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ACS 5.4 change base license

Xavier Lloyd
Level 1
Level 1

Hi all,

I was wondering if there is a way to actually change the base license in an ACS deployment. I know this isn't the recommended approach to accomplish what I wanted to do but I'd appreciate if someone could tell me how to do it if possible.

I need to add an ACS to a distributed deployment so instead of building the new ACS server from scratch, I decided it would have been a good idea to simply clone the machine and change the IP address. All was well until I tried to add it to the primary and I got an error saying that they have the same license file applied. When I go to the license section, there's no place for me to change the license.

The reason I didn't rebuild it from scratch is that the person I was working with no longer had the ISO and their Internet connection is very slow.

Does the acs reset-config command remove the license as well or just the policies, etc? Maybe I could do a config backup and reset it, then load the new policies?

Regards,

Xavier

8 Replies 8

Ravi Singh
Level 7
Level 7

Here are the steps for upgarding/replacing ACS Base license. Please follow the same.

You can upgrade the base server license.


Step 1 Select System Administration > Configuration > Licensing > Base Server License.

The Base Server License page appears with a description of the ACS  deployment configuration and a list of the available deployment  licenses. See Types of Licenses for a list of deployment licenses.

Step 2 Select a license, then click Upgrade.

The Base Server License Edit page appears.

Step 3 Complete the fields as described in Table 18-31:

Table 18-31     Base Server License Edit Page   

Option
Description
ACS Instance License Configuration

Version

Displays the current version of the ACS software.

ACS Instance

Displays the name of the ACS instance, either primary or secondary.

License Type

Specifies the license type.

Use this link to obtain a valid License File

Directs you to Cisco.com to purchase a valid license file from a Cisco representative.

License Location

License File

Click Browse to navigate to the directory that contains the license file and select it.

For more information you can go to the below link

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/cisco_secure_access_control_system/5.2/user/guide/admin_config.html#wp1053145

Thanks Ravi,

I tried that already and it says that I can't upgrade a base license. I think my only option is to rebuild it from scratch and import the config with a backup.

Jatin Katyal
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Hello Xavier,

The reset-config command would be a right step. However, alone it won't help. When you take ACS backup, it apparently captures the license file so you when you reset the config, install new license, the old license in the backup also gets restored.

Please follow the below listed steps (This can only be possible when we have ACS in distributed environment)

Issue acs reset-config re-license it with new license. Replicate the config from the master. This should restore the full config and keep the new license.

We have an enhancement filed on this as well.

CSCtj03807    ACS 5 should allow base permanent licenses to be replaced

Symptom:

ACS 5 should allow base permanent licenses to be replaced with other base permanent licenses while keeping the current configuration.

Conditions:

As of now, ACS 5 does not allow to migrate from a base permanent license to another base permanent license, unless the configuration is reset.

This is an enhancement request to include such a feature in future releases.

Workaround:

If you have two ACS machines (say A and B) and you want to replace Base Permanent on A, then as workaround you can do the following:

1) Backup A and B.

2) Make A primary and B secondary and initiate full replication.

3) Promote B to be Primary and A secondary. (If A is Log Collector then transfer that role to B)

4) Deregister A.

5) Reset-config A

6) Install the new base permanent on A.

7) re-register A to B.

8) Initiate full replication.

9) Promote A to be primary.

Let me know if it helps.

~BR
Jatin Katyal

**Do rate helpful posts**

~Jatin

Thanks Jatin! I will try it and let you know :-D

Sure. ACS 5.5 will allow BASE license to be changed without having to reset ACS

~BR
Jatin Katyal

**Do rate helpful posts**

~Jatin

Were you able to follow the provided steps? Did you make any progress?

~BR
Jatin Katyal

**Do rate helpful posts**

~Jatin

Hi Jatin,

Just found this page via google search . This process seemed the most logical to me too, and happy to advise these steps are valid :)

However,  I found I had to delete the cluster instances of each box in Distributed System Management (I have 3) before they would re-register, after Primary re-config with new base license.

 

HTH

Paul

how do we fetch the lic file from CLI.

if we reset the acs by inserting acs reset-config, does it need to reinstall the base Lic again

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