Staff

Technical Tip: The FortiGate license is needed for firmware upgrade

Description

This article describes that an active license is needed when performing firmware upgrades.

Scope

FortiGate v7.4.2 and above.

Solution

From v7.4.2 and above, an active license is needed for firmware upgrade. Use the command below to verify the license status:

diagnose test update info contract

Below is the sample output of inactive licenses that do not have an account ID, company, contract information, or user ID:

Support contract: pending_registration=0 got_contract_info=0
account_id=[] company=[] industry=[]

Contract=AVDB-2-20-19700101*NIDS-2-20-19700101

No contract information.
No contract information.
No user ID.

Below is the screenshot of the active license, which will show the account ID, company, contract information, and user ID.

If the firmware license expiration date is earlier than the first firmware GA major release date, firmware updates to that version will not be allowed.
Downgrades from one major version to another are not prevented because the FortiGate firmware may have an expiration date that is longer than the release date of the old firmware major version.
If the license expires, contact the Sales/Partner engineer.

Related document:

Related articles: