,
is further restricted in accordance with the terms of NETSCOUT's commercial End User License
Agreement. All other Use is prohibited, except as described herein.

This Product may contain third-party technology. NETSCOUT may license such third-party technology and
documentation ("Third-Party Materials") for use with the Product only. In the event the Product contains
Third-Party Materials, or in the event you have the option to use the Product in conjunction with Third-
Party Materials (as identified by NETSCOUT in the applicable Documentation), then such third-party
materials are provided or accessible subject to the applicable third-party terms and conditions contained in
the “Read Me” or “About” of this product. To the extent the Product includes Third-Party Materials
licensed to NETSCOUT by third parties, those third parties are third-party beneficiaries of, and may
enforce, the applicable provisions of such third-party terms and conditions.

Open-Source Software Acknowledgment: This product may incorporate open-source components that
are governed by the GNU General Public License ("GPL") or licenses that are compatible with the GPL
license (“GPL c ompatible License”). In accordance with the terms of the GNU GPL, NETSCOUT will make
available a complete, machine-readable copy of the source code components of this product covered by
the GPL or applicable GPL Compatible License, if any, upon receipt of a written request. Please identify
the product and send a request to:

NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC.

GNU GPL Source Code Request 310 Littleton Road
Westford, MA 01886
Attn: Legal Department

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 1
Licensing Overview
nGeniusPULSE must be licensed after installation. Here is the summary of the licensing process:

1. Use the License registration keys sent to you by NETSCOUT to generate licenses on
my.netscout.com
2. Apply licenses on the nGeniusPULSE Server with the LicenseCL.sh utility.

The process is described below.

License Requirements
Hardware appliances (All-in-One, Distributed Server, Distributed Collector) come with the necessary
licenses already applied. If you are creating a virtual installation, you must apply the appropriate
license(s).

Multiple licenses are required for nGeniusPULSE:

• Server/Local Manager License (All-in-One, Distributed): each nGeniusPULSE Server requires

its own license.

• Collector Licenses (Distributed): each collector requires its own license (each license allows
50K Monitored Elements).

Note: The collector is part of the nGeniusPULSE server in an All-in-One system and does not
require a separate license.

• nPoint Licenses: one for each (hardware or virtual) nPoint deployed.

Notes

• With no license, a system has a 30-day evaluation mode.

• All licenses (Server, Collector and nPoint) are applied to the nGeniusPulse server.

A license is either Permanent or Evaluation, depending on whether the license is time-limited or not.
You can view the license status on your nGeniusPULSE system at Administration > System >
Licensing.

The licensing page (Administration > System > Licensing) shows the current status of your
nGeniusPULSE server license. There are different views, depending on whether you are running an All-
in-One Server, or a Distributed System.

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All-in-One

• nGeniusPULSE Server License

o License Type - either Permanent or Evaluation, depending on whether the license is time-
limited or not.
o Collectors - an All-in-One System has a single internal collector.
o Monitored Elements - the current number of network elements that are being monitored by
nGeniusPULSE and the maximum number allowed.
o Expiration Date - shows the expiration date and the number of remaining days.
• nGeniusPULSE Collector Licenses - this is for a Distributed System. In an All-in-One System, this
shows the number of distributed Collector evaluation licenses are available. If a distributed Collector

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 is enabled (whether using a Permanent or an Evaluation license), an All-in-One System will be
converted to a Distributed System.
• nPoint 2000 Licenses - indicates how many nPoint 2000s can be provisioned to this system. Any
nPoints in excess of this number are disabled. nPoints only count against the license if they are
online and not disabled – they do not have to be deleted.
• nPoint 3000 Licenses - indicates how many nPoint 3000s can be provisioned to this system. Any
nPoints in excess of this number are disabled. nPoints only count against the license if they are
online and not disabled – they do not have to be deleted.

Note: If all nPoint 2000 licenses are in use, an additional nPoint 2000 activation will use an available
nPoint 3000 license. If all nPoint 3000 licenses are in use, an additional nPoint 3000 activation will
disable an nPoint 2000 (if using an nPoint 3000 license).

Distributed

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 4
• nGeniusPULSE Server License

o License Type - either Permanent or Evaluation, depending on whether the license is time-
limited or not.

Note: The Collectors entry seen in the All-in-One system is gone. Collector licenses are
shown below.

o Monitored Elements - the current number of network elements that are being monitored by
nGeniusPULSE and the maximum number allowed. On a distributed system, this field is the
sum of all monitored elements across all provisioned Collectors.

• nGeniusPULSE Collector Licenses - indicates how many Collectors are provisioned to this system,
and how many are allowed to be provisioned by the installed licenses.

Note: a Collector will use a license until it is deleted, even if it goes offline. In order to free up
Collector licenses to allow new Collectors to be provisioned, old Collectors must be deleted.

• nPoint 2000 Licenses - indicates how many nPoint 2000s can be provisioned to this system. Any
nPoints in excess of this number are disabled. Unlike Collectors, nPoints only count against the
license if they are online and not disabled – they do not have to be deleted.
• nPoint 3000 Licenses - indicates how many nPoint 3000s can be provisioned to this system. Any
nPoints in excess of this number are disabled. Unlike Collectors, nPoints only count against the
license if they are online and not disabled – they do not have to be deleted.

Note: If all nPoint 2000 licenses are in use, an additional nPoint 2000 activation will use an available
nPoint 3000 license. If all nPoint 3000 licenses are in use, an additional nPoint 3000 activation will
disable an nPoint 2000 (if using an nPoint 3000 license).

Convert All-in-One to Distributed

An All-in-One nGeniusPULSE appliance has a permanent license that enables the system to monitor up
to 25,000 elements. When you convert the All-in-One to a Distributed system by adding an external
Collector, a second license is needed that allows the collector to monitor up to 50,000 elements.

A Distributed system consists of a Server and one or more stand-alone Collectors (the internal Collector
of an All-in-One is disabled when converted to a Distributed system). Each stand-alone Collector can
monitor 50,000 elements. A Distributed system can support up to ten Collectors, each one monitoring up
to 50,000 elements, for a total of up to 500,000 monitored elements for the system.

nGeniusPULSE uses a stacking system for licensing where the first license is called a permanent license
and subsequent licenses of the same option code are called incremental. For example, if you have a
distributed system with a Server and two Collectors, the Server has a permanent license with option code
295 (Pulse Server), one permanent license code with option 296 (Pulse Collector), and another
incremental license code with option 296 (Pulse Collector). Because the Server polling processes are
stopped, the original license of the All-in-One to monitor 25,000 elements is no longer active.

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 5
Obtaining Licenses
Note: This process is for virtual installations only. All hardware appliances are licensed by the factory.

1. You receive Licensing information (see below) in an OFA (Order Fulfillment Agreement):

• nGeniusPULSE Server
• nGeniusPULSE Collector
• nGeniusPULSE nPoint Pack (comes in 10, 50, 100, 200, or 500 packs)

2. Log into your my.netscout.com account.

3. Click on Licensing & Downloads.
4. Click on nGeniusPULSE in the nGenius Business Assurance Solutions section.

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 6
5. Make sure Product Version v3.0.xxxx is selected in the pull-down menu.

6. Select the Licensing – Perm/Incremental tab.

Note: You must associate your MasterCare # to your my.netscout.com account, otherwise the
Licensing – Perm/Incremental tab will not be visible. Email customercare@netscout.com if you
do not know your MasterCare #.

7. Click the nGeniusPULSE Server Permanent Licensing Link.

8. Enter the Product Serial Key found in the OFA.
9. Enter the IP address of the nGeniusPULSE Server.
10. Re-enter the IP address.

11. Click Submit. A summary of the registration will be emailed to you.

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12. Repeat the same process for the nGeniusPULSE Collector (Distributed system only) and nPoint
licenses.

Note: if you have Permanent and Incremental licenses, refer to the troubleshooting section
Permanent and Incremental license.

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 8
Applying Licenses
You can view the license status at Administration > System > Licensing.

Note: An All-in-One nGeniusPULSE has a built-in collector license.

To Apply a License:

1. SSH to the nGeniusPULSE server, logon as nGPadmin/netscout1.

2. Enter LicenseCL.sh (this utility is available globally, so there is no need of absolute path). A
permanent license will ask for 10-digit serial number, 16-digit password and software option number
(included in the email that you received after registering your product).
3. The license is applied and a Congratulations! The permanent license has been approved”
message displays.

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 9
4. Re-run the LicenseCL.sh command to apply any remaining licenses to the nGeniusPULSE server.

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 10
Troubleshooting
How do I apply license codes?

1. Find your license codes.

2. SSH into the nGeniusPulse system in question.
3. If you have a ".license.properties" file, you can add this file directly
at /etc/ipm/appliance/license/.license.properties on the nGeniusPULSE server
and you are done. If you just have a license code, proceed to the next step.
4. Run LicenseCL.sh from the command line. This is on the path, and so you should not need to
go to a specific directory.

Note: There is a symlink to this script at /opt/NetScout/rtm/bin/LicenseCL.sh for

compatibility with nGeniusONE workflows, if that is what you are used to.

5. Follow the prompts to enter the license codes.

a. If you have nPoint incremental license codes (that is, multiple nPoint packs of the same
size), the permanent license in a given pack size must be applied before any Incremental
licenses.

Please read Permanent and Incremental licenses to apply the multiple pack licenses.

6. You do not need to restart the system to apply the license codes, although they may take up to 5
minutes to propagate through the system.

Note: Check the appendix for ‘option code’ information.

If you are licensing a beta or Proof Of Concept (POC) system
If you need a time-limited evaluation license, check your email. NetScout periodically emails time-
limited license codes. Instructions for using these are in the above section How do I apply license
codes?

Log file for error on license

When there is a problem on applying a license, please check the following log files:

o /var/log/ipm/analytics.log file
o /var/log/ipm/plmc/plmc.log

When there is a problem with the license, the following messages can be seen in the PLMC log (PLC
tries to register and is rejected by PLM).

This is also visible in the UI with the red banner:

19-01-31 08:16:22 MST task-31 WARN c.n.i.p.PlcCommsHandler:338 -

Registration failed for PLC <PLC NAME>, no licenses available.
19-01-31 08:16:23 MST thread-1 WARN c.n.i.p.u.PlcLicenseChecker:72 - PLM is
not licensed, disconnecting all PLCs.
19-01-31 08:16:23 MST thread-1 WARN c.n.i.p.u.PlcLicenseChecker:95 - There
are more attached collectors than are licensed. Removing the license for 1

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 11
collectors.

Permanent and Incremental licenses

For the nGeniusPULSE nPoint and collector, you may have multiple pack licenses which might be a
combination of Permanent and Incremental licenses.

Below is a sample of permanent and incremental keys. This sample is modified from original keys and is
only for understanding.

Permanent Key
Serial Number: 4000102105
IP Address: 192.16.15.13
Password: 1212-ab12-1234-xxx
Software Option: 298
Registration Key: xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-102105 (Not required for installation.)
Product Name: nGeniusPULSE nPoint - 50 Pack

Incremental Key
Installation Serial Number - 32987096926
Purchased Serial Number - 4000096926
Host ID/IP Address – 192.16.15.13
Password - e75a-a6bd-2c30-ced0
Software Option - 298
Registration Key - 9E31-723D-06D9-EAD5-096926 (Not required for installation.)
Product Name - nGeniusPULSE nPoint - 50 Pack

There is only a permanent license SKU and no incremental SKU for nPoints/Collectors on the OFA. If you
have multiple packs of licenses to install, you must register one of the keys as permanent and then
register the other key(s) as incremental. The installed serial numbers of Permanent and Incremental keys
begin with 4. When a key is registered as Incremental, you will receive an installation serial number,
which begins with 3. After installation, the installed serial number will begin with 4. The incremental
licenses DO NOT have an expiration date.

Permanent and Incremental licenses are different. Permanent licenses are bound to an IP, Incremental
licenses are not, and they are generated differently as described below.

 The first license installed of any given pack size must be Permanent. That is, even if a
system already has a Permanent 10-pack, you cannot add an Incremental 50-pack before
adding a Permanent 50-pack.
 The Permanent license in a given pack size must be applied before any Incremental licenses.
 Each Incremental license code must have a different serial number.

For Example: To license a system for 150 nPoints, you can apply 3x 50 nPoint packs, and to license a
system for 5 collectors, you can apply 5 Collector licenses.

• nGeniusPULSE Server Permanent license

• 1 Permanent license for nGeniusPULSE Collector + 4 incremental licenses nGeniusPULSE
Collector
• nGeniusPULSE nPoint 50 Pack Permanent license + nGeniusPULSE nPoint 50 Pack
Incremental + nGeniusPULSE nPoint 50 Pack Incremental

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 12
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
o How do I get my licenses?

 It will be emailed to you, if you could not find it, contact customer care.

o Which licenses do I need to get (then see above)

 If you have an All-in-One Server, you will need a server license and possibly one
or more nPoint licenses.
 If you have a distributed System, you will need a Server license, and a license for
each Collector.

o How do I get license keys?

 They are sent with the OFA (Order Fulfillment Agreement) which is attached to
the sales order. If you do not have your OFA, contact customer care.

o Do I have to manually edit the license file (nGeniusONE style)?

 We recommend using the LicenseCL.sh utility (see Applying Licenses).

 For advanced users, license. properties file is on the nGeniusPulse server
/etc/ipm/appliance/license/.license.properties

o If I clear the database, will I need to reapply the license?

 License information is stored on the filesystem. If you are re-imaging the system,
yes. If you are only clearing the databases, then no.

o What happens to the license if I change my nGeniusPULSE server IP address?

 Contact customer care before changing the nGeniusPULSE server IP address.

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 13
Appendix

nGeniusPULSE Option Codes

License Code English

295 nGeniusPULSE System (aka
Server)
296 nGeniusPULSE Polling (aka
Collector)
297 nPoint 10-Pack
298 nPoint 50-Pack
299 nPoint 100-Pack
300 nPoint 200-Pack
301 nPoint 500-Pack

Earlier option codes are reserved for nGeniusONE. These are all the relevant nGeniusPULSE related
option codes that are currently implemented.

Option Code 295 (Server License)

An nGeniusPULSE system with this option code is allowed to function as a PLM (Pulse Local
Manager) or as an Standalone system, including operating the embedded collector.

Option Code 296 (Collector License)

An nGeniusPULSE PLM with N of these option codes is allowed to have N PLCs (Pulse Local
Collectors) attached and collecting data. N is the total number of option code 296 license codes
installed, which is one permanent license plus any number of incremental licenses. Any PLCs
attached to a PLM in excess of N will be marked as Unlicensed in the UI, and are not allowed to
perform Discovery or do any variety of monitoring. These licenses are "sticky" - that is, if a PLC
goes offline, the license that was used for it by the PLM will not be automatically reassigned to a
new PLC. In this case, the license can be freed for reassignment by deleting a licensed PLC.

Option Codes 297-301 (nPoint Licenses)

An nGeniusPULSE system (standalone or PLM) with these license codes is allowed to have N
nPoints attached and running tests. Each option code represents a different number of nPoints,
and each option code can be "stacked" by use of incremental license codes (see permanent and
increment license for a description of how Incremental license codes work). The number of
allowed nPoints, N, is the sum of all installed packs. That is, if a system has two license codes
for option code 297 (10 nPoints per code) and one option code 301 (500 nPoints per code), it
would be allowed to have 520 nPoints attached and running tests. Any nPoints in excess of this
number will be automatically Disabled and marked as Disabled for license reasons in the
UI. Offline nPoints do not count towards the license limit, and the licenses are not "sticky" like the
Collector/296 licenses described above. However, nPoints which are Disabled for license
reasons will not be automatically re-enabled if licenses are freed.

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 14
Support Contact Information
GENERAL PRODUCT TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Website
https://my.netscout.com/Pages/Overview.aspx

Email
support@netscout.com

Phone

1-844-833-3713 (U.S. only) or 978-320-2150 (international)

http://www.netscout.com/company/contact-us-2/international-support-numbers/

Copyright © 2019 NetScout Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Rev 3, July 2019 15