80 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
80 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
---
|
|
layout: docs
|
|
page_title: Consul Enterprise License
|
|
description: Consul Enterprise License Overview.
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Consul Enterprise License
|
|
|
|
## Licensing
|
|
|
|
All Consul Enterprise agents must be licensed when they are started. Where that license comes from will depend
|
|
on which binary is in use, whether the agent is a server, client or snapshot agent and whether ACLs have been
|
|
enabled for the cluster.
|
|
|
|
-> ** Consul Enterprise 1.10.0 removed temporary licensing.** In previous versions Consul Enterprise
|
|
agents could start without a license and then have a license applied to them later on via the CLI
|
|
or API. That functionality has been removed and replaced with the ability to load licenses from the
|
|
agent's configuration or environment. Also prior to 1.10.0 server agents would automatically propagate
|
|
the license between themselves. This no longer occurs and the license must be present on each server
|
|
when they are started.
|
|
|
|
-> Visit the [Enterprise License Tutorial](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/nomad/hashicorp-enterprise-license?in=consul/enterprise) for detailed steps on how to install the license key.
|
|
|
|
### Binaries with Built In Licenses
|
|
|
|
If you are downloading Consul from Amazon S3, then the license is included
|
|
in the binary and you do not need to take further action. This is the
|
|
most common use case.
|
|
|
|
In the S3 bucket you will find three Enterprise zip packages. The packages with `+pro` and
|
|
`+prem` in the name, are the binaries that include the license. The package
|
|
with `+ent` in the name does not include the license.
|
|
|
|
When using these binaries no further action is necessary to configure the license.
|
|
|
|
### Binaries Without Built In Licenses
|
|
|
|
For Consul Enterprise 1.10.0 or greater, binaries that do not include built in licenses a license must be available at the time the agent starts.
|
|
For server agents this means that they must either have the [`license_path`](/docs/agent/options#license_path)
|
|
configuration set or have a license configured in the servers environment with the `CONSUL_LICENSE` or
|
|
`CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH` environment variables. Both the configuration item and the `CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH`
|
|
environment variable point to a file containing the license whereas the `CONSUL_LICENSE` environment
|
|
variable should contain the license as the value. If multiple of these are set the order of precedence is:
|
|
|
|
1. `CONSUL_LICENSE` environment variable
|
|
2. `CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH` environment variable
|
|
3. `license_path` configuration item.
|
|
|
|
Both client agents and the snapshot agent may also be licensed in the very same manner. However to prevent
|
|
the need to configure the license on many client agents and snapshot agents those agents have the capability
|
|
to retrieve the license automatically under specific circumstances.
|
|
|
|
#### Client Agent License Retrieval
|
|
|
|
When a client agent starts without a license in its configuration or environment, it will try to retrieve the
|
|
license from the servers via RPCs. That RPC always requires a valid non-anonymous ACL token to authorize the
|
|
request but the token doesn't need any particular permissions. As the license is required before the client
|
|
actually joins the cluster, where to make those RPC requests to is inferred from the [`start_join`](/docs/agent/options#start_join)
|
|
or [`retry_join`](/docs/agent/options#retry_join) configurations. If those are both unset or no
|
|
[`agent` token](/docs/agent/options#acl_tokens_agent) is set then the client agent will immediately shut itself down.
|
|
|
|
If all preliminary checks pass the client agent will attempt to reach out to any server on its RPC port to
|
|
request the license. These requests will be retried for up to 5 minutes and if it is unable to retrieve a
|
|
license within that time frame it will shut itself down.
|
|
|
|
If ACLs are disabled then the license must be provided to the client agent through one of the three methods listed below.
|
|
Failure in providing the client agent with a licence will prevent the client agent from joining the cluster.
|
|
|
|
1. `CONSUL_LICENSE` environment variable
|
|
2. `CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH` environment variable
|
|
3. `license_path` configuration item.
|
|
|
|
#### Snapshot Agent License Retrieval
|
|
|
|
The snapshot agent has similar functionality to the client agent for automatically retrieving the license. However,
|
|
instead of requiring a server agent to talk to, the snapshot agent can request the license from the server or
|
|
client agent it would use for all other operations. It still requires an ACL token to authorize the request. Also
|
|
like client agents, the snapshot agent will shut itself down after being unable to retrieve the license for 5
|
|
minutes.
|