Let’s say you purchase a 4 node clustered Data ONTAP system with CIFS. To enable this cluster you get a Cluster Base license key with a 4 node count issued against a unique Cluster Serial Number (1-80-xxxxxx), and you get a 4 node CIFS license key that also contains the Cluster Serial Number (so it can’t be used in other clusters). For add-on software purchases (e.g., add SnapMirror), you need to provide the Cluster Serial Number with your order and a new license key for 4 nodes of SnapMirror (or whatever feature you ordered) will be issued against that 1-80-xxxxxx serial number.
NOTE: If you try to add a permanent license key to a cluster with a different cluster serial number, ONTAP 8.1 will throw an error right away and will not allow it.
For evaluations, send a request to your NetApp representative and they will provide evaluation (temporary) license keys for whatever features you need. The eval keys they provide last up to 1 year and work for up to 8 nodes. The keys have a fixed expiration date and can only be installed once (unlike ONTAP 8.1 7-mode where you can install a temp key up to 3 times for 90 days each time).
There are two types of evaluations: new cluster evals, and cluster feature evals within an existing cluster. For new cluster evals, CMET will provide a Cluster Base license key that enables a cluster of up to 8 nodes to be created (with no expiration date); CMET will also issue eval license keys for features (e.g., CIFS, FlexClone, etc.) that enable use for up to one (1) year for a cluster of up to 8 nodes. If you have an existing cluster and want to evaluate a particular ONTAP feature, CMET will issue an eval license key that will enable the feature for up to one year within your existing cluster.
NOTE: V-Series evaluations are handled by the V-Series hardware, and do not use cluster evaluation license keys. Please refer to V-Series documentation for further details.
Features that can be licensed for clustered Data ONTAP 8.1.x:
Feature Description
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Base Base License w/cluster size limit (# of nodes)
Mirror Mirror License
CIFS CIFS License
SnapRestore SnapRestore License
FlexClone FlexClone License
NFS NFS License
SnapMirror_DP SnapMirror Data Protection License
iSCSI iSCSI License
FCP FCP License
SnapManager_Suite SnapManager Suite License
SPA SPA License