588bca2207
* Adding check-legacy-links-format workflow * Adding test-link-rewrites workflow * Updating docs-content-check-legacy-links-format hash * Migrating links to new format Co-authored-by: Kendall Strautman <kendallstrautman@gmail.com>
83 lines
5 KiB
Plaintext
83 lines
5 KiB
Plaintext
---
|
|
layout: docs
|
|
page_title: Enterprise Licenses
|
|
description: >-
|
|
Consul Enterprise server, client, and snapshot agents require a license on startup in order to use Enterprise features. Learn how to apply licenses using environment variables or configuration files.
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Consul Enterprise License
|
|
|
|
## Licensing Overview
|
|
|
|
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.** Prior to 1.10.0, 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 agent
|
|
when it is started.
|
|
|
|
Consul Enterprise 1.14.0, when running on Kubernetes, removed client agents and replaced these with virtual agents.
|
|
Virtual agents are nodes that Consul service mesh services run on. HashiCorp uses virtual agents to determine license entitlements for customers on per-node licensing and pricing agreements.
|
|
|
|
-> Visit the [Enterprise License Tutorial](/nomad/tutorials/enterprise/hashicorp-enterprise-license?utm_source=docs) for detailed steps on how to install the license key.
|
|
|
|
### Applying a License
|
|
|
|
For Consul Enterprise 1.10.0 or greater, a license must be available at the time the agent starts.
|
|
For server agents this means that they must either have the [`license_path`](/consul/docs/agent/config/config-files#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 variables are set,
|
|
the following order of precedence applies:
|
|
|
|
1. `CONSUL_LICENSE` environment variable
|
|
2. `CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH` environment variable
|
|
3. `license_path` configuration item.
|
|
|
|
Client agents and [snapshot agents](/consul/docs/enterprise/backups)
|
|
may also be licensed in the very same manner.
|
|
However, to avoid the need to configure the license on many client agents and snapshot agents,
|
|
those agents have the capability to retrieve the license automatically under the conditions described below.
|
|
|
|
Virtual agents do not need the license to run.
|
|
|
|
Updating the license for an agent depends on the method you used to apply the license.
|
|
- **If you used the `CONSUL_LICENSE`
|
|
environment variable**: After updating the environment variable, restart the affected agents.
|
|
- **If you used the
|
|
`CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH` environment variable**: Update the license file first. Then, restart the affected agents.
|
|
- **If you used the `license_path` configuration item**: Update the license file first. Then, run [`consul reload`](/consul/commands/reload) for the affected agents.
|
|
|
|
#### 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
|
|
[`retry_join`](/consul/docs/agent/config/config-files#retry_join) configuration. If `retry_join` is unset or no
|
|
[`agent` token](/consul/docs/agent/config/config-files#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.
|