Overview of Huawei NE40E Series Router License

Abstract

The NetEngine 40E series routers are high-end network products launched by Huawei. They mainly serve as edge nodes on IP backbone networks, IP metro networks, and large-scale IP networks. NetEngine 40E series routers includes below model: NE40E-X3, NE40E-X3A, NE40E-X8, NE40E-X8A, NE40E-X16 and NE40E-X16A.

To implement reliable service transport, the series supports various services and flexible deployment of L2VPN, L3VPN, multicast, multicast VPN, MPLS TE, EVPN, Segment Routing-MPLS (SR-MPLS), Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6), Flexible Ethernet (FlexE), and QoS. It also supports various value-added services, such as GRE tunneling, IPsec tunneling, and NetStream. In addition, the NetEngine 40E series fully supports IPv6 and smooth transition from IPv4 to IPv6, driving transport networks’ evolution towards broadband, diversification, and intelligence.

In this article, we will elaborate on the common license of Huawei NE40E Series Router in the mean time, giving basic knowledge of NE40E series router.

NetEngine40E Series Router Description

Ultra-Broadband 2T Board

Industry-leading boards can evolve to 4T and will provide 400G ports in the near future. High-density, compact ports save space and Huawei’s proprietary Solar chipsets and energy-saving technology deliver large capacity and high performance with low power consumption.

SDN Commercialization

With an SDN architecture, industry-leading Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and native IP network optimization technologies, NetEngine40E eliminates problems such as uneven traffic distribution, low bandwidth utilization, and low network convergence caused by repeated topology computations in the case of faults.

Innovative IP Hard Pipe

A major Huawei innovation (RFC 7625), IP hard pipe technology uses existing technologies, such as Multiprotocol Label Switching Traffic Engineering (MPLS TE) and Hierarchical Quality Of Service (HQoS), to guarantee the exclusive Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH)-like hard pipe use of leased line services through hardware resource reservation, ensuring low latency and high reliability.

Overview of Licenses

Definition

A license is an agreement in which the supplier authorizes a customer to use certain functions of the purchased products within a validity period. The physical form of a license is a license file, also called Global Trotter License (GTL). NE40E software is subject to a license, which specifies features, versions, capacities, and expiration for the product.

A license file is an authorization file that controls the capacity and functions of a product. A license file is encrypted using the device’s sequence number as the key. In most cases, a license file is pre-installed on a device before device shipment.

License Classification

Figure 1 License classification

Licenses can be classified as follows:

• In terms of commercial use, licenses are classified as eithercommercial or non-commercial licenses.

Non-commercial licenses are mainly used in exhibition, R&D, and in non-R&D labs. Commercial licenses are generally used at commercial sites. In addition to commercial projects, commercial licenses can also be used in beta tests, testing, and certification.

• Based on the validity period, licenses can be classified as fixed-term or permanent licenses.

After a fixed-term license is activated, it can be used within the fixed period. After the fixed-term license expires, it needs to be activated again. Non-commercial licenses generally have a fixed validity period. A permanent license can be used permanently after being activated. Currently, licenses that are purchased for commercial projects are all permanent licenses.

• In terms of the license management mode, licenses are classified as cloud-based licenses and non-cloud-based licenses.

In cloud-based license mode, you can activate and manage a license resource pool on the license management platform to dynamically allocate and reclaim license control items among multiple devices registered in the resource pool, implementing license resource sharing and dynamic adjustment among multiple devices. The non-cloud-based license mode is the traditional standalone license mode. The license resources of each device are static and fixed. To adjust the allocation of license resources among multiple devices, you need to split the license and activate it again.

• Based on the objects activated by operators, licenses are classified as GTL, hardware Right to Use (RTU), service license, or trial license,as shownin table below.

Table 1 Licenses classified based on the objects activated by operators
License	Description
GTL	The license file is pre-installed on a device before delivery or can be downloaded from the ESDP website based on the project contract and device ESN. Commercial licenses and non-commercial licenses (excluding trial licenses) are physically presented as license files.
Hardware RTU	Hardware RTUs control the valid ports of boards or devices that are sold in consumption model (CM). Ports of boards or devices that are sold in consumption model (CM) are not available until hardware RTUs are activated.
Service license	A software license control item that controls one or more services. There are two types of service licenses:
	·Function control service license: With Item type being Function, this type of license takes effect on the entire device.
	·Resource control service license: With Item type being Resource, this type of license takes effect on the board in a specified slot or on a specified port.
Trial license	License control item that supports trial use. A trial license can be enabled twice for each R version. Each time a trial license is enabled, it can be used for a maximum of 90 days. When the trial period ends, the controlled features become invalid immediately or after the device is restarted. These controlled features can still be used only if a commercial license is purchased.

NetEngine40E Common NAT License

• NetEngine40E&80E L2NAT Function License for VSU Series Units(By board-resource control list)

– Each VSUF-80/VSUF-160/VSUI-160-E must be configured with one license to support the L2NAT function.

– One license must correspond to one VSUF-80/VSUF-160/VSUI-160-E in the 1:1 relationship.

– For the VSUF-80/VSUF-160/VSUI-160-E, the active l2nat vsuf slot command is run in the license view to activate the license.

• NetEngine40E NAT64 License for VSU Series Units(By board-resource control list)

– Each VSUF-80/VSUF-160/VSUI-160-E/VSUI-400 must be configured with one license to support the NAT64 function.

– One license must correspond to one VSUF-80/VSUF-160/VSUI-160-E/VSUI-400 in the 1:1 relationship.

– For the VSUF-80/VSUF-160/VSUI-160-E/VSUI-400, the active nat64 vsuf slot command is run in the license view to activate the license.

• NetEngine40E PCP license for VSU Series Units(By board-resource control list)

– Each VSUF-80/VSUF-160/VSUI-160-E/VSUI-400 must be configured with one license to support the PCP function.

– One license must correspond to one VSUF-80/VSUF-160/VSUI-160-E/VSUI-400 in the 1:1 relationship.

– For the VSUF-80/VSUF-160/VSUI-160-E/VSUI-400, the active pcp vsuf slot command is run in the license view to activate the license.

• NetEngine40E&80E 2M NAT Session License(By session-resource control list)

The license controls the number of supported NAT sessions on the VSUF-80/VSUF-160/VSUI-160-E and VSUI-400. The number is a multiple of 2M. In actual applications, you can run the active nat session-table size command in the license view to allocate license resources to the CPU of a service board.

NetEngine40E Common PPPoE/IPoE License

• NetEngine40E Subscribers Quantity(1k Subscribers)

This license controls the number of BAS access users. Each license allows the access of 1000 users. This license controls the number of PPPoE users, instead of the number of IPoE users, for BAS access.

• NetEngine40E PPPoE/IPoE Function License for LPUI-480

This license controls the PPPoE/IPoE function. The LPUI-480 series boards do not support PPPoE/IPoE. To allow an LPUI-480 to support PPPoE/IPoE, configure this license.

• NetEngine40E PPPoE/IPoE Function License for LPUF-480

This license controls the PPPoE/IPoE function. The LPUF-480 series boards do not support PPPoE/IPoE. To allow an LPUF-480 to support PPPoE/IPoE, configure this license.

• NetEngine40E PPPoE/IPoE Function License for LPUI-240

This license controls the PPPoE/IPoE function. The LPUI-240 series boards do not support PPPoE/IPoE. To allow an LPUI-240 to support PPPoE/IPoE, configure this license.

• NetEngine40E PPPoE/IPoE Function License for LPUI-120

This license controls the PPPoE/IPoE function. The LPUI-120 series boards do not support PPPoE/IPoE. To allow an LPUI-120 to support PPPoE/IPoE, configure this license.

• NetEngine40E PPPoE/IPoE Function License for LPUF-240

This license controls the PPPoE/IPoE function. The LPUF-240 series boards do not support PPPoE/IPoE. To allow an LPUF-240 to support PPPoE/IPoE, configure this license.

• NetEngine40E PPPoE/IPoE Function License for LPUF-120

This license controls the PPPoE/IPoE function. The LPUF-120 series boards do not support PPPoE/IPoE. To allow an LPUF-120 to support PPPoE/IPoE, configure this license.

Above is a rough description of common license for Huawei NE40E Series Router and basic license  information of including its definition and classification.

Hope you could better know NE40E router license after reading this article. If any questions about NE40E license or any router project at hand, please contact our Thunder-link team freely.

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