Feature licenses are often part of the licensed paper pack supplied with your switch software; if
not, they can be purchased separately from your switch vendor, who provides the transaction keys
to activate the associated feature or features. Each product, each feature, and each individual
switch within a fabric requires its own license key.

Licences may be associated with a feature version. If a feature has a version-based license, that
license is valid only for a particular version of the feature. If you want a newer version of the
feature, you must purchase a new license. If a license is not version-based, then it is valid for all
versions of the feature. Likewise, if you downgrade Fabric OS to an earlier version, some licenses
associated with specific features of the version you are downgrading may not work.

NOTE

To preserve licenses and the functioning of features associated with the licenses installed on your
switch, use the configUpload command before you upgrade or downgrade Fabric OS.

Fabric OS includes basic switch and fabric support software, and support for optionally licensed
software that is enabled using license keys.

In Fabric OS v7.0.0 or later, some licenses may display with the text “Obsolete license.” This
happens because of changes in licensing requirements of some features that no longer require a
license key, yet are still installed on a switch.