Skip to content

How to transfer a license

Introduction

When you receive the replacement device, you must transfer your existing license to the new device and join the new device to the HA cluster.

HA license transfer steps

When you receive the replacement device, you have the following devices:

  • Device A is the faulty device.
  • Device B is the device that is working normally.
  • Device C is the replacement device.

To transfer the license to the replacement device, do as follows:

  1. Transfer device A's license to device C.
  2. Take a configuration backup from device B.
  3. Restore the backup to device C.
  4. Disable HA on both devices.
  5. Connect device C in device A's place. The network is now running with security from device C.
  6. Sign in to the web admin console of device B and make it the auxiliary device.
  7. Connect device B to the HA cluster.
  8. Enable HA on device C.
  9. The paid-for license will now synchronize from device C.

Claim a device and transfer the license

You must claim your replacement device in your Sophos Central account then transfer your license to the new device. To do this, do as follows:

  1. In Sophos Central, click your Profile icon. Sophos Central profile icon.
  2. Go to Licensing > Firewall licenses.
  3. Click Claim firewall.
  4. Enter your firewall's serial number.
  5. Click Validate.

    If Sophos detects an RMA case for the device you're claiming, then automatic license transfer is offered upon registration. You'll see the RMA details on the screen.

    Note

    Make sure you carefully check that the faulty device's serial number displayed on the registration page matches that of your faulty device. The faulty device automatically deregisters since the license is transferred to the replacement. This won't take full effect on the faulty device until three more license synchronizations have taken place.

  6. Click the transfer confirmation box, then click Claim firewall.

    RMA license transfer window.

    When you confirm, it'll complete the registration and transfer the paid-for license from the faulty device's serial number to the device you're registering.

RMA transfer issues

The following events prevent an automatic transfer from taking place:

  • A different registrant than the original is registering the replacement.
  • The serial number of the faulty device or the replacement serial number has been misrecorded in the RMA case. This means that you were supplied with the wrong serial number or Sophos recorded the wrong serial number.
  • The replacement device shipped has a different appliance model than the faulty device.
  • The faulty device isn't registered.

If Sophos doesn't detect that the device being registered matches a faulty device in an RMA case, the following events take place:

  • If it's Sophos Firewall, a 30-day evaluation license is activated, which includes FullGuard Plus.
  • The original license remains on the faulty device.

You can transfer the license from the faulty device to the new device yourself. You must first claim the new device, then transfer the licence. See the following articles:

If you have any issues transferring the license, contact Sophos Support.