Convert VM-Series Perpetual to Flexible License (Credits)

[LeonSlattery]

Hi All,

I have a number of VM-Series perpetual licenses with subscriptions that are due for renewal and would like to migrate to flexible licensing so I can purchase credits to add new subscriptions.

I've found the process to do this as follows however I'm looking to understand what happens to the perpetual license entitlement that I have for VM-Series during this process ? Are we required to purchase credits to cover the base "Firewall" once migrated to Flexible licensing or do our perpetual licenses transfer over so we only need to purchase credits to cover support and subscription services ?

Migrate to a Flexible VM-Series License (paloaltonetworks.com)

Many Thanks,

Leon

[BPry]

@LeonSlattery,

My understanding of this process is simply that you can migrate a system running a perpetual license to a Flexible license. You still have entitlement to the originally purchased perpetual license, you've just effectively told the firewall to use flexible licensing. I don't believe that the actual perpetual license is transitioned to flexible licensing credit. 

For an official answer I would reach out to your account manager to see if there's maybe just a program that I haven't heard of or something. They should be in the know about the license transition process if one exists, or at least be able to schedule a talk with internal resources with you to discuss the matter. 

[LAYER_8]

Perpetual licenses no longer exist, in the sense that we internally can no longer quote them. All renewals & the rest should be FLEX licensing model. 

As noted, prior to PAN-OS 10.0.3, the concept of a flex firewall doesn't exist to our VM series. So, you will purchase credits for the capacity of the device (VM-100), support, and the bundle options of subs. 

Post 10.0.3, you can have a pool of credits with truly scalable devices. Since PAN-OS 10.0.6 is currently TAC preferred, if you have a maintenance window coming up, do yourself a favor and upgrade first.