Virtual Appliance licenses can expire even with a Symantec Portfolio License Agreement, Web Protection, or Network Protection subscriptions

Products

• Licensing - Symantec Products
• Support Portal
• ProxySG Software - SGOS
• Content Analysis Software
• Management Center
• Reporter
• Support Portal & Access Issues

Issue/Introduction

If you subscribe to Portfolio License Agreement (PLA) and/or Web Protection (WP) and/or Network Protection (NP) offerings, and you already own Symantec virtual appliances with standalone SKUs, these virtual appliances might stop working if their own subscriptions have expired.

This issue can impact the following products:

• Virtual appliances and/or add-ons such as ProxySG first generation, second generation and enterprise licenses
• Content Analysis
• Management Center
• Reporter

Examples of virtual appliance SKUs that are affected by this issue (but are not limited to):

• ProxySG 2nd generation (SG-VA-Cxx, where xx is the number of cores), Standard Reverse Proxy (SRP-VA-C##, where ## is the number of cores), Advanced Reverse Proxy (ARP-VA-C##, where ## is the number of cores), ProxySG enterprise license (ISG-PR-SUB and ISG-PR-ADV-SUB).
  
  
• Content Analysis virtual appliances 1st generation (CAS-V100-U##, where ## is the number of users), CAS 2nd generation (CAS-VA-C##, where ## is the number of cores), CAS enterprise license (ISG-CAS-SUB and ISG-CAS-MAAS-SUB).
  
  
• Management Center (MC-V10-##, where ## is the number of devices) and MC enterprise license (ISG-MC-SUB)
  
  
• Reporter (RP-V50, RP-V100 and RP-V200)

Resolution

PLA, WP, and NP subscriptions will generate new enterprise serial numbers. In the Support portal, use these new serial numbers as if they are add-ons. Link the new PLA or WP or NP serial numbers to the corresponding existing serial number for that product. For example, you can link the WP “WEB-PROTECT-SUB” or NP “NETWORK-PROTECT-SUB” subscription to a VSWG-V100-U100-1Y. Once the serial number is linked, the existing product’s license will be extended to match the PLA or WP or NP expiration date. Then update the license on the virtual appliance.

To link new serial numbers to existing serial numbers:

1. Go to https://support.broadcom.com
   
   
2. Log in with your myBroadcom credentials.
   
   
3. In the left menu, click My Entitlements.
   
   
4. In the Search field, enter the serial number of the appliance you wish to extend.
   
   
5. Beside the appliance, click Entitlement Details.
   
   
6. Click Licenses.
   
   
7. On the Licensing page, click the Software Add-Ons
   
   The valid serial numbers for the appliance are displayed.
   
   
8. Click Add on.
   
   
   
   
9. From the Available Add-Ons list, select the appropriate Serial Number and click Link.
   
   The selected Serial Number appears in the Unused Add-ons list.
   
   
   
   
10. Beside the End User License Agreement, click Accept and then click Confirm Link/De-Link.
    
    The new serial number is linked with the existing serial number for the appliance.
    
    
11. Update the license on the appliance using one of the following methods:
    
    
    • If your appliance is connected to the Broadcom network, use the appliance’s Management Console or the CLI command to automatically request and install the license.
      
      
    • If your appliance is not connected to the Broadcom network, on the Licensing page shown above, click the Download License tab, then download the license. From the appliance’s Management Console or the CLI command, manually upload the license from the download location.
      
      For detailed steps about installing a license, see the licensing sections of your product documentation.
      

The expiration date of the existing serial number will not change in the support portal, but it will change in the license key file when that is regenerated and displayed on the appliance interface.

Note: The expiration date displayed in the license key does not change contractual EOL/EOS & RMA policies.

If you cannot see the new serial numbers in the Software Add-ons tab, contact Broadcom Customer Care.

Additional Information

Notes: 

• Linking WPS or NPS as an add-on to old generation serial numbers simply extend the entitlement date of said old serial number expiration.   This is to circumvent of a need to redeploy the VM for the purpose of extending the validity date.
• Linking WPS or NPS as an add-on to old generation serial numbers DOES NOT increase the license limit capacity of old generation serial numbers. 

E.g.

• MC-V10-10-1Y old generation SKU are meant to manage up to 10 devices. This SKU serial number is limited to be deployed to one VM, otherwise VM would display a duplicate serial number warning. 
• WPS'  MC-V10-250-1Y  SKU  are meant to manage up to 250 manage devices. This SKU serial number is limited to be deployed to one VM, otherwise VM would display a duplicate serial number warning.
• NPS' ISG-MC-SUB is unlimited manage devices and can be deployed to more than one VM.  No duplicate serial number warning is expected.

If MC-V10-10-1Y entitlement date is about to expire and you do not want to redeploy another VM instance with new WPS or NPS serial number, attaching the WPS or NPS serial number as an add-on MC-V10-10-1Y would extend MC-V10-10-1Y entitlement date.  However, your current VM is still limited to manage up to 10 devices only.