Gateway Licensing

Overview

Many features in the Gateway, including running the Gateway itself, require a licence to function. These are acquired from the Geneos Licence Daemon to which the Gateway connects.

See Geneos Licence Daemon - Technical Reference for more information about the Licence Daemon.

Operation

The gateway must initially request a 'gateway' licence to run any functionality. If this request is successful, the gateway starts up and requests licences for other configured components (for example Database Logging or Express Reports). If the initial Gateway licence is denied, the Gateway remains idle.

The connection to the Licence Daemon is dynamic. Therefore, components on the Gateway (including the gateway itself) can move from licenced to unlicenced if the licence is changed on the daemon, making certain features available or unavailable. The gateway retains only the minimum licences required for the current configuration.

Connect to the Licence Daemon

By default, the gateway attempts to connect to a daemon running on localhost:7041. The hostname and port to connect to can be specified using the -licd-host and -licd-port command line options when starting the gateway.

If the Licence Daemon has been configured to run securely, the gateway needs to be passed the -licd-secure flag.

The gateway can be configured to request licences from a particular group on the daemon using operatingEnvironment > licensingGroup.

Viewing information about licensing

There are two methods for viewing the licence on the daemon and how it is being used.

Web Page Report.
- This is available by right-clicking on the Gateway icon and selecting Licensing Information.
Licence usage.

The Gateway data also provides high level licensing information such as expiry date and current connection status to the daemon.

Licence Usage plugin

The Licence usage displays reports about the licence on the daemon and how it is currently in use.

By default, the views show the licences available and currently in use for all licensing groups configured on the gateway. In addition, an overall LicenceUsage view shows connection and licence expiry information.

The plugin can also be configured to request views for specific groups as well as the overall usage of the entire licence.

It is strongly suggested that a gateway is used to monitor licence usage as one would monitor any other application. For a set of useful rules please consult the Licence Daemon Technical Reference Guide.

Unavailable Licence Daemon

In the event of the daemon becoming unavailable at runtime, the gateway will continue to operate. Connected probes and even the gateway itself can restart but the following operations are not possible:

Changing the gateway name —If this occurs, the entire gateway will cease to function until it can reconnect to the daemon.
Adding a new probe — New probes will not be licenced even if they are on the same server as an existing probe.
Adding a new sampler on a probe — If a new sampler is added on a probe with a plugin that is already in use on that probe, it will not be licenced. However, if the gateway or probe is restarted in the absence of the daemon, it is undefined which of the two samplers will be licenced.
Changing the host or port of a probe
Adding a new licensable gateway component that has not been used already in the setup
Adding a new Breach Predictor plugin — The Breach Predictor plugin requires a licence.

If the gateway is not connected to the daemon and the expiry date of the licence is reached, all licences held by the gateway will still expire.

Licensable Gateway Features

The following gateway features require a licence:

Gateway Component	Licence Required
Database Logging	`db-logging`
Express Reports	`reporting`
PAO Login	`single-signon`
Alerting	`alerting`
Self-Announcing Probes	`self-announcing-probes`
Floating Probes	`floating-probes`

Failed licence requests are logged in the gateway log.

For more details on licensing and running and configuring the licence daemon, please consult the Geneos Licence Daemon - Technical Reference.

To obtain a licence, please contact ITRS.

Netprobe plugins

A Gateway token is required to start the gateway. A server token is required for each machine on which the gateway is running a Netprobe.

A token will be requested for each plugin running on any configured Netprobes. Some plugins are licensed by server, meaning one token allows a netprobe to run as many instances of that plugin as required. Others are licensed by sampler, meaning each token corresponds one to one with a plugin instance. For more information, contact ITRS.