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License Management

Nexus Repository ProNexus Repository Pro+Self-Hosted

A license file is required to unlock commercial capabilities in self-hosted Nexus Repository deployments, including Nexus Repository Pro and Nexus Repository Pro+. Unlicensed self-hosted deployments operate as Community Edition (CE). Installing a valid Sonatype license file (.lic) dynamically activates the features associated with your licensed tier without requiring binary reinstallation.

Nexus Repository Cloud (SaaS) environments are provisioned and managed directly by Sonatype. Subscription tiers and feature entitlements for Cloud deployments are managed through your Sonatype subscription plan and do not require manual license file management.

Nexus Repository Pro+ includes Sonatype Repository Firewall capabilities. To use these capabilities in a self-hosted deployment, install your Pro+ license in both Nexus Repository and a connected Sonatype IQ Server instance. Note that the minimum version requirement for IQ Server is 208.

Methods to Install a License

Adding or removing a license requires the nx-license privileges. In general, we recommend uninstall old licenses before installing the new license to reduce risk of leaving behind incorrect data in the deployment.

Which methods to use depends on your deployment model. License management differs between cloud-instance and self-hosted deployments.

  • Single Self-Hosted Instance

    Any method for installing a license is suitable, however the user interface is the fastest method when first getting started.

  • Containerized Environment

    We recommend using the REST API when removing or updating a license in a containerized or OpenShift environment. Using the system configuration method to update the configuration files in container is challenging and may lead to inconsistency in upgrading your deployment.

  • Clustered Deployments

    Every instance in a cluster must have a valid license. Administrators may update the license for the whole cluster by installing a new license on any single node. The new license is stored in the database for seven days during which nodes use the license expiration date to compare their license with the database. The other nodes update their license automatically when a newer license is detected.

    • Update your license according to the recommend method found for your deployment model.

    • Administrators must update their cluster configuration files with the new license to use when starting new nodes.

    • Before the 3.74.0 release, updating the license through the user interface only installs the license on the single node. We recommend using the IP address of each node to make API requests.

License Management in the User Interface

View the installed license in Nexus Repository by navigate to Settings → System → Licensing in the user interface. This page shows a summary of the license terms, the licensed Sonatype solutions, and the contact details of the account owner.

In this view you may install or update the license.

nx-license-view-usage-license.png

Configure Repository Firewall with Nexus Repository Pro+

Nexus Repository Pro+ includes Repository Firewall capabilities powered by Sonatype IQ Server. This section explains configuring Repository Firewall for Nexus Repository Pro+ edition.

Prerequisites:

  • A Nexus Repository Pro+ license file.

  • Nexus Repository 3.97 or later

  • Sonatype IQ Server 208 or later

Take the following steps to configure the integration:

  1. Install your Pro+ license in Nexus Repository. See Install a License in the User Interface.

  2. Install your Pro+ license in IQ Server. See Product License.

  3. Connect Nexus Repository to IQ Server. See Getting Started with Self-Hosted Repository Firewall.

  4. Configure repository protection. Note that Repository Firewall does not quarantine components already present in your Nexus Repository when protection is enabled.

License Expiration Notifications

Nexus Repository sends notifications when the product license is approaching expiration. The notification timing is configured using the License Expiry Notification capability. Notifications are set to the number of days before license expiry to send notifications. A list of emails are required to send the message.

nx-capablity-license-notifications.png

See Capabilities.

Notifications are also updated in the user interface the license expiration date approaches. A Status Check indicator will warn when the license is to expire soon.

See Status Checks.

Repository Historical Usage Metrics

The repository historical usage metrics are displayed on the usage tab of the license page. This view displays your repository usage trends over the past 12 months.

See Usage Metrics

Note

This report does not begin gathering data until after upgrading to the Nexus Repository release 3.80.0 or later.

After the upgrade, only a single month is displayed. Additional results are aggregated from that point on.

nx-licensing-historical-usage.png
  • Month

    The period of the provided metrics.

  • Peak Components

    Peak components is the total count of unique components stored in the instance within a given month, including any components deleted during that same period.

  • Components % Change

    The rate of change in peak components from the previous month.

  • Total Requests

    Requests are HTTP interactions to format-specific endpoints of the Nexus Repository. These include actions like downloading, uploading, or searching components.

  • Requests % Change

    The rate of change in total requests from the previous month.

  • Total Egress

    Egress is based on application-level tracking and may differ from actual network transfer measured by your cloud provider. Our testing indicates that a buffer of around 15% more traffic when estimating the total amount of egress seen in cloud environments.

  • Peak Storage

    The total amount of storage used by components in the instance within a given month, including any components deleted during that same period.

See our End User License Agreement for details.

Install a License in the User Interface

To install a license use the following steps:

  1. Navigate to Settings → System → Licensing in the user interface

  2. Select Choose File under install license, select the License File and Upload License

  3. Select I Accept the terms stated in the End User License Agreement

  4. Restart Nexus Repository for the license to take effect

After restart, the licensing panel displays the features associated with your license.

Install a License with the REST API

Use the Licensing API to automate installing or uninstalling the license file on running instances.

See Licensing API

Install the License with System Properties

You may install a license using a system property the first time Nexus Repository is initialized. Once a license is installed, this property is ignored. Removing the license file property does not uninstall the license.

  1. Create a new file in the data directory with the following path:

    /sonatype-work/nexus3/etc/nexus.properties

  2. Add the following property:

    nexus.licenseFile=/absolute/path/to/license.lic

    The license file is provided through an email to the account manager from Sonatype. This file must be stored in a location readable by the operating system user running the Nexus Repository process.

  3. Start Nexus Repository

Troubleshooting

The Nexus Repository logs a message on setting the license using the system property.

2017-10-23 14:40:19,654-0500 INFO [jetty-main-1] *SYSTEM com.sonatype.nexus.licensing.ext.internal.NexusLicenseInstaller -
Installing license from property nexus.licenseFile=/absolute/path/to/license.lic

When a license already exists this property is ignored.

2017-10-23 14:40:19,654-0500 INFO [jetty-main-1] *SYSTEM com.sonatype.nexus.licensing.ext.internal.NexusLicenseInstaller -
Ignoring property nexus.licenseFile=/absolute/path/to/license.lic. A license is already installed.

Expired Licenses

When your license expires, Nexus Repository is disabled except to install a new license or generate a support zip. The Sonatype account team provides the license as a .lic file in an email sent to the primary stakeholders.

To update an expired license, uninstall the license using the Licensing API. Follow the instructions for your deployment model to install a new license.

See Licensing API

Overriding the License File Location

The default location of the license file stored on disk may be modified by changing the Java user preferences.

See Configuring the Runtime Environment

Monitoring Recent Connections

You may approximate the number of unique logins using a log parser on the request.log files. The IP address and authenticated user ID associated with each request appears in columns 1 and 3 of the log line.

See our knowledge base article for more information.

Copying an Installed License

An installed license may be moved from one Nexus Repository instance to another instance as the license is stored in the Java user preferences directory for the user that owns the server process. These instructions only apply to Linux and MacOS environments and does not apply to Windows.

Locate the product license in the home directory of the user running Nexus Repository at this location:

~/.java/.userPrefs/com/sonatype/nexus/professional/prefs.xml