doc/src/versions_and_licensing.rst
.. _AvailableVersions:
Available Versions & Licensing ##############################
The ntopng software comes in four versions: Community, Professional, Enterprise M, Enterprise L, and Enterprise L Bundle. Each version unlocks additional features with respect to the smaller one.
The full list of features and differences between versions is available in the ntopng
Product Page <https://www.ntop.org/products/traffic-analysis/ntop/>_.
The Community version is free to use and open source. The full source code can be found on Github <https://github.com/ntop/ntopng>_.
The Professional version offers some extra features with respect to the Community, which are particularly useful for SMEs, including graphical reports, traffic profiles and LDAP authentication.
The Enterprise M version offers some extra features with respect to the Professional version, which are particularly useful for large organizations, including SNMP support, advanced alerts management.
The Enterprise L version offers some extra features with respect to the Enterprise M version, including fast ClickHouse export, historical data explorer and analysis, Identity Management (the ability to correlate users to traffic).
The Enterprise L Bundle unlocks ntopng Enterprise L, nProbe Pro (Flow Collection), and n2disk 1 Gbit (Continuous Recording).
.. warning::
ntopng and nProbe must be on the same machine to have them unlocked with the ntopng Enterprise L Bundle license. The bundle license must be placed under :code:/etc/ntopng/ntopng.license.
The Enterprise XL/XXL/XXXL version offer additional features and releases some limitations in terms of number of hosts, SNMP devices and flow collectors number. Below in this page there is a compatison table the highlights the differences across editions.
The Community edition does not need any license. Professional and Enterprise versions require a license. ntopng automatically switches to one of these four versions, depending on the presence of a license.
License is per-server and is released according to the EULA (End User License Agreement). Each license is perpetual (i.e. it does not expire) and it allows to install updates for one year since purchase/license issue. This means that a license generated on 1/1/2021 will be able to activate new versions of the software until 12/31/2021. If you want to install new versions of the software release after that date, you need to renew the maintenance or avoid further updating the software. For source-based ntopng you can refer to the GPL-v3 License.
ntopng licenses are generated using the orderId and email you provided when the license has been purchased on https://shop.ntop.org/.
Once the license has been generated, it can be applied to ntopng simply by visiting page "Settings"->"License" of the web GUI and pasting the license key in the license form.
Alternatively, the license key can be placed in a one-line file
:code:ntopng.license:
/etc/ntopng.licenseProgram Files/ntopng/ntopng.license.. note::
An ntopng restart is recommended once the license has been applied to make sure all the new functionalities will be unlocked.
.. _PurchasingALicense:
The first step is to purchase a license. Licenses can be purchased online at https://shop.ntop.org. For bulk purchases, reseller discounts, or any other special requirement related to the purchase of licenses you can contact ntop <https://www.ntop.org/support/need-help/contacts/>_ directly.
Once the purchase has been completed successfully, you will receive an Order Id.
.. figure:: img/adding_a_license_the_order_id.png :align: center :width: 400 :alt: The Order Id
The Order Id
The Order Id is a numeric identifier associated to the purchase. Along with the Order Id you'll also find the email indicated during the purchase procedure. Both Order Id and the email are necessary to generate the license key.
License keys are generated at https://shop.ntop.org/mkntopng/. To generate the license key, you need:
Order Id received after the purchase and the email indicated during the purchase procedure (see :ref:PurchasingALicense).System Id, that is, an identifier associated to the host running ntopngversion, that is, a string representing the version of the installed ntopng (e.g., 5.1.210819)... note::
The System Id and the version can only be obtained after ntopng has been installed successfully. If you have not yet installed it, follow the installation procedure indicated at https://packages.ntop.org/ before moving forward with the license key generation.
The System Id and the version can be always obtained from the ntopng UI, page "Help -> About"
.. figure:: img/adding_a_license_ui_systemid_version.png
:align: center
:alt: System Id and version from the UI
System Id and version from the UI
On Linux, FreeBSD and other unix-based systems, the System Id and the version can also be obtained from the command line simply with an :code:ntopng --version
.. code:: bash
$ ntopng --version Version: 5.1.210819 [Enterprise/Professional build] GIT rev: dev:065742705143bd1af06cf99fb2f35505ee349bb3:20210819 Pro rev: r4187 Built on: Ubuntu 16.04.7 LTS System Id: LA2D7D2FB9206AAF2--UA2D7D2FBDDCCD490--OL Platform: x86_64 Edition: Enterprise L (Bundle) License Type: Time-Limited [Empty license file] Validity: Until Thu Aug 19 18:23:03 2021
On Windows, System Id and the version can be printed from the command interpreter with a :code:ntopng.exe /c --version inside the ntopng installation directory :code:C:\Program Files\ntopng.
To generate the license visit https://shop.ntop.org/mkntopng/ and fill the form using all the information indicated above.
.. warning::
You must also pick the right version from the dropdown ntopng Edition:. Make sure this version matches with the version you've purchased or the license generation will fail.
Upon successful generation, the license key will be printed in the browser. At this point you have two options:
You can copy the license key in a plain text file :code:/etc/ntopng.license, e.g.,
.. code:: bash
Alternatively on selected platforms (e.g. Windows), you can paste the license key straight into the ntopng UI, page "Settings -> License"
.. figure:: img/adding_a_license_ui_install.png :align: center :alt: Installing the ntopng License Key
Installing the ntopng License Key
This said it is recommended to place the license key in the plain text file.
.. note::
A restart of ntopng is required after license installation to make sure all the licensed features will be properly unlocked.
Let's say that we've purchased an ntopng Enterprise L license for:
.. code:: bash
$ ntopng --version Version: 5.1.210819 [Enterprise/Professional build] [...] System Id: LA2D7D2FB9206AAF2--UA2D7D2FBDDCCD490--OL
The Order Id received after the purchase is 1621231231 and the email indicated during the purchase procedure is [email protected].
The form at https://shop.ntop.org/mkntopng/ will be filled as follow
.. figure:: img/adding_a_license_example.png :align: center :alt: License Generation Example
License Generation Example
Upon successful generation, the license key will be printed in the browser:
.. figure:: img/adding_a_license_browser_generated_license.png :align: center :alt: The Obtained License Key
The Obtained License Key
At this point the license can be installed as described above or simply by following the instructions indicated in the resulting page.
.. _LicenseManager:
In addition to the standard licenses described above, ntopng can use the license manager (LM). Please refer to https://www.ntop.org/guides/nprobe/introduction.html#using-the-license-manager for details about the LM.
In order to use the LM simply do ntopng --license-mgr <licensemgr>.conf <other ntopng options>.
Below you can find an example of license manager configuration file for ntopng:
.. code:: bash
LICENSE_MANAGER=127.0.0.1:9999
#
# Unique instance name
#
INSTANCE_NAME=dummy ntopng instance
#
# User authentication token
#
AUTH_TOKEN=fjfgsfgsj
#
# nprobe ntopng
#
PRODUCT_FAMILY=ntopng
#
# pro enterprise_s enterprise_m enterprise_l
#
PRODUCT_EDITION=enterprise_m
where
An article that explain everything in details on how to deploy a license inside a container can be found here:
Deploying Licenses inside Conteainers <https://www.ntop.org/faq/my-license-does-not-work-inside-a-container-what-can-i-do/>_
.. list-table:: Features by Version :widths: 40 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 :header-rows: 1
✓ = Feature available, ✗ = Feature NOT available
* Feature not available on Windows
** Feature not available on FreeBSD / OPNsense / pfSense
*** Read more about the software bundled with the Bundle edition in the FAQ <https://www.ntop.org/faq/what-is-included-in-ntopng-enterprise-l-xl-bundle/>_
**** Read it "as long as there are resources available in the system", i.e. not artifically limited.