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P4 Server Administration Documentation | 2025.2

# Server Licensing

## Which P4 Servers require a license?

If the number of users and workspaces is not within the limits for trial use, request a license for:

- Each commit server The innermost P4 Server server in a topology with one or more edge servers., central server The one server that is innermost in a multi-server deployment. In the server specification form field for Services, the central server might be specified as “standard” or “commit-server”. If edge servers are part of the multi-server deployment, the central server must be a commit server. See also 'upstream server'., and Distribution Server.

- Any standby server and replica server that you want to be capable of functioning as a failover system.

To learn more, see Free Version Control.

## How to request a license

To request a license for P4 Server, go to Contact Us and fill out the web form. In the Message field, include:

- The number of standard users. This total includes the users who access P4 Server through the P4 command-line client, P4 CLI, P4 Visual Client (P4V), P4 DAM, and other P4 client applications. To learn more, see Types of users.

- The address of the machine for hosting your P4 Server, including the four-digit port number (see P4PORT).

Example IPaddress field in license | Note
--- | ---
IPv6 address `[ab80::cd3e:1234:5678:9f12]:1666` IPv4 address `10.90.1.85:1666` | IPv6 and IPv4 are used where the IP address is expected to stay the same over the term of the license. The IP address for licensing a cloud-based P4 Server must be the private IP address of the instance, not the public address.
Media access control address (MAC address) `[90:A1:2B:3C:D4:56]:1666` | MAC is used for a host that has a dynamically configured IP address.
Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) address: `SE-1AB23CD.ab.cd:1666` An FQDN address resolving to only an IPv6 address might have the prefix of `tcp6`, `tcp64`, or `tcp46`: `tcp64:abcde.com:1602` | FQDN is used where the IP address might change over the term of the license. If the FQDN address resolves to only an IPv6 address, state that in the web form Message field. An FQDN address for a cloud-based P4 Server must resolve to the private IP address of the instance. It is the customer's responsibility to configure the domain name system (DNS) on the customer's network so that the server can start.

To request a license for a P4 standby server or replica server for failover, fill out the Helix Core Duplicate Server Requests form after obtaining the license for the upstream server Any server in the inward direction, that is, toward the central server. For example, in an edge-to-edge configuration with a commit, edge1, and edge2, both edge1 and the commit server are upstream servers for edge2. See also 'central server'..

## IP address option

If you already have the server running the P4 Service, provide the IP address by running a command on that server machine:

Windows | Linux
--- | ---
Run the `ipconfig/all` command. Provide the `IPv4 Address`.
    Windows IP Configuration
    ...

    Ethernet adapter Ethernet:
    Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : ...
    Description . . . . . . . . . . . : ...
    Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : ...
    DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : ...
    Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : ...
    Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : ab80::cd3e:1234:5678:9f12(Preferred)
    IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.10.100.11(Preferred)
    ...
| From the command line, run the ip command to list IP addresses or the ifconfig command to find the correct MAC, IPv4 (shown as inet), or IPv6 (shown as inet6) address.
IPv6 example: `ip -family inet6 -brief a` might output:
    lo          UNKNOWN   ::1/128
    enp0s31f6   UP        fe80::2a14:38ff:fe08:8150/64
Provide the line that contains `en` and looks similar to this:
    enp0s31f6   UP        fe80::2a14:38ff:fe08:8150/64
IPv4 example: `ip -family inet -brief a` might output:
    lo      UNKNOWN 127.0.0.1/8
    enp0s3  UP      10.90.1.85/24
Provide the line that contains `en` and looks similar to this:
    enp0s3  UP      10.90.1.85/24

## Port number

If you already have the server running the P4 Service, provide the port number by running a command on that server machine:

Windows | Linux
--- | ---
Run the `netstat -a` command and provide the Port number associated with the `p4s.exe` executable. For example,
    TCP 0.0.0.0:1666 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING 4 [p4s.exe]
| Install `net-tools` and run `netstat -tulpn | grep p4` and provide the line associated with the p4d process: `tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:3614 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 1842424/p4d.20201`

## Additional information

You might want to see the following:

- View and install the license file.

- If your P4 Server is hosted in Amazon Cloud: Find your IP address in Amazon Cloud before requesting a Helix Core license.

- If you already have a license and need to have details changed on it: Helix Core Change of Server Request.

- Software Licensing Terms & Conditions for P4, which is available under License Agreements.

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