Forum Discussion

Daniel_Beckham_'s avatar
Daniel_Beckham_
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
Nov 24, 2015

I'm unable to upgrade an active LineRate license from one tier to the next

I just upgraded a Tier 3 LineRate subscription Tier 4, but 

license refresh base
does not upgrade the license. I see this repeated in 
/var/log/controller.messages
:

Nov 24 16:42:03 LROS LROS: ERROR: Failed to obtain a license:

I replaced all of the license key info with 

XXXXXX
below. None of the emails contained x's.

I received several emails after the purchase. The first said my 100M subscription expired. The second was a subscription confirmation that said: 

Upgrade RegKey XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXX-XXXXXX to plan_code tier_250_monthly from tier_100_monthly
along with total due, tax and what I paid. The third email was titled "Registration Key AddOn Change Request" and looked like the normal registration key email, but was kind of odd:

The contents were: 

Subscription ID XXXXXXXXXXXX

Registration Key

F5-ADD-LR-100M-M removed 
F5-ADD-LR-100M-M removed
    XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXX-XXXXXX (HA Pair) 
F5-ADD-LR-250M-M added

That regkey there represented by the x's is the HA pair key and is the same key my current ha pair uses. The key for the active load balancer was not included for some reason. Very confusing.

Can someone please he me figure this out? I'm about to be screwed over by this. I upgraded because I need the limits raised...

application delivery
linerate
  • Madhu_Rajagopal's avatar
    Madhu_Rajagopal
    Icon for Employee rankEmployee
    Nov 24, 2015

    Hi Daniel,

     

    Sorry to hear that you are having trouble re-licensing your LineRate instances. In order to change tier or upgrade a license you need to cancel your existing license and then purchase a new one.

     

    It is unclear whether you did that. Can you please clarify that for us. Look forward to assisting you.

     

    Regards

     

    Madhu

     

  • Daniel_Beckham_'s avatar
    Daniel_Beckham_
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Nov 25, 2015

    So, another question. How do I actually cancel my subscription and then purchase a new one?

     

    This document about configuring licensing does mention that you must cancel and purchase a new one: If you want to upgrade your license, you need to cancel your existing license on linerate.f5.com/try, then purchase a new one.

     

    I can see on my subscriptions list at https://linerate.f5.com/try, and I see the cancel button here https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/sfz417b0dzcrznp/2015-11-25%20at%209.35%20AM.png, but it's not obvious how I'll be able to repurchase a license for the current system I'm using.

     

    Do I actually have to entirely replace the current system with a new installation? This is a running, production system serving traffic and will be serving traffic over the next few days, which is our biggest time of the year.

     

    I'll be honest. I really, really love the LineRate software and I seriously want this installation to be hugely successful so that we can use it in our other data centers, but I can't risk my job, or many company's well being on a hokey, broken software licensing model that is great for F5, but is constantly screwing over the customer. What is going on?

     

    • Andrew_Ragone_2's avatar
      Andrew_Ragone_2
      Historic F5 Account
      Nov 25, 2015
      Dan, would you be able to send over the last section of the RegKeys you are looking to upgrade from/to? This will help us take a look at the licensing system and the best course of action to get you upgraded without affecting your production systems. To answer your question about "Do I actually have to entirely replace the current system with a new installation?" ... the answer is no: the licensing will just need to be adjusted so nothing will need to be built back up from scratch. Also, for the wasted upgrade fees you mention above, rest-assured we will take care of you on that front.
    • Andrew_Ragone_2's avatar
      Andrew_Ragone_2
      Historic F5 Account
      Nov 25, 2015
      Some other information you could gather to help look into the issue, would be to run the following commands in the CLI and post the results here (you can mask all of the RegKey except for the last section). show licensing detailed show licensing activation
    • Daniel_Beckham_'s avatar
      Daniel_Beckham_
      Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
      Nov 25, 2015
      The original reg key was MEXLJZY. I couldn't wait any longer, or I would have had to shut this data center down, so I went ahead and gambled on cancelling the MEXLJZY license and purchased a new one, ZUHHSCN, which expires on 12/25/2015. No change. After following the LineRate instructions to add the new registration key, there is no change in the registration information. It still shows the Tier 2 limits of 1000/100/100 and an expiration date of 12/14/2015, the old key's expiration. If I try to use license refresh base, I see this error: Nov 25 10:16:46 LROS LROS: ERROR: Failed to obtain a license: