Transfer licenses to another firewall

When you transfer licenses from one firewall to another, you also transfer licenses from one serial number to another.

You must verify the serial numbers of the old and new firewalls when you enter them in Sophos Central.

When you replace an older model with a newer one or replace a faulty device through the RMA process, you must claim the new firewall and transfer the licenses from the existing device to the new one.

When to transfer licenses

You must transfer your license to another firewall in some cases.

Transfer hardware firewall licenses

A few instances in which you must transfer the firewall license to another firewall are as follows:

• Active-passive HA: If you assigned the licenses to the auxiliary device instead of the Initial primary, you must transfer the licenses to the primary device. See Transfer licenses in HA devices.
• Incorrect firewall: Licenses were assigned to an incorrect serial number.
• Replacement of an older model: You're replacing an older model with a new one.
• RMA: You replaced a device through the Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) process, but the license wasn't automatically transferred when you claimed the replacement device. See Claim an RMA firewall.

Apply paid-for virtual licenses to virtual firewalls with a trial license

If you set up a virtual appliance with a free trial license and you then purchase a license, you can apply the paid-for license to the appliance in use. Do as follows:

1. Claim the firewall in the same Sophos Central account where your trial license is registered, using the new serial number. See Claim a firewall.
2. Transfer the subscriptions from the virtual firewall with the new serial number to the virtual firewall with the trial serial number. See Transfer subscriptions between firewalls.

This transfers the subscriptions to the existing virtual firewall and also deletes the new serial number. This means you don't need to reinstall the virtual firewall, and the virtual firewall will work as before.

Regular replacement

When you replace an older model with a newer one, you must claim the new firewall in your Sophos Central account and transfer the paid-for license from the existing firewall to the new one. For more information, see the following documents:

• Claim a firewall.
• Transfer subscriptions between firewalls.

RMA replacement

The RMA process lets you return a defective hardware device for replacement. See RMA process.

When you complete the license transfer from the faulty to the replacement device, the faulty device is automatically deregistered.

License transfer to the replacement device can be automatic or manual.

Automatic license transfer

When you claim the replacement device through your Sophos Central account and Sophos Central detects the device's RMA case, it shows the automatic license transfer screen. See Claim an RMA firewall.

Make sure the faulty device's serial number shown in Sophos Central is correct.

Manual license transfer

Automatic license transfer won't take place in the following cases:

• The registrants for the faulty and replacement devices aren't the same.
• The serial number of the faulty or replacement devices was inaccurately recorded in the RMA case. You either received an incorrect serial number or Sophos recorded an incorrect one.
• The replacement device isn't the same appliance model as the faulty device.
• The faulty device wasn't registered.

You must claim the replacement device and then transfer the licenses if your Sophos Central account doesn't show the automated license transfer screen for the RMA case. See the following documents:

1. Claim a firewall.
2. Transfer subscriptions between firewalls.

If you face an issue transferring the license, contact Sophos Support. See Contact Sophos Support.