License Bug When Upgrading Zimbra NE?

[LMStone]

Running 4.5.3 NE on SuSE Enterprise 9; anticipate selling some more accounts so I asked Zimbra for a new license file with a higher maximum.

Downloaded the license file to my workstation, and then used the Administration web console as per the instructions to install the new license file. So far so good, the admin console showed the new, higher number of maximum accounts.

Now, I do the ./install.sh to upgrade to 4.5.5, but the installer says my license file is valid for the older (lower) number of users from the original license.

So, I cancel the install, and replace the original license file with newer one. On restarting the install, the installer now sees the higher number of licenses from the new license file.

Should I file a bug report?

Thanks!

[brian]

The easiest thing to do when upgrading and installing a new license at the same time is to just drop the license into /opt/zimbra/conf and let the installer take care of installing it for you.

[LMStone]

Originally Posted by brian

The easiest thing to do when upgrading and installing a new license at the same time is to just drop the license into /opt/zimbra/conf and let the installer take care of installing it for you.

Hi Brian,

In effect, that's what I did.

But consider the case where the license upgrade and a Zimbra version upgrade are separated by weeks or months:

1. Customer uses admin GUI to install higher-capacity license file.

2. Customer over time adds more accounts, totaling a number greater than allowed in the original license file.

3. Customer weeks/months later then performs a Zimbra upgrade; the upgrade process "sees" only the account limit from the preceding license file (but there are more accounts than that!). The sysadmin doing the upgrade doesn't notice that the output from ./install.sh shows the account cap from the older license and allows the upgrade to complete.

Now what happens after the upgrade? There are more accounts than that for which the installed (older) license allows. Are some number of accounts locked out? Will the system even start? And if so, how will the sysadmin look when all of the individual domain admins call to say they can't add any more accounts?

The license upgrade documentation just says to use the Admin console to install the new license file. But upgrading the license this way didn't survive a Zimbra version upgrade in my case. So, then shouldn't either this fact be added to the license upgrade documentation, or shouldn't the middleware behind the admin console be improved to actually copy the new license file to the conf directory?

I appreciate this is a minor item in the grand scheme of things, but thought I should point this out anyway.

All the best,
Mark

[phoenix]

In a situation where the licence file is 'invalid' or expired the system will continue to run but you won't be able to create new accounts, some features of NE will stop working. There's a thread on the forums that details exactly what happens and, more importantly, when.

When the admin spots the error he can just install the new license manually or via the admin ui - either should work.

[davidfsmith]

Originally Posted by phoenix

In a situation where the licence file is 'invalid' or expired the system will continue to run but you won't be able to create new accounts, some features of NE will stop working. There's a thread on the forums that details exactly what happens and, more importantly, when.

When the admin spots the error he can just install the new license manually or via the admin ui - either should work.

Just updated to 5.0 GA and I'm having a problem with the license coming back as invalid, rebooting the server now in the hopes this will magic a fix.

Installing the updated license via the admin UI didn't work.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by davidfsmith

Just updated to 5.0 GA and I'm having a problem with the license coming back as invalid, rebooting the server now in the hopes this will magic a fix.

Installing the updated license via the admin UI didn't work.

There isn't a GA version of Zimbra NE as it hasn't been released yet, you'll have installed the Open Source edition if you've done an update. I hope you did a full backup before the 'upgrade'.

[davidfsmith]

yep, my bad, my stupid, was just too excited by the thought of the 5.0 release....

still a whole day working with zimbra support to fix the problem will prevent me from making the same mistake....