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License and evaluation expiry

Current appliance behavior · ← Knowledge Base

PortGuardNAC treats an expired 30-day evaluation, an expired paid license and an ended support and maintenance period differently. Check the license type and expiry dates on the appliance's License page before planning a renewal.

Situation	Management	Network authentication
Evaluation, first 30 days	Available during the trial.	Normal policy decisions.
Evaluation expired, days 0–6	Restricted; license activation remains available.	New authentications receive the configured quarantine VLAN. Without that VLAN, they are rejected.
Evaluation expired, day 7 onward	License recovery remains available.	The appliance stops and masks its RADIUS service. New RADIUS authentications cannot complete through this appliance.
Paid license expired, first 30 days	Administrative changes are blocked; limited read-only access and license recovery remain.	802.1X/RADIUS continues.
Paid license expired, after 30 days	Management is locked except for license recovery.	802.1X/RADIUS continues.
Only support/maintenance expired	The licensed product remains operational.	Normal authentication continues. Ordinary application version upgrades require renewal; security hotfixes and Ubuntu updates remain available.

Existing sessions: Trial expiry does not automatically send a CoA or disconnect every connected device. A device already admitted by a switch may remain connected until the switch ends its session or requests reauthentication. The switch's own session and RADIUS failover settings determine the observed timing.

Older appliances upgraded from a release without a first-install timestamp receive a 14-day enforcement notice before an already expired evaluation is quarantined. Use the License page's displayed status and trial stage for that appliance rather than assuming the new-install timeline.

Before expiry

Check the license and support expiry dates, tier, appliance ID and current status in the License page.
For a trial, configure and test an isolated quarantine VLAN before connecting a switch. Do not treat an evaluation license as a production renewal plan.
Arrange the signed replacement license before its expiry. If email is configured, the appliance attempts notices at 30, 14, 7 and 1 days before expiry.
Keep a pilot endpoint and a recovery path available to verify service after activation.

Restore normal service

Upload a valid signed license issued for this appliance on the License page. An HA pair license must name the two authorized appliance IDs and be activated on each node.
Confirm the license status and expiry dates. After an expired evaluation, the appliance automatically unmasks and restarts RADIUS when a valid license is installed.
Check RADIUS service health, then perform a pilot 802.1X authentication and verify the assigned VLAN on the switch.

The expiry path does not delete the stored configuration. If activation fails, check the signature, appliance binding, system time and service logs. Contact PortGuardNAC Support with the appliance version and error code; do not send the license signing key or administrator password.

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