HP Anyware Cloud Licensing's Grace-Period Handling During an Outage
This knowledge article provides a deep analysis on the behavior of the HP Anyware Cloud Licensing Service (CLS) during an outage, such as one caused by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.
The general rule of thrumb is, if your HP Anyware deployment was previously able to communicate with the Cloud Licensing Service (CLS) and subsequently loses that communication, the system is designed to enter a licensing grace period.
Here is a breakdown of HP Anyware CLS' grace period handling and behavior.
1. Requirement for Continuous Communication:
HP Anyware components, specifically the PCoIP Management Console, require internet access to https://teradici.flexnetoperations.com/ on port 443 not only to activate licenses initially but also "from time to time to keep the license activated". This establishes that ongoing connectivity is crucial for maintaining license validity. Similarly, PCoIP Agents using cloud-based licensing need access to https://teradici.compliance.flexnetoperations.com/.
2. Grace Period Trigger:
The "Host Session Health Check" diagnostics explicitly define a "Cloud License Configuration - Grace period Issue". The data collected for this diagnostic includes log entries such as: "Grace period expires in 0 day(s)" and "Cloud License Server: fail, could not communicate with 'https://teradici.compliance.flexnetoperations.com/instances/XXXXXXXXXX/request', ensure it is reachable from your system, in grace period which expires in 0 days".
3. Grace Period Duration:
The corrective actions for a "Grace period Issue" directly state an example: "PCoIP License grace period expires in 7 day(s)". This confirms the existence of a 7-day grace period.
4. Cause of Grace Period:
The root cause for entering this grace period is explicitly identified as "Could not communicate with license Server". This encompasses various communication failures, including network blockages, unresponsiveness, or in a hacking scenario, an outage caused by a DDoS attack where the "server did not reply in time".
Case Study: A network outage caused by Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack
If the Cloud Licensing Service (CLS) was taken down by an attack such as a DDoS, and was previously reachable, the HP Anyware system would activate its 7-day grace period. This grace period allows PCoIP sessions to continue operating for a limited time (specifically 7 days, as per the documented example) despite the inability to communicate with the central licensing server.
Special Notes:
It is critical to note that while the grace period provides a temporary buffer, prolonged unavailability of the CLS beyond this period would eventually lead to licensing failures and prevent new PCoIP sessions from being established. Monitoring connectivity to https://teradici.compliance.flexnetoperations.com/ and the health of your licensing setup is paramount for maintaining uninterrupted service.