Product Keys

Some features offered on Solace PubSub+ event brokers are locked and can only be accessed through a product key provided by Solace.

For instructions for installing product keys, see Entering Product Keys to Unlock Services.

Product Keys on Appliances

In some cases a product key may have already been entered for an appliance before it was shipped to your site, in other cases you can manually enter a product key for an appliance that is already in use. To review the features that require a product key, see Appliance Features that Require Product Keys .

If a product key is added for a feature on an appliance, no existing product keys and unlocked features are affected. For example, if a product key for PubSub+ Cache service was already entered, and a new, combined product key for PubSub+ Cache service and High-performance Guaranteed Messaging is subsequently entered, the earlier PubSub+ Cache product key and the service that it unlocked remain, and no service or configuration changes occur for it.

If a product key is removed, a system restart will be triggered and all configuration related to the features unlocked by that key will be lost if no other product key is currently registered for those features. For example, if you remove a product key for PubSub+ Cache, the appliance will restart if that was the only product key registered for PubSub+ Cache. However, if another product key for PubSub+ Cache service was registered (say the combined PubSub+ Cache and High-performance Guaranteed Messaging) because the use of PubSub+ Cache is still supported by a valid license, the appliance will not restart and any existing PubSub+ Cache configuration parameters will remain.

Appliance Features that Require Product Keys

Features that are locked on appliances include PubSub+ Cache service and optional higher-performance levels for some ADB models.

PubSub+ Cache

A product key is required to enable PubSub+ Cache service on any appliance that is acting as a Designated Router. PubSub+ Cache provides a scalable, in-memory message cache for Direct messages.

When the PubSub+ Cache service is locked, no aspect of it is configurable or enabled to be displayed. The CLI commands relating to the features are still visible in the Solace CLI, but the command fails to run when executed and returns an error message indicating the features are locked.

High-Performance Guaranteed Messaging

A product key is required to increase the Guaranteed Messaging performance of some ADBs installed in appliances (for example, ADB-000000-02 and ADB-04210M-01). This increase performance provides higher maximum ingress message rates (in msg/sec) and maximum ingress bandwidth (in Gbps).

Product Keys on Software Event Brokers

You can manually enter a product key to enable locked features for a software event broker. You can enter this key during container initialization using a configuration key (refer to Initializing a Software Event Broker Container), or while the event broker is in use, via the CLI. To review the features that require a product key, see below.

Software Event Broker Features that Require Product Keys

On software event brokers, a product key is required to enable the optional increase to the Message VPN limit. In addition, you can use a product key to upgrade from the Standard edition of the software event broker to the Enterprise edition, or to try the Enterprise edition for 90 days.

Additional Message VPNs

A product key is required to enable additional Message VPNs on Enterprise editions of PubSub+ software event brokers. When the key is entered, the maximum number of Message VPNs available on the event broker is increased to 26 (including the default Message VPN).

Once a product key is added to enable additional Message VPNs it cannot be removed.

Upgrade to Enterprise Edition

In SolOS version 9.13.1 or later, you can use a product key to upgrade from the Standard edition to the Enterprise edition. Contact Solace to get the product key.

Evaluate the Enterprise Edition

With SolOS version 9.13.1 or later, you can do a 90-day evaluation of the Enterprise edition by installing the Standard edition and entering a free product key. To get the product key, go to solace.com/downloads and select PubSub+ Enterprise Evaluation.

After the Enterprise Evaluation key is installed, the event broker will cease to function after 90 days, and all configuration will be lost unless you upgrade to the Enterprise edition prior to the 90 day expiration. Contact Solace for assistance.

For instructions for installing product keys, see Product Keys .

Entering Product Keys to Unlock Services

To unlock a feature on a PubSub+ event broker that requires a product key, enter the following commands:

solace> enable
solace# admin
solace(admin)# product-key <key-value>

Where:

<key-value> is the Solace-provided product key.

You must restart the event broker for the change to take effect.

To determine whether a product key to unlock those optional features was pre-entered by Solace, enter the following command:

solace> show product-key

Any product keys currently in use, and the features that they unlock, are displayed.

Displaying Product Keys in Use

To display the current product keys in use for a PubSub+ event broker and the services that they provide, enter the following command:

solace> show product-key