Registering and Licensing Requirements

Topics:

Registering and Associating Appliances on MySonicWall

To use Active/Active Clustering, you must register all SonicWall appliances in the cluster on MySonicWall. The two appliances in each HA pair must also be associated as HA Primary and HA Secondary on MySonicWall. That is, associate the two appliances in the HA pair for Cluster Node 1, then associate the appliances in the HA pair for Cluster Node 2, and so on for any other Cluster Nodes.

NOTE: The Secondary appliance of the HA pair is referred to as the HA Secondary unit on MySonicWall.

After the appliances are associated as an HA pair, they can share licenses. In addition to High Availability licenses, this includes the SonicOS Enhanced license, the Support subscription, and the security services licenses. The only licenses that are not shareable are for consulting services, such as the SonicWall GMS Preventive Maintenance Service.

It is not required that the Primary and Secondary appliances have the same security services enabled. The security services settings will be automatically updated as part of the initial synchronization of settings. License synchronization is used so that the Secondary appliance can maintain the same level of network protection provided before the failover.

MySonicWall provides several methods of associating the two appliances. You can start by registering a new appliance, and then choosing an already-registered unit to associate it with. Or, you can associate two units that are both already registered. You can also start the process by selecting a registered unit and adding a new appliance with which to associate it.

NOTE: Even if you first register your appliances on MySonicWall, you must individually register both the Primary and the Secondary appliances from the SonicOS management interface while logged into the individual management IP address of each appliance. This allows the Secondary unit to synchronize with the SonicWall license server and share licenses with the associated Primary appliance. When Internet access is restricted, you can manually apply the shared licenses to both appliances.

For information about configuring and using the individual management IP address of each appliance, see About High Availability Monitoring and Configuring High Availability Monitoring.

Licensing High Availability Features

NOTE: For generic HA licensing requirements, see Licensing.

Active/Active Clustering, Stateful Synchronization, and Active/Active DPI licenses are included on registered SonicWall NSA E-Class appliances. Because Active/Active Clustering is supported only on E-Class appliances, you do not need to purchase any additional licenses to use these High Availability features in SonicOS 5.9.

NOTE: Active/Active Clustering and Stateful Synchronization licenses must be activated on each appliance, either by registering the unit on MySonicWall from the SonicOS management interface, or by applying the license keyset to each unit if Internet access is not available.

You can view system licenses on the System > Licenses page of the management interface. This page also provides a way to log into MySonicWall.

When the SonicWall security appliances in the Active/Active cluster have Internet access, each appliance in the cluster must be individually registered from the SonicOS management interface while you are logged on the individual management IP address of each appliance. This allows the Secondary units to synchronize with the SonicWall licensing server and share licenses with the associated Primary appliances in each HA pair.

There is also a way to synchronize licenses for an HA pair whose appliances do not have Internet access. When live communication with SonicWall's licensing server is not permitted due to network policy, you can use license keysets to manually apply security services licenses to your appliances. When you register a SonicWall security appliance on MySonicWall, a license keyset is generated for the appliance. If you add a new security service license, the keyset is updated. However, until you apply the licenses to the appliance, it cannot perform the licensed services.

NOTE: In a High Availability deployment without Internet connectivity, you must apply the license keyset to both of the appliances in the HA pair.

To apply licenses to an appliance, you can use one of the procedures found in Activating, Upgrading, or Renewing Services.