When a license expires, does it expire at 00:01 of the listed date or the 11:59 of listed date?

[camkim_MDEA]

Also, is there a reason why the URL database has to be dumped immediately after the license expires? Just like with Apps and Virus definition, would a customer not be entitled to use the last URL DB downloaded prior to the license expiration?

[kprakash · Accepted solution]

Its not always necessary that the licenses expire at 00:01 and 11:59 of the listed date. The licenses can expire any time, and the time when the licenses expire is reflected on our entitlement server and only the support team have a visibility of it. The time seen is that of the palo alto update server. But you still get notifications/reminders about the licenses that would expire. You can call the support team to find out about the exact time.

After the license expires, you can still use the last URL DB. Make sure that you do not accidentally clear the DB. But if the URL filtering license is inactive, you could still use the URL filtering by creating your own custom categories (adding more and more web-sites eventually, to the custom category would be a pain), but you can use the same if the DB is deleted.

[camkim_MDEA]

In practice, after the license expires, the URL DB is purged. (for some reason). Then, depending upon how your settings are configured, it becomes default deny or allow all for URL filtering. I experienced this last year when our renewal was not processed prior to the expiration.

For now, I was able to get an extension while our VAR processes our renewal, however I wished that the URL DB and the ability to use categorization would be maintained as of the last download (as it is with Virus defiintions and product updates).

[ppatel]

Hello,

As far as I know, there is a connection made to updates.paloaltonetworks.com everyday at 04:02am system time by the firewall. The check performed should include the  license check.

This connection is outside the scheduled time for automatic updates for dynamic , AV or URL updates. Let me know if that helps.

Regards

Parth

[UhMayYeah]

To check the exact time when license would  expire use CLI command :

prompt> delete license key (HIT Tab key )

  BrightCloud_URL_Filtering_2011_11_06_I6524376.key   2012/09/10 10:12:14        0.3K

  GlobalProtect_Gateway_2011_11_06_I6542515.key       2012/09/10 10:12:15        0.3K

  GlobalProtect_Portal_2011_11_06_I3559132.key        2012/09/10 10:12:15        0.3K

  Threat_Prevention_2011_11_06.key                    2012/09/10 10:12:13

Apart from this the System logs would also show up following logs :

general critical general License for feature threat will expire on %s %s: date of expiration (ex. 2011/01/31)

general critical general License for feature url-filtering will expire on %s %s: date of expiration (ex. 2011/01/31)

Regards,

Ameya

[dyang]

Hi everyone,

Your URL filtering subscription license entitles you to URL category information.  As you've noticed, when you configure your URL filtering profile, you must select whether you want to allow or block all traffic upon license expiration.  This means that regardless of what action you've set for a particular category, the engine will either allow or block the traffic depending on that setting.  Allow/Block lists and custom categories still apply, but you will no longer have access to the category of a URL once your license expires.  To prevent any lapses in security policies, please make sure your licenses are renewed prior to expiration.

--Doris

[camkim_MDEA]

Understood. But can you explain for customers why we lose access to the category of a URL upon expiration? Should customers not be entitled to the last version that they downloaded prior to expiration of the license?