Forum Discussion
Nimbostratus"A valid service contract is required" after upgrade to 17.5.1.3
Hi,
I upgraded our virtual Big-IP from 16.1.2 to 16.1.6 reactivating the license first without issue. Right after, I upgraded to 17.5.1.3 and then I get the message "A valid service contract is required is required to complete the installation" and the system is offline.
Following the https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000150276 I booted back from the 16.1.6. Re-licensed the appliance and installed the configuration during the boot from the 17.5.1.3 again. However, I still getting this message. What I'missing?
In the "licensed date" I see 17th of October 2025 in the GUI, and this is the date I get from CLI:
[root@f5:INOPERATIVE:] config # grep "Service check date" /config/bigip.license
Service check date : 20240511
Thanks
Hello Technician
The Entitled Service being 05-12-2022 - 05-11-2024 means that you can you can upgrade to any software that came out prior to the contract end date. Per the article K7727 17.1.x is eligible but 17.5.x is after that date so it would not be eligible. Version 18 is compatibility, so the license is capable of the higher version but is currently limited due to no support. That date is also going to impact the abilities to create cases because the service agreement ended 05-11-2024. For further assistance your customer would want to contact their F5 Account Manager or Sales team for further contract details. If you have further questions about the license I would reach out to our support team.
-Melissa
5 Replies
- leemedz
Altocumulus
The Service Check date is not matching what is expected for 17.5.1.3 as noted here: License activation may be required before a software upgrade for BIG-IP
BIG-IP 17.5.x 2025-02-12 You will need to activate the licence again if you want to go to that version.
- Melissa_C
Moderator
Hello Technician
Thank you for posting to our community. Reviewing the error message "A valid service contract is required" with you receiving a license date of October 17th, 2025 and the service check date May 11th, 2024 (20240511) that would indicate the serial number you are attempting to upgrade does not have a valid support contract. To verify and obtain service contract information you can visit secure.f5.com and submit a Product Information Request. The license check dates are listed in K7727: License activation may be required before a software upgrade for BIG-IP, if the service check date is correct, to complete the upgrade a valid service contract will be required before you proceed.
-Melissa
TechnicianHi Melissa_C
Thanks for your feedback. I checked the contract information using the link you provided and I got the following information:
#-------------------------------------------------------------------
# Service and Warranty Information
#-------------------------------------------------------------------
Entitled Service : 05-12-2022 - 05-11-2024 (F5-SVC-BIG-VE+STDL13)
Warranty End Date : 04-07-2023#-------------------------------------------------------------------
# Base Key for F5 Product BIG-IP v9.x for -------
#-------------------------------------------------------------------
Base RegKey : ------- (Locked) BIG-IP
F5 Platform : Z100
First Activation Date : 05-12-2022
Last Activation Date : 10-17-2025
License Time Limit : N/A
Mac Address : .........Our customer purchased a perpetual BIP-IP virtual license that was eligible to be updated up to version 18. Does the information above means that he cannot upgrade to versions beyond 16? We cannot open support cases neither? What does "warranty end date" means?
Thanks for your time.
Regards.
- leemedz
While the error messages that you have posted don't indicate a restricted licence it might be worth checking if that is what is stopping you moving beyond version 16.x. Details can be found in K99307484: Error ''This license does not support the software version you are rebooting into. Are you sure you want to boot into the specified boot volume?'' when booting into other software version"
Ran into the this exact issue on Monday night which is how I found out about this and while the Service Date check from the CLI indicated that it would be possible to move to version 17.x when we tried it refused to load and the error message received was "The license does not support the software version you are rebooting into. Are you sure you want to boot into the specific boot location".
- Melissa_C
Hello Technician
The Entitled Service being 05-12-2022 - 05-11-2024 means that you can you can upgrade to any software that came out prior to the contract end date. Per the article K7727 17.1.x is eligible but 17.5.x is after that date so it would not be eligible. Version 18 is compatibility, so the license is capable of the higher version but is currently limited due to no support. That date is also going to impact the abilities to create cases because the service agreement ended 05-11-2024. For further assistance your customer would want to contact their F5 Account Manager or Sales team for further contract details. If you have further questions about the license I would reach out to our support team.
-Melissa
