AmpCon licensing incorporates several changes from the legacy switch based licensing.

Legacy licenses are assigned to specific switches based on features (EE/OF) and Speed (1/10/100G) and tied to the switch through a unique “Hardware ID” that is generated by the PicOS software.  The license keys are typically generated through the GUI on the License Portal, and may optionally be generated using an automation script through the portal API.

AmpCon licenses are associated with the AmpCon platform, and are allocated as a single entitlement number.  These licenses are allocated on the license portal as a new license type – a “pool” license, and not as individual switch licenses.  As such, the licenses have no switch specific details such as port counts, speeds, switch model, or features – just a number that represents the number of switches that may be operated under that AmpCon platform.

The AmpCon pool licenses are assigned to the customer account in the license portal, however unlike individual switch licensing, they are not normally accessed through the portal GUI to generate license keys for switches.  Switches still need a license to operate, and all switch licensing should be done through AmpCon which connects directly to the portal, checks the customer license entitlement, and generates licenses keys for the switches that are being managed by AmpCon.  There is one exception to this process, required when AmpCon is unable to access the license portal due to network connectivity or some other issue – this is described further in the section Manual License Generaion Using the License Portal UI.

The AmpCon Dashboard displays the License Usage summary as shown below that includes the following:  

• Number of Licenses in the License Pool,
• License Used, and
• Remaining Licenses

Figure 1. License Usage in Dashboard

Manual License Generaion Using the License Portal UI

 The AmpCon Server does the switch licensing automatically during the deployment process.  Typically, this workflow involves installing the PicOS software, provisioning the switch with its configuration details, and licensing the switch.   Since the deployment process also sets up an OpenVPN connection between the switch and the AmpCon server, to operate correctly, it must be performed using the customer’s AmpCon server.  (This explicitly means that a 3^rd party, such as a reseller, cannot pre-install licenses on the customer’s switches using the reseller’s own AmpCon server; they can however, pre-install the PicOS software ). 

Anytime the customer takes a switch out of service, AmpCon will return its license to the pool, and it can now be used for another switch.  

There is a key difference with respect to Support.  In the individual switch model, customers could operate switches with or without support – so, while it was not recommended, it was possible to have some switches on active support, while others were not. In the AmpCon licensing model, all switches operated and managed by AmpCon must be on active support, and there is only one support date associated with the entire license pool.  If the support expires, switches will continue to operate, but no new switches may be deployed (even if licenses are available), and AmpCon will fall back to reduced functionality (See AmpCon user guide for details). 

What about customers who are already using PicOS on some switches, and then decide to adopt AmpCon?  They have a choice.  If they only use AmpCon for the new switches bought with the AmpCon license, they can keep operating the existing switches with their individual switch licenses.  If they wish to operate all (old + new) switches under AmpCon, then the AmpCon license pool must be expanded* to accommodate their existing switches, and these will have to be imported into the AmpCon database.  (* The Pica8 sales manager for the account will work with the customer to determine the best option and the cost of importing their existing switches into AmpCon).  AmpCon will only manage switches under an AmpCon license and a consistent support term, it will not manage a mix of switches with different license types and support terms. 

We provide a fallback function in the license portal to generate a license for a switch from the AmpCon pool, to handle the case when AmpCon cannot access the Pica8 license portal.  This may happen due to a temporary loss of network connectivity, or in some cases a configuration issue with using the web proxy that is required in the customer environment to access any servers in the public cloud.

Figure 2 below shows the user view of the license portal.

Figure 2. User View of the License Portal

To configure AmpCon settings for the switch deployment, click on the “New AmpCon Pool License” option and enter the switch details (speed, hardware ID) and an optional license name to generate the license key for the switch and download it to copy and paste manually into AmpCon.  (Note: while the AmpCon pool licenses are not restricted to a specific feature type or speed, generating a license key for a switch still requires the user to specify the switch speed (1G/10G/100G) and Hardware iD (obtained from the switch by executing the license –s command) on the license creation screen.

The customer (or the reseller) may also use this function to generate an individual switch license from the AmpCon pool, and install it on the switch manually to try out the switch without using AmpCon.   In this case, the user will need to either “Import” the switch into AmpCon to properly register it in  the AmpCon database, or deploy it again using AmpCon.  In both cases, AmpCon will update the license key already generated (manually by the user) and not take up another license from the pool for this switch.