Netsweeper Serial Numbers
Netsweeper uses serial numbers to manage the product and distribute lists. It is extremely important to the operation of your Netsweeper Policy Server that you manage this serial number and prevent it from expiring to avoid an outage. If you need to extend your serial license, please reach out to your Netsweeper Account Manager.
How do I know if my serial has expired?
If your serial has expired, it may trigger a number of different behaviors depending on your serial_failure configuration in the Policy Server Settings. The default behavior is to allow all requests without logging. Most commonly it will manifest itself in the following ways:
-
Administration > Status > Services will indicate the Policy Server is not responding.
- You will see the line Serial Invalid: policy server can not process requests in your Policy Server Errors Logs, followed by modules failing to load and lists failing to initialize. To find your Policy Server Error Logs go to Logs > Policy Logs > Errors in the WebAdmin, or /usr/local/netsweeper/logs/nsd_error.log from the shell.
How do I find my serial number?
To find your serial number you can go to Administration > Services > Localhost > Policy Server Settings.
Ignoring commented (#) lines, find the line starting with serial.
You can also issue the command grep "^serial" /usr/local/netsweeper/etc/nsd.conf from the shell.
It is important to note that if you have a multi-server system with remote Policy Servers, you may have a unique serial for each server depending on your deployment. You should find the configuration locally for each server.
How can I request a new serial or extend my existing serial's expiration date?
Serial requests should go through your Account Manager. If you're a re-seller you can make direct serial requests by submitting a support case to support@netsweeper.com. Regardless, if serial requests are directed to support, we will include your Account Manager.
If your serial has expired outside of our normal office hours (5 am to 5 pm Eastern time) causing a P1 outage, please call your Account Manager right away.
How will I be notified that my serial is about to expire?
When your system is deployed, during the serial request process your Account Manager will submit an email address for serial notifications to be sent to. Netsweeper recommends you use a mail distribution group to ensure prompt reception of email delivery. Expiry alerts are sent out the following number of days prior to expiry:
- 60 days,
- 30 days,
- 5 days,
- 1 day prior,
- on the day of expiry,
- 1 day after expiry
It is your responsibility to manage this serial alert email and ensure expiry notifications are delivered. If you need to change your serial expiry notification email address you can contact your Account Manager, or submit a case to support@netsweeper.com.