Licensing
This chapter describes how to identify and resolve problems related to licensing for theCisco Nexus 1000V.
This chapter includes the following sections.
•
Troubleshooting Unlicensed Modules
•Troubleshooting License Installation Issues
•Installed License Information
•Troubleshooting Post License Installation Problems
•Troubleshooting the Removal of a License
Licensing Overview
The name for the Cisco Nexus 1000V license package is NEXUS1000V_LAN_SERVICES_PKG.
The licensing model for Cisco Nexus 1000V is based on the number of CPU sockets of the ESX servers attached as VEMs to the VSM.
A module is licensed or unlicensed according to the following definitions:
•Licensed module—A VEM is considered to be licensed if it is able to acquire licenses for all of its CPU sockets.
•Unlicensed module—A VEM is considered to be unlicensed if it is not able to acquire licenses for any, or a subset of, its CPU sockets.
In the case that a VEM is unlicensed, all the virtual Ethernet ports on the VEM corresponding to the virtual machines (VMs) are kept down, with a reason code indicating that the VEM is unlicensed.
The VSM does not contain any licenses by default.
For additional information about licensing, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V License Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3).
Troubleshooting Unlicensed Modules
By default, the VSM does not contain any licenses. As a result, if you add a VEM to the VSM, the VEM comes up unlicensed.
To identify an unlicensed module, enter the show module command on the VSM.
n1000v# show module
Mod Ports Module-Type Model Status
-- ----- -------------------------------- ------------------ ------------
1 0 Virtual Supervisor Module Nexus1000V active *
5 248 Virtual Ethernet Module NA unlicensed
Mod Sw Hw
-- --------------- ------
1 4.0(4)SV1(1) 0.0
5 4.0(4)SV1(1) 0.4
Mod MAC-Address(es) Serial-Num
-- -------------------------------------- ----------
1 00-19-07-6c-5a-a8 to 00-19-07-6c-62-a8 NA
5 02-00-0c-00-05-00 to 02-00-0c-00-05-80 NA
Mod Server-IP Server-UUID Server-Name
-- --------------- ------------------------------------ --------------------
1 172.23.232.140 NA NA
5 172.23.233.100 33393935-3234-5553-4539-30364e345630 172.23.233.100
As shown, the status field for VEM 5 is unlicensed.
To gather information about why vEthernet interfaces are in VEM unlicensed state, enter the show interface veth command.
n1000v# show int veth1
Vethernet1 is down (VEM Unlicensed)
Port description is VM-Pri, Network Adapter 1
Hardware is Virtual, address is 0050.56b7.1c7b
Owner is VM "VM-Pri", adapter is Network Adapter 1
Active on module 5
VMware DVS port 32
Port-Profile is dhcp-profile
Port mode is access
Rx
5002 Input Packets 4008 Unicast Packets
85 Multicast Packets 909 Broadcast Packets
846478 Bytes
Tx
608046 Output Packets 17129 Unicast Packets
502543 Multicast Packets 88374 Broadcast Packets 0 Flood Packets
38144480 Bytes
20 Input Packet Drops 0 Output Packet Drops
If you power on a virtual machine with ports on a Cisco Nexus 1000V port group set, the interfaces are kept down with the status as VEM Unlicensed if the VEM is unlicensed.
Note The server administrator has no information on whether the VEMs are licensed or unlicensed. Therefore, the license state of the VEMs must be communicated to the server administrators so that they are aware that the VEthernet interfaces on unlicensed modules will not be able to pass traffic.
Troubleshooting License Installation Issues
This section assumes that you have a valid Cisco Nexus 1000V license file.
For information on how to purchase or install a license file, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V License Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3).
License Troubleshooting Checklist
Before you start the troubleshooting process, follow these requirements:
•Make sure the name of the license file is less than 32 characters.
•Make sure no other license file with the same name is installed on the VSM. If there is a license file with the same name, rename your new license file to something else.
•Do not edit the contents of the license file. If you have already done so, please contact your Cisco Customer Support Account Team.
•Make sure the Host-ID in the license file is the same as that on the switch.
Contents of the License File
The Cisco Nexus 1000V license file looks as follows:
SERVER this_host ANY
VENDOR cisco
INCREMENT NEXUS1000V_LAN_SERVICES_PKG cisco 1.0 26-jun-2009 16 \
HOSTID=VDH=4724514071229227089 \
NOTICE="<LicFileID>20090427142506674</LicFileID><LicLineID>1</LicLineID> \
<PAK12345></PAK12345>" SIGN=E0AF5428C434
Host-ID of the VSM
n1000v#show license host-id
License hostid: VDH=4724514071229227089
Notice that both instances of the host-id match and are equal to VDH=4724514071229227089.
Removing an Evaluation License File
If an evaluation license file is already installed on the VSM, then it must be removed from the VSM before installing a permancnt license file. For more information, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V License Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3).
Determining License Usage
To view the license state of the VEMs on your VSM and the number of CPU sockets per VEM, use the following command:
show module vem internal license-info
Example:
n1000v# show module vem internal license-info
License Sync Initiator : VEM 5
License Sync Stages : Complete
Num of Def Licenses in Use : 0
Num of Sync participants : 1
License Host-ID : 4724514071229227089
---------------------VEM License Info -----------------------
Vem Current License Operation License Status License Flags
--- ------------------------- -------------- -------------
5 None licensed None
-----------------VEM Socket License Info -------------------
Vem Sync License Usage Sockets License Version
-- ---- ------------- ------- ---------------
5 Yes 2 2 1.0
In this output, VEM 5 is Licensed. It has 2 CPU sockets and it currently uses 2 licenses.
Installed License Information
Use the show license usage command to view the installed license count.
n1000v#show license usage
Feature Ins Lic Status Expiry Date Comments
Count
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXUS1000V_LAN_SERVICES_PKG Yes 16 In use 26 Jun 2009 -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The output shows that 16 licenses have been installed and they will expire on June 26, 2009.
Troubleshooting Post License Installation Problems
After you install a license, you might see syslog messages like the following, which indicate a problem:
PLATFORM-2-PFM-VEM_UNLICENSED Syslog
Error Message 2008 Dec 19 22:28:30 N1KV %PLATFORM-2-PFM_VEM_UNLICENSED: License for VEM 5 could not be obtained. Please contact your Cisco account team or partner to purchase Licenses. To activate your purchased licenses, click on www.cisco.com/go/license.
Explanation It means that enough licenses were not installed to license the CPU Sockets of all the VEMs connected to the VSM.
Recommended Action Install additional licenses for the VEMs that have not been able to acquire licenses.
Note To determine how many CPU sockets a particular VEM has, see the "Determining License Usage" procedure.
If the license file is about to expire, then you might see the following syslog message:
PLATFORM-2-PFM_LIC_WARN_EXP Syslog
Error Message 2008 Dec 19 22:28:30 N1KV %PLATFORM-2-PFM_LIC_WARN_EXP: WARNING License for VEMs is about to expire in 1 days! The VEMs' VNICS will be brought down if license is allowed to expire. Please contact your Cisco account team or partner to purchase Licenses. To activate your purchased licenses, click on www.cisco.com/go/license.
Explanation This is a warning message saying that the license file is going to expire within a certain period of time.
Recommended Action Contact your Cisco Account team to purchase a license file.
Troubleshooting the Removal of a License
You cannot clear a license file that is currently being used.
To see how many licenses have currently been checked out, use the show module vem internal license-info command.
n1000v#show module vem internal license-info
License Sync Initiator : VEM 5
License Sync Stages : Complete
Num of Def Licenses in Use : 0
Num of Sync participants : 1
License Host-ID : 4724514071229227089
---------------------VEM License Info -----------------------
Vem Current License Operation License Status License Flags
-- ------------------------- -------------- -------------
5 None licensed None
6 None licensed None
------------------VEM Socket License Info -------------------
Vem Sync License Usage Sockets License Version
--- ---- ------------- ------- ---------------
5 Yes 2 2 1.0
6 Yes 2 2 1.0
To clear a license file, you need to manually release the licenses bound to each of the VEMs, and then clear the license file using the clear license command.
n1000v#clear license n1kv_license.lic
Clearing license failed: License is in use
n1000v#svs license transfer src-vem 5 license_pool
n1000v#svs license transfer src-vem 6 license_pool
n1000v#show module 5
Mod Ports Module-Type Model Status
-- ----- -------------------------------- ------------------ ------------
5 248 Virtual Ethernet Module NA unlicensed
Mod Sw Hw
--- --------------- ------
5 NA NA
Mod MAC-Address(es) Serial-Num
--- -------------------------------------- ----------
5 02-00-0c-00-05-00 to 02-00-0c-00-05-80 NA
Mod Server-IP Server-UUID Server-Name
--- --------------- ------------------------------------ --------------------
5 172.23.233.100 33393935-3234-5553-4539-30364e345630 172.23.233.100
n1000v#show module 6
Mod Ports Module-Type Model Status
--- ----- -------------------------------- ------------------ ------------
6 248 Virtual Ethernet Module NA unlicensed
Mod Sw Hw
-- --------------- ------
6 NA NA
Mod MAC-Address(es) Serial-Num
--- -------------------------------------- ----------
6 02-00-0c-00-05-00 to 02-00-0c-00-05-80 NA
Mod Server-IP Server-UUID Server-Name
-- --------------- ------------------------------------ --------------------
6 172.23.233.101 12354635-3192-7653-3690-12375a5345721 172.23.233.101
n1000v#clear license n1kv_license.lic
Clearing license .....done
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