Technical Tip: Installing VDOM licenses in HA environment

[fwilliams]

Description	This article describes how to install VDOM licenses in HA environment.
Scope	FortiGate v6.4 FortiGate v7.0 FortiGate v7.2 Configured in HA cluster. Product which supports additional VDOM license, for example FortiGate 2000E but not FortiGate 60F.
Solution	An administrator might require to increase the number of configurable VDOMs on the FortiGate in HA. One typical reason a site may require additional VDOMs is if the site supports multiple tenants and each tenant must be placed in its own VDOM. Most FortiGate models support up to 10 VDOMs by default. Some products support additional VDOM licensing to increase this amount. For example, a FortiGate 2000E comes with 10 VDOMs, but can support up to 500 with appropriate licenses installed. WARNING: configuring more VDOMs than a cluster member's licensing allows will create a split-brain condition. This will cause degraded network performance. Ensure all cluster members support the required number of VDOMs before creating the additional virtual domains. In this example, an administrator purchased a 10 VDOM license for the primary's serial number and applied it to the primary device following instructions in Technical Tip: How to activate a VDOM licence from CLI. primary # config global primary (global) # execute upd-vd-license XXXX-YYYY-ZZZZ-X update vdom license succeeded. Now the primary unit shows '20 VDOMs' are configurable. primary # config global primary (global) # get system status | grep "Max number" Max number of virtual domains: 20 However, the secondary unit still shows only 10 configurable VDOMs. secondary # config global secondary (global) # get system status | grep "Max number" Max number of virtual domains: 10 The license key from the primary device is not valid for the secondary unit. secondary # config global secondary (global) # execute upd-vd-license XXXX-YYYY-ZZZZ-X decode vdom license key failed Command fail. Return code -1003 Fix: Purchase a second VDOM license and register it to the secondary unit’s serial number. Then enter the second license key on the secondary device. secondary # config global secondary (global) # execute upd-vd-license AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-D update vdom license succeeded. The secondary device now supports the required number of VDOMs and it is safe to configure up to twenty (20) virtual domains on the cluster. secondary # config global secondary (global) # get system status | grep "Max number" Max number of virtual domains: 20