Technical Tip: FortiDeceptor in production with the error 'License Expired'

[melshehaby]

Description

This article describes how to fix the license expiration issue when FortiDeceptor is in production and NOT a new deployment.

Scope

FortiDeceptor.

Solution

This situation can happen when there is an issue in the license file and for some reason the license file itself is expired inside the unit, and sometimes the GUI does not allow the user to upload a new license file in such a situation.

In this case, follow the below steps:

1. Execute the CLI command 'dcvm-license -ru' to delete the current license file.
2. Upload the new license file.
   1. It is possible to upload the license file from GUI if facing an issue uploading it from there.
   2. In case of having an issue uploading it from the GUI, upload it from the CLI. It will be necessary to have an SCP or FTP server.
   3. Put the license file on the SCP/FTP server.
      
      

Run the below command:

vm-firmware-license -s<server ip> -t[scp|ftp] -u<user name> -p<password> -f<license filename> --> The full path of the license file.

Example:

vm-firmware-license -s192.168.1.100 -tftp -ufdc -pfortinet_fdc -ffdc_lice.lic

Note:

Re-uploading the license file will notfix the problem because it will not replace the old one, it requires to delete it and re-upload it again.