Licensing

What a license is#

An ONEP license is a small signed file, onep.lic. It tells the appliance which edition it runs and what its limits are. It is not a login, holds no password, and is not tied to a user account.

• The file is signed with Ed25519. The matching public key is built into the appliance. The private signing key is not part of it. A file that does not verify is treated exactly like no license at all.
• The numbers in a license win over the edition's defaults. On Community, a license number is used only when it is higher than the default.
• The license file is never logged and never shown in full in the interface. A support bundle carries only the verdict: license ID, customer, edition and days left. It never carries the file.

One appliance serves every edition, so changing edition is a license upload, with no reinstall. An appliance with no license file runs as Community.

Install a license#

After you buy, your license file is emailed to you, normally within one business day. You can also install it during the first-time setup.

1. Open Settings › Licensingas an administrator.
2. Choose Install license file…or Replace license file… if one is already installed, and select your .lic file. A .json file is accepted too.
3. Check the confirmationONEP verifies the file before it writes anything. On success a message confirms the edition, seats and expiry, for example ONEP license installed: LITE, 1 seat(s), expires 2027-01-31T00:00:00Z., and the interface reloads with the new edition. No restart is needed.

A file that fails verification is refused and nothing is saved. Both accepted and refused uploads are recorded as events. An accepted upload records the edition, seats and expiry, and a refused one records the reason. Neither records the file's contents.

What Settings › Licensing shows#

The tab has four parts.

ONEP license card#

The card names the edition: ONEP Community with the line free, single-seat edition, or ONEP Lite with single-seat edition. On other editions it shows the edition as read-only text with the line Your edition follows your license. You cannot choose an edition here; the license sets it.

• Version shows the product, edition, version and build on one line, in the form ONEP Lite <version> · build <date>.<commit>. The same line appears on the sign-in page and under Settings › Status and Updates. If no version was recorded for the build, it reads Version not recorded.
• Included and In use is a table of the edition's allowances next to what the appliance uses now: user accounts, devices running at once, largest device, environments, Discover downloads, Content Hub, AI topology builds and environment imports. A row that has reached its limit turns amber, with limit reached and the date the next one is possible. The numbers themselves are in Limits per edition.
• ONEP Pro adds appears on Lite. It lists what Pro adds: more user accounts, more devices running at once and larger devices, snapshots and checkpoints, multi-device ranges, and the audit log.

ONEP license file#

When 30 days or fewer are left, the Expires line turns amber and adds renew soon. That is the only reminder: ONEP sends no email.

The block also shows This appliance's install id with a copy button. You need the install ID to ask for a license that is bound to this appliance. With no license file installed, the block says so and offers Install license file….

License check-in card#

Reads Not active on this build. See License check-in.

Cisco license card#

See Cisco license below.

One license, one installation#

Each appliance creates its own random install ID the first time it needs one. A license that names an install ID is valid only on the appliance with that ID. A license without an install ID is not bound to an appliance.

ONEP compares two hardware identifiers, as one-way hashes: the virtual machine's hardware UUID and the MAC address of its first physical network interface.

• Neither changed. Restoring a snapshot, or moving the virtual machine in a way that keeps both, leaves the license valid.
• One changed. Replacing a network card, or a hypervisor that assigns a new hardware UUID, is recorded and the license stays valid. Settings › Licensing shows Installation change recorded with the field that changed. No action is needed.
• Both changed. ONEP treats the appliance as a copy. It creates a new install ID, and the license that names the old ID is refused. A commercial license keeps working for a grace period first, 14 days from the change. Settings › Licensing shows the old and new install IDs, the date the installation changed, and license needs re-issue. When the grace period ends, the appliance runs as Community.

To move to new hardware or run a second copy, write to hello@onep.io with your license ID and the new install ID.

Expiry#

A license carries its own grace period. A paid license has 14 days. During the grace period the appliance keeps its edition, and Settings › Licensing says License expired — in grace until a date, with Renew before then to avoid dropping to Community.

After the grace period the appliance runs as Community, and Settings › Licensing says This appliance is running as Community:

• Nothing is deleted or stopped. Your environments stay open and editable, and devices that are running keep running.
• A new environment is refused while the appliance holds as many as Community allows. A power-on that would take the appliance past Community's running-device limit is refused. A device larger than Community's largest device size is refused when you create or edit it and when you power it on. The refusal names the limit and says to delete, stop or upload a license. See Limits per edition.
• Features that are not in Community are locked, as on any Community appliance. See What is hidden or locked.

An appliance with no license at all runs the same way: Community, with no time limit.

If the system clock moves back by more than 24 hours, ONEP judges expiry against the latest time it has seen, so setting the clock back does not extend a license. If the file that holds that record cannot be read, Settings › Licensing says Clock guard unavailable (file unreadable) — contact support.

Renew#

Install the renewed .lic file with Replace license file…. A renewal is a new license file. The appliance returns to its edition as soon as the file is accepted, with no restart.

License check-in#

This release sends no license check-in. The appliance checks the signed license file on the appliance, and the License check-in card on Settings › Licensing reads Not active on this build.

Moving a license#

To move a license to new hardware, or to run a second copy, write to hello@onep.io with your license ID and the install ID shown in Settings › Licensing.

Cisco license#

Settings › Licensing also has a Cisco IOL license card. This is a Cisco license file used to boot Cisco devices, and it is separate from your ONEP license. As the card says, it is not supplied, sold or verified by ONEP: it is a Cisco license you bring yourself. Vendor images and packages that a Content Hub item downloads is licensed by the vendor to you, not by ONEP.

1. Choose Cisco license file…and select the file.
2. UploadThe card lists four steps as they run: Uploading, Validating format, Checking host match, Installed.

• One license file serves every Cisco device on the appliance.
• The status line reads Installed — this appliance when the file is valid and matches this appliance. If it was issued for a different host, it reads Installed but host mismatch and names both hosts. A file that is not a Cisco license reads Present but not a valid Cisco license file. With no file it reads No license installed.
• ONEP checks only that the file is well formed and matches this appliance. It cannot vouch for how the license was obtained; that is your responsibility.
• The status check runs in the background. If the card says Could not check (a background task is running) — try again shortly, the check has not finished; it does not mean no license is installed. An upload that is still queued after 15 seconds shows Queued and finishes in the background.

Without a Cisco license you can still use every other device type, including the native switch.

If a license will not install#

If the edition shown after an upload is not the one you bought, write to hello@onep.io with your license ID.