Licensing
Install a license to enable Enterprise or High Performance features, check what it grants, and understand what happens when it expires.
Installing a license
A license is a file from Blixt Software. Provide it to BlixtFS with the
LICENSE environment variable or the --license flag. The value can be a path
to the file or the file’s contents.
# Docker: mount the file and point at it
docker run ... \
-v /srv/blixt-license/blixt.license:/license/blixt.license:ro \
-e LICENSE=/license/blixt.license \
blixtfs/enterprise:latest --config /data/config.yaml
In a scale-out deployment, provide the license to the config server.
BlixtFS checks the license offline at startup. It never contacts a license server, so it works in air-gapped environments.
What a license enables
Each license lists the features it grants. The licensed features are:
| Feature | What it turns on |
|---|---|
| Monitoring | Prometheus metrics endpoints and built-in dashboards |
| NFSv3 | The NFS version 3 protocol |
| SFTP | The SFTP gateway |
| WebDAV | The WebDAV gateway |
A license also sets how many file, cache and write servers may be active at once. Servers beyond that number wait as hot standbys.
The effective configuration printed at startup shows which features are on.
Without a license
BlixtFS runs as the Standard edition:
- NFSv4 and SMB, with every supported cloud provider and unlimited data
- one active server of each kind (file, cache, write); additional servers wait as hot standbys
- licensed features stay off
Expiry and renewal
The license is evaluated when BlixtFS starts. A license can include a grace period after its expiry date. Once that has passed, the next start runs as the Standard edition. Nothing is deleted, and your data stays reachable over NFSv4 and SMB.
To renew, replace the license file (or the LICENSE value) with the new one
and restart BlixtFS.