VS-HCI Velarion Systems Docs

Docs/Administration

Licensing

The evaluation period, requesting a licence, and what the core count is measured against.

VS-HCI is licensed by processor core across the fleet.

Settings → Licensing shows the current state:

state:             DEMO
reason:            Evaluation period — 89 days remaining, ending 2026-12-20.
deploymentMode:    CLUSTER
demoDaysRemaining: 89
hostsEnrolled:     3
enrolledCores:     30
licensedCores:     0
installUuid:       c8365585-5e21-4ab5-a3c0-16dc6ccd3deb

Evaluation

A new deployment starts in DEMO with a 90-day evaluation period, fully functional.

The screen counts down, and the state becomes alarming as the end approaches. Request a licence well before it runs out — the request goes through a person at Velarion, not a vending machine.

States

State Meaning
DEMO Inside the evaluation period, no licence applied
LICENSED Signed, bound to this deployment, in date, within its core count
EXPIRING Valid, but close enough to expiry to act on
OVER_LIMIT Valid, but the fleet has more cores than the licence covers
EXPIRED The expiry date has passed
INVALID Present but not usable here — wrong signature, or issued for a different deployment

OVER_LIMIT is the one that arrives unannounced: it happens when you add hardware, not when you change anything about the licence. Adding a host adds its cores to the count.

Cores, not sockets

The count is enrolled cores — the sum of the physical cores across every host in the deployment. Three hosts with ten cores each is thirty cores.

Check the core count of hardware before you buy it. A licence sized for your current fleet does not cover a refresh onto denser servers.

Some licences are issued with an unlimited core count, which is distinct from a count of zero — zero cores is a real and very different answer.

Tiers

Licences are issued in tiers — SMALL, MEDIUM and LARGE — which is what you request against.

Requesting a licence

  1. Settings → Licensing → Request a licence. The deployment produces a request containing its installation identity and a fingerprint.
  2. Send it to Velarion.
  3. Apply the licence you receive back.

The request is bound to this installation. A licence issued against it will not validate on a different deployment — which is the point, and also why a rebuild needs a new request rather than a copied file.

Past requests are listed, so you can see what was asked for and when.

Applying a licence

Import it from the same screen. It is validated on import: the signature must check out against the trust anchor this build carries, and it must be bound to this installation.

An INVALID result means one of those two failed — usually a licence for a different deployment.

Removing a licence

A licence can be removed, which is what you do when moving one between deployments. Removing it returns the deployment to whatever state it would otherwise be in — which, if the evaluation period has passed, is EXPIRED.

What expiry does

An expired or over-limit licence is an alarming state shown on the Dashboard and in Settings. It is a commercial condition; check your agreement for what it means for entitlement and support.

Do not let it arrive as a surprise: set an alert, and treat EXPIRING as the reminder it is.

Installation identity

The installUuid identifies this deployment and is what a licence is bound to. It survives normal operation, including controller failover and upgrades.

Quote it when talking to Velarion about licensing — it identifies the deployment unambiguously.