Introduction
Your licensing pool will contain limits on the number of cameras and output streams you can add to your encoders, and once you have allocated all of those licences, you will either have to:
Purchase additional licences
Free up existing licences in use by your encoders
This article outlines the various automatic and manual ways your licences can be freed up.
How do you free up EdgeVis Legacy v8 licences?
Nothing! Legacy licences are unlimited and are issued/removed automatically.
Special rules for locking
For most operations, licences are soft-locked for a period of time after the first licence is allocated to an encoder:
EdgeVis hardware encoders - once allocated to a hardware device, any licences can't be moved to another encoder for a period of 45 days.
EdgeVis software products (Containers) - once allocated to a software encoder, any licences can't be moved to another encoder for a period of 30 minutes.
These lock windows are not intended to stop legitimate reassignment. They exist as a safeguard against licence cycling, where a small number of licences could otherwise be reused to cover a much larger deployment.
When an encoder asks for its first licence it will be marked as 'Newly Added' in the list of devices:
This signifies that it is currently soft-locked.
How licences can be freed
The following operations will always attempt to free up the licence automatically, and depending on the operation, some of these operations are more permissive to ensure you can always recover a licence. The second column signifies whether the 'Newly Added' soft-lock is enforced.
Operation | Licence freed? |
When you remove a camera from your encoder through the encoder’s web interface, and it no longer needs the licence. | Licence always freed |
When you remove an encoder's output stream through the server’s web interface, and it no longer needs the licence. | Licence always freed |
When you delete an encoder account from within the server. | Licence is only freed if not 'Newly Added' |
When you delete a domain from within the server. | All licences are freed for encoders that are not 'Newly Added' |
When you delete a server authentication from within CLS. | All licences are freed for all encoders |
When you delete a domain authentication from within CLS. | All licences are freed for encoders that are not 'Newly Added' |
When you delete an encoder from your server/domain within CLS. | Licence is freed if not 'Newly Added' |
What happens if the encoder is 'Newly Added' during deletion?
For the operation marked in yellow above, the behaviour changes depending on the status of the encoder(s) involved:
When you delete an encoder account from within the server
The server will ask CLS to free up the licence. If the encoder is still 'Newly Added', this will fail; you'll see a warning message, and you'll have to visit CLS at a later date to free up the device's licences when permitted.
Regardless of success, the server will then delete the encoder’s account.
When you delete a domain from within the server
The server will ask CLS to free up all licences used within the domain. For any that are still marked as 'Newly Added', this will fail; you'll see a warning message that all licences could be freed. You'll then have to visit CLS at a later date to free up the remaining device's licences when permitted.
Regardless of success, the server will then delete the domain.
When you delete a domain authentication from within CLS
CLS will attempt to free up all licences used within the domain. For any that are still marked as 'Newly Added', this will fail; you'll see a warning message that all licences could not be freed.
You can only delete the domain authentication once all licences are freed.
When you delete an encoder from your server/domain within CLS
CLS will not allow you to delete the device if it is marked as 'Newly Added' - any attempt to do so will result in an error:
