linerate not configured for free tier, should I be able to experiment with it?

Ilari,

The LineRate free tier / starter license requires online activation. You'll have to permit traffic from the LineRate system to

activate.f5.com:443

login.f5.com:443

ihealth-api.f5.com:443

Once the license activates, it will be good for 14 days at which point it will need to access those f5 servers again to renew the license activation. If you want, you can add the firewall rules, let the LineRate system activate the license and then remove the firewall rules, but you'd have to do this every two weeks to continue to use the system.

In addition to the documentation that Andrew provided in the other comment, be sure to add "activation auto" to the licensing configuration like this:

config
licensing
activation auto

Regards,