Upgrade Info for ET/BWMGR Software and Appliances

Checking Your Existing ET/BWMGR License

The first thing to do is to determine what kind of license key you have. The license key is the code used to start the software on your system. To find your key, you can look in /etc/rc.bwmgr for the start command. If you have a running system, from the command line you can do:

bwmgr rebuild | grep start

to display the start line which contains the registered license key for the system.

Determining Your Key Information

To get the information on your license key, you can log into your account on www.etinc.com. If you don't remember your password, there is a password retrieval facilty. After you log in, you'll see the license keys associated with your account on the right side of the page in the "My License Keys" box. You can select the key to view the information for that license:

The above record shows the information for a license key. The first field is the key. The second field is the serial number generated by the "serialize" command on your system. When starting the system, you must specify the interface used to generate the serial. Note that v3.2 keys (all keys previous to v4.0) have a six digit serial. v4.0 keys have a 10 digit serial. The version field is either v3.2 or v4.0. v3.2 keys can be used on all versions of the ET/BWMGR from v3.2 to v3.33c. You can run v4.0 on FreeBSD 4.0 with a v3.2 license key; however you must have a v4.0 key to run on FreeBSD 7.0.

The next field is the key type. On version 3.2, the license types are 2Mb/s, 10Mb/s, 100Mb/s and Gigabit. On version 4.0, licenses are expressed in "levels" from 1 to 30 based on the processing power of the system. License types of 2Mb/s, 10Mb/s, 45Mb/s are also available. Licenses of 7 or above are "Unlimited" and expressed as a number from 7 to 30. If you exceed your license level, the traffic rules will not be enforced. So if your peak traffic usages is greater than 45Mb/s you must determine the license requirement of your hardware and obtain the proper license.

The next field shows the support type required for your system. If it shows "Software", then you are required to manually upgrade your system and you cannot access our update server. If you are running an appliance image on your own hardware, this field will show "CD Appliance". These require an update subscription to get support and to access our update server. If you purchased hardware from us, this field will show "Appliance".

The Expires field shows the date that your support expires. You can't run software created after this date on your system. You can of course continue to run older versions for as long as you like. You also cannot get support after this date.

The last field shows if the license is running on the hardware it was originally purchased for. If you originally purchased a v3.2 key it can only be replaced once. If you originally purchased a v4.0 license you can replace the key once per year.

Renewing your Support/Suscription

If you intend to run the same license on the same OS on an appliance or CD appliance, then you only need to buy a subscription. The only time you need to upgrade to a v4.0 license is if you want to run FreeBSD 7.0 or if you want to upgrade your license (such as, if you have a 10Mb/s license and you want to upgrade to a 45Mb/s license).

Upgrading Older License Keys

If you are running a version older than v3.2, then you can no longer upgrade your key. So much time has passed that the effective credit you receive for a new license is $0. If your license key has expired, then upgrade costs depend on how long its been since your support has expired.

If you have a v3.2 Software License

if you have a v3.2 software license, you can still use the key up to version 3.33c. There is no software version of the software for version 4.0 and above. In order to upgrade to v4.0, you'll have to "Convert to CD Appliance". This converts your software license to a CD Appliance, and includes a 1 year subscription. The subscription is required to build a system with the CD. Another option you wil see is to upgrade to v4.0. This requires that you convert to CD and also convert your v3.2 license key to a v4.0 license key.

If you have a v3.2 Appliance or CD Appliance

if you have an appliance or are running an appliance image on your own hardware, you have to buy a subscription. If you have a current subscription, you can upgrade to v4.0 of the software and continue to use your v3.2 license key. If you have an expired license, you can buy a new subscription without upgrading to a v4.0 license, but you will not be able to run FreeBSD 7.0 on your system. If you want to upgrade to FreeBSD 7.0, you'll need to upgrade your license key to v4.0. There is a $100 additional charge to upgrade to a new OS version.

Notes on Software License Extensions

Extensions are just that: an "extension" of your license. Its not a new 1 year license, its a new license that extends your existing license for 1 year. So if your original license expired on July 1, 2004, and you buy an extension on October 15, 2004, your new license will expire on July 1, 2004. This also implies that if your current license expired more than a year ago, you will have to buy 2 extensions in order to upgrade to the most current software. Extensions cost $125./year.

Why is a license extension not for a year from when you purchase it? Because typically, the longer you wait to upgrade, the more it should cost to do so. If you haven't upgraded in 3 years, then you are getting the benefit of 3 years worth of features, not 1 year. So you have to pay for 3 years.

Since there is no software version for v4.0, you can only run v3.33c by purchasing extensions.

ET/BWMGR Replacement Licenses

If you have a software license and you upgrade your system or need to replace your system for any reason you may need to buy a replacement. Your license key will only work on the serial number that you supplied when you purchased it. If your serial number changes, you have to buy a new license or a replacement. There is a charge of $200. for processing your replacement order.

As per the rules at the time of original sale, a v3.2 license key can only be replaced once. Even if you upgrade to a v4.0 key, you only get 1 replacement. If you upgrade to v4.0 and use the same hardware, it does not count as a replacement. If your ORIGINAL purchase is a v4.0 key, then there is a limit of 1 replacement per year, but no limit on the number.

ALSO, your replacement will only work on the same IP address that your original license was registered on. So if you have moved your machine, make sure you re-register it with the new IP address.

Upgrading Bandwidth Manager Appliances and CD Appliances

If you have an ET/BWMGR appliance, then you must purchase an update subscription to update your system. Manual upgrades are not supported. Of course you can upgrade your system manually if you chose, but we can no longer support problems with the system after you do, so do so at your own risk. Your license will allow you to upgrade for 6 months after initial purchase, but you cannot purchase an extension for an appliance license. So if you intent to keep your system up to date, a subscription is really the only viable option.

Update subscriptions are currently $300. per year and includes support. If you let your previous subscription expire for more than 30 days, then the price is $450. More than 1 year and its $600. And if your license/subscription is expired more than 3 years, the cost is $1000. to renew. The philosophy is that there is no bonus for waiting, so you might as well get the support and keep up to date.

Getting it Done

All of this might seem very confusing, but all you have to understand is which button to select on the web site. The buttons will place the proper mix of products into your shopping cart. One thing you'll need to do is to get the serial number for your system. To get the serial you'll need to download the demo CD and boot it on your system. Then you can run the serialize command to get the serial number:

bwmgr em0 serialize

This command will display the serial, and also the license level required for the system for the various types of license:

ET/BWMGR# bwmgr bge0 serialize
System Serial# 0f:a5:f6:0a:4f:02:71:ff:99:50
License Required:
2Mb/s: 2
10Mb/s: 3
45Mb/s: 5
Unlimited: 7

You can use this information when you go to buy your upgrade or renewal.

<buy subscription> - Select this button if you have an appliance or CD appliance and you want to buy a new subscription. If you have a v3.2 license you will get another v3.2 license key. (You can run v4.0 of the software with a v3.2 license key if you are running FreeBSD 4.9). If you have a v4.0 license you will get another V4.0 license with the same license level. Note that if you are running FreeBSD 4.9 with a v3.2 key you will not be able to run FreeBSD 7 with your new key.

<buy extensions> - If you have a software license and you just want to upgrade to the latest software version (v3.33c), you can buy extensions to update your license. There is no software version for v4.0 so you cannot run v4.0 with a non-appliance license.

<v4.0 Upgrade> - If you have a v3.2 license and want to upgrade to v4.0, select this button. No matter what kind of license you currently have, this option will put the proper upgrades into the cart. You'll need to supply the 10 digit serial number and the license that you want to purchase. Do not remove any items from the cart or your order wll not be accepted.

<Buy Replacement> - if you are upgrading your hardware you'll need to buy a replacement. Replacement licenses will be issued as v4.0 licenses, so you'll need to pay for any upgrades required as well as the replacement charge.

<Convert to CD Appliance> - If you have a software license and you want to convert to a v3.2 CD appliance, select this option. Note that if you want to run FreeBSD 7.0 you should select v4.0 Upgrade instead.

Getting the Cost of Upgrade

If you just want to see how much an upgrade would cost, but you're not yet able to get a serial, you can use a test serial of 11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11.