A10 Networks licensing is the set of licence models, metrics and contract terms under which A10 Networks sells the ACOS operating system and the application delivery, firewall, carrier-grade NAT and DDoS products built on it. The A10 terms of use define Software as A10-branded software products identified in an Order, and distinguish four delivery forms: software on a virtual machine (vThunder, aGalaxy), software on an A10 Appliance, BareMetal Software and cloud services (SaaS).[1] The sale terms add that A10 “licenses and does not sell” its software or subscription technology, and that title passes only for non-software items such as hardware.[2]
A software asset manager therefore has to look at four things for each A10 deployment: the form factor, the bandwidth or capacity metric, the licence model (perpetual, term, pooled, trial or pay as you go) and the contract that sets the Limit. Because licences are enforced by activation through the Global License Manager (GLM), the licence on a device is also the best inventory of what A10 believes is licensed.[3]
Product families
A10’s FlexPool page lists the software solutions that a capacity pool can license: A10 Control (the centralised management platform that consolidates Harmony Controller and aGalaxy capabilities), Thunder ADC (application delivery), Thunder CFW (a consolidated network security platform in two packages, CFW-ADC for enterprise and CFW-CGN for service providers) and Thunder CGN (carrier-grade NAT for IPv4 preservation and IPv6 transition).[4] The ACOS 7.0.3 release document adds that the Thunder 7465 hardware platform supports CGN, CFW-CGN and TPS Detector deployments, and that the AI firewall feature is built into the ADC or CFW licence.[5] The terms of use also name cloud services such as ThreatX and a SaaS version of Harmony Controller, which are licensed as a right to use rather than a copy of a product.[1] The maintenance programs page lists ThreatX as a fully managed web application and API protection service with its own 1 to 3 year terms.[6]
Form factors
Thunder software is offered as hardware appliances, vThunder virtual appliances, bare metal software, containers and public cloud images. The Thunder ADC data sheet lists vThunder on VMware ESXi and KVM, marketplace images for AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud, a container image on Red Hat OpenShift and a bare metal version on reference Dell and Supermicro servers; licences listed include a 30-day trial, pre-installed bandwidth licences, BYOL bandwidth licences and FlexPool licences.[7] The terms of use tie each form to a different Limit:
| Form | Limit in the terms of use |
|---|---|
| Virtual machine Software (vThunder, aGalaxy) | A single instance with a unique identifier on a single hypervisor[1] |
| Appliance Software | A single specified hardware Appliance[1] |
| BareMetal Software | A single Intel x86 based server or other specified bare metal hardware[1] |
| SaaS | Capacity, bandwidth or other limitations in the Order[1] |
Details of the bandwidth tiers for each form factor are in A10 Thunder form factors and licence models.
Licence models
Bandwidth licences fix the throughput of an instance or appliance and are available as perpetual or term-based licences according to the A10 data sheets.[7][8] On bare metal, the licence is tied to the maximum number of CPU cores that can be allocated to ACOS; for ADC the tiers listed are 10 Gbps with 4 cores, 20 Gbps with 8 cores, 40 Gbps with 14 cores and 60 Gbps with 24 cores.[7]
Modular licences apply to Thunder hardware: the ACOS 7.0.3 document describes the Thunder 7465 as available with both Modular Perpetual and Modular Subscription licensing, which lets customers scale bandwidth tiers over time.[5] The CGN data sheet describes modular licensing for Thunder hardware as “pay-as-you-grow” capacity upgrade.[9]
FlexPool is a consumption-based capacity pool shared across hardware and software form factors, sold as 3-year or 5-year subscriptions with an Enterprise License Agreement option; it is covered in A10 FlexPool and Global License Manager licensing.[4]
Pay As You Go licences for vThunder come in two variants: the Rental Billing Model, designed for cloud service providers, bills a fixed amount of bandwidth plus surcharges for extra bandwidth, and the Utility Billing Model bills actual data usage in bytes with unlimited instances and no bandwidth settings. Both require internet access from the vThunder to an A10 licence server.[3]
Trials are limited by the terms of use to a non-production environment and a Trial Term not exceeding 90 days unless agreed in writing; the product may contain a disabling device that stops use after the Trial Term.[1] The data sheets list a 30-day trial licence for vThunder.[7]
Activation and the Global License Manager
The GLM is described as the master licensing system for A10 Networks: A10 manages it and it is the primary portal for licence management. A GLM account is optional, because ACOS devices can be licensed through the CLI or GUI, but an account enables advanced functions and device usage monitoring.[3] Cloud deployments can pass a GLM token in cloud-init configuration and send a licence request automatically, and the installation guide shows the GLM commands used for that purpose.[3] Without a licence, a vThunder cannot run production traffic and its bandwidth is only sufficient for testing connectivity; when a vThunder licence expires, functionality continues with reduced bandwidth.[3]
Contract overview
The terms of use say that licences are personal, limited, non-exclusive and non-transferable, without a right to sublicense, and intended for the customer’s internal business purposes to optimise its network.[1] Customers may not exceed the contracted Limits or Usage Term, unbundle components, or sell, sublicense, rent or otherwise transfer Product to a third party; Software must be erased from an Appliance before it is passed on.[1] Orders and fees are non-cancelable, and Limits and fees cannot be reduced during the Usage Term; a Usage Term renews automatically for one year unless 60 days’ written notice is given.[1] The standard sale terms state that purchases are for the customer’s internal use, not for resale, and that A10 may revise its licence agreements but not for Software already delivered.[2] The details are in A10 terms, support and maintenance.
What an asset manager should collect
Collect, for each device: the form factor and UID or serial number, the installed licence type and bandwidth (from ACOS or the GLM), the licence term end date, whether the device draws from a FlexPool, the maintenance contract level and term, and whether the product is on the end-of-sale list that triggers support price increases. For clouds, record whether the image is BYOL, pre-licensed fixed throughput or PAYG.[3][6]
Out of scope
This article does not cover A10’s cloud security services in depth, A10 pricing (not published), or the Harmony Controller and aGalaxy management products beyond their licensing metrics.