Activating SoftNAS Cloud® License
SoftNAS Cloud® for
VMware vSphere requires a license purchased from
softnas.com.
SoftNAS Cloud® for
Amazon Web Services and
Microsoft Azure are licensed through subscription plans and do not require further activation.
SoftNAS Cloud® is available as a SoftNAS Cloud® Free Trial with the potential for up to 20 TB of storage. To gain access to additional storage capacity and features and personalize a SoftNAS Cloud® product after installation, be sure to activate SoftNAS Cloud® using the license key found in the administrator's customer control panel. Available versions include SoftNAS Cloud® Express, and SoftNAS Cloud® Standard.
To activate a SoftNAS Cloud® product :
1. Collect the credentials via reference email received after signing up with SoftNAS. Alternatively, log in to the SoftNAS Customer Portal and find a pre-assigned license key there.
2. Log in to SoftNAS StorageCenter.
3. From the Getting Started Helper tab, click step 4: Activate License Key and click Configure Now. Alternatively, simply click on the Licensing category in the Storage Administration Menu.
A License Warning will pop up, encouraging a Static IP for the network. This may be completed as is convenient.
4. Refer to the email received after initial login and download with the License Key and License Owner credentials. Enter these values into the appropriate fields.
Note: Copy/Pasting the string from one medium to another is the best way to avoid data entry errors.
5. Click Activate New License.
The license is activated.
Note: The license activation associates a SoftNAS Cloud® license to the IP address (VMware vSphere) or EC2 instance (Amazon EC2).
This IP address (or EC2 instance ID) is fixed and will not change during normal production operation.
Manual Activation
In cases where SoftNAS Cloud® does not have outbound Internet access (for security or other reasons), the license must be activated manually.
Note: For manual activation, please contact SoftNAS Support and we will provide a unique Activation Code that can be entered to manually activate SoftNAS Cloud®.
Automatic Recurring Subscription Updates
Once per month or year, depending on SoftNAS Cloud® subscription period, SoftNAS Cloud® will automatically contact the SoftNAS Cloud® license activation server to verify the renewal of a subscription. If it was renewed successfully, the new license key will be automatically downloaded and activated.
Note: Please ensure that SoftNAS Cloud® has outbound Internet access for auto renewal to take place.
License Grace Period
In the event SoftNAS Cloud® is running In a production environment and its license expires, it will enter the grace period. During this grace period, all functions continue to be available, and each login to access the StorageCenter UI will prompt a license expiration warning notice reminder (e.g., SoftNAS Cloud® not connected to Internet, credit card on file failed or expired, etc.). An email notification will have already been sent to the administrator about renewal at this point.
Note: The grace period defaults to one week (7 days) for all monthly and annual licenses for SoftNAS Cloud®, providing ample time to resolve any license renewal issues. If there is a billing error, once that is corrected, the system will automatically download and install the renewed license key. In environments operating SoftNAS Cloud® without an Internet connection, it is recommended to use the annual subscription method, so it is only necessary to enter a license key once a year (or license SoftNAS Cloud® for multiple years if preferred).