Licensing

A licence key is a signed code that tells a self-hosted Nexus Telemetry Fleet server which organisation it is licensed to, for how many collectors, and until when. A managed fleet server is licensed by the platform, so this page applies to a self-hosted one only.

# First run

A newly installed fleet server shows a single page, Activate this fleet server. Every other dashboard page redirects to it, and no collector can enrol.

To get a licence key, write to support and quote the Organisation root fingerprint shown on that screen. The fingerprint is a 64-character code that identifies the fleet’s own certificate authority. It is not a secret, and it is the same after a backup and restore. The licence key is tied to the fingerprint, not to the host, so a restore onto new hardware keeps the licence.

Paste the licence key into Licence key and press Apply key. A key that is refused shows the reason, and any key already stored is unchanged.

# Key from the environment

A fleet server deployed by a provisioning system can take its key from the environment. Set NF_LICENCE_GRANT to the licence key, and the fleet server applies it at boot. The variable is used only on a fleet server that has no key stored yet. Once a key is stored, restarts leave it alone.

# Licence page

The current licence is under Settings, Licence. On a self-hosted fleet server, the platform organisation is the organisation created at the first run, which manages the fleet server. See Organisations. Users with the Owner or Admin role in it can apply or remove a key. Every user outside it reads The licence is managed by the platform organisation.

To replace a key, paste the new one over the old and press Apply key. Remove key asks for confirmation, then returns the fleet server to its unlicensed state. Enrolled collectors keep reporting.

# Collector ceiling

Collectors shows the number enrolled against the number the key allows, and whether the ceiling is a hard ceiling or a soft ceiling. A key with no ceiling reads the number of unlimited.

A hard ceiling refuses an enrolment that would take the fleet over the number. A soft ceiling allows it, and the count is reviewed with Nexus Telemetry. A collector that enrols again under the same identity is not counted twice. A raised ceiling applies without a restart.

# Expiry

The fleet server degrades in 3 stages around the key’s expiry. It never stops recording, and collectors keep reporting at every stage.

1. 2 weeks before expiry, Status reads Expires soon and an amber chip in the top bar gives the days remaining. Nothing else changes.
2. At expiry, the chip reads Licence expired in red. New collectors cannot enrol. Nothing else stops.
3. 2 weeks after expiry, the chip reads Licence: read-only. The dashboard is read-only, except the licence page, which always accepts a new key.

Applying a valid key at any stage returns the fleet server to normal, without a restart.

# Offline validation

The key is verified on the fleet server itself, so no internet access is needed to run on it. A fleet server that loses its internet connection keeps working until the key’s expiry date. Once a day the fleet server also checks the key with Nexus Telemetry over the internet. That check updates Last validated, and if the licence has been renewed it applies the renewal, so no new key is pasted. A check that cannot reach Nexus Telemetry changes nothing.

Once an hour the fleet server also sends Nexus Telemetry a census for each organisation: the organisation’s fingerprint and short name, the edition, the fleet server’s version, and its enrolled and active collector counts. The census requires no licence key. A census that cannot reach Nexus Telemetry is sent again the next hour.

NF_LICENCE_CHECK=off turns the daily online validation and the hourly census off, for a fleet server that must make no outbound calls. See Server configuration for every variable named here.