The Licensing Maze
When exploring the options for acquiring an Application Delivery Controller (ADC)— customers encounter a complex array of licensing models that vary significantly from vendor to vendor. This variability often complicates product comparisons, as differences in pricing structures and licensing schemes can obscure the true value proposition.
ADC licensing typically revolves around two primary dimensions:
- Capacity/Performance Licensing: Pricing based on the ADC's capacity or performance levels.
- Feature Tiering: Allowing customers to select feature sets that align with their specific needs and budget, such as Alteon’s Deliver / Perform / Secure features tiers.
While these approaches are effective, licensing ADCs in virtual environments introduces another layer of complexity: the need to accommodate the inherent elasticity of virtualized infrastructure. Virtual environment requires allowing inherently dynamic addition of instances and capacity increase per instance. In both scenarios, the licensing model must facilitate seamless scaling without restricting operational flexibility.
Another key aspect licensing in virtual environments should address is the need to support multi-cloud / multi environment settings that are widely used in scaled implementations. Even if your setup is currently using only one virtual environment – be it private or public – the need to grow beyond that environment is always around the corner. The licensing scheme must support such transition to preserve your investment.
Now, let’s examine the various licensing methods in more detail.
Licensing ADC Overview
Appliance Licensing
Appliance licensing involves activating an ADC at its purchased capacity—a simple one-time setup once the appliance is deployed in the data center. This model is well-suited for physical appliances. In most cases, those licenses will be perpetual and will reflect a safety overprovisioning of capacity, to cater for expected growth and application elasticity. However, in virtual environments where instances are frequently spun up and down, this approach becomes less practical.
License Pools
Although Radware does not use this method, it's worth mentioning as a transitional approach between static licensing and dynamic scaling. License pooling allows static licenses to be allocated to virtual instances on an as-needed basis. Usually, the license pool is fixed in the number of licenses, so if you happen to need more instances than the pool has – you are stuck. Moreover, usually, the license pool fits one form factor, making them less adequate to multi environment settings.
Virtual Appliance Licensing
For virtual but static environments, a per-appliance activation model can still be viable. This method is appropriate if the virtual instance remains fixed in capacity and does not scale up or down. In such cases, the setup is relatively straightforward—a "configure-and-forget" approach. However, this model's effectiveness diminishes in dynamic environments that require more flexibility.
Enterprise License Agreements (ELA)
ELAs usually extend beyond the ADC space, representing a commercial agreement between the customer and the vendor. Under an ELA, the customer gains unlimited access to the vendor's portfolio, with usage reviewed periodically—typically annually. The customer is then billed based on excess usage beyond the initial purchase. Commonly, if the usage fell below the committed level, payment does not go down. ELAs are most suitable for organizations committed to using a single vendor's products across their infrastructure and are very sure of their sustained growth in the years ahead.
Elastic Licensing – GEL
GEL, or "Global Elastic License," is a widely adopted licensing method for Radware Alteon ADCs. The concept is straightforward: customers purchase a total ADC capacity to be used across all environments—private, public, and even physical appliances—and then allocate that capacity as needed. Unlike other licensing models that rely on meticulous planning to allocate capacity, GEL recognizes that capacity needs are constantly shifting. It provides the tools to seamlessly manage these shifts, enabling organizations to scale up or down with ease. This flexibility is particularly critical in dynamic private and public cloud environments.
GEL Basics
Simple use cases
The core strength of GEL's flexibility lies in its ability to allow NetOps teams to allocate capacity on demand from a centralized pool, all with minimal effort. Here are some straightforward use cases:
- Growing Instance Capacity: : If a particular application experiences a surge in popularity for a week, simply increase the instance size to meet the demand. Adjustments are made in real-time without complex re-licensing processes.
- Expanding the Pool: As the number of applications grows and the pool approaches 85% utilization, expanding capacity becomes necessary. Simply purchase the additional capacity, and Radware will provision it via its cloud entitlement servers. You’re then equipped with the increased capacity instantly.
- Decreasing instance capacity: Conversely, if an application sees a decline in usage and no longer requires its initially allocated capacity, reduce the instance size. This frees up resources to be returned to the pool for use by other applications.
- Adding instances: When new applications need to be provisioned, allocate the required Alteon ADC capacity from the pool. This eliminates the need to contact the vendor for additional licenses, streamlining the provisioning process.
Advance Use Cases
- Dynamic Clusters: For applications with sporadic but significant traffic bursts, allocating static capacity—even under GEL—can lead to inefficiencies. Radware’s dynamic cluster capability addresses this by allowing Alteon resources to spin up when capacity is needed and spin down once the burst subsides. This dynamic allocation automatically retrieves capacity from the pool in real-time and returning the capacity to the pool when burst diminish - optimizing resource usage.
- Kubernetes (K8s) Environments: In Kubernetes environments, Alteon can manage microservices as they are created or torn down. GEL is Kubernetes-aware, allowing it to dynamically allocate and reclaim capacity from the pool for the downstream K8S services up to the allocated Alteon allocated capacity.
Unlimited Instances Anyone?
GEL offers an option for unlimited instance licensing. Yes, you read that correctly - unlimited. While our generous limited-instance option under GEL meets the needs of many customers, some require maximum flexibility and prefer to eliminate any restrictions on the number of instances altogether. This approach enables the development of highly granular scalability strategies, such as deploying a dedicated Alteon ADC for each application. This level of flexibility is a unique capability in the market and stands in stark contrast to the instance-based licensing scheme most market players use.
GEL Licensing ADC in Scaled Environments
In scaled environments, managing ADC capacity requires additional measures to streamline the operational lifecycle:
- Delegation: In large-scale environments, multiple departments are often managed independently by different network operations teams. While the organization aims to benefit from a single large capacity pool, each sub-pool also needs independent management. GEL supports this delegation, enabling flexible and autonomous management across departments.
- Pool Split and Merge: Capacity pools are dynamic and must be adjusted according to evolving organizational needs. Whether increasing, decreasing, splitting, or merging pools, GEL provides the necessary flexibility to adapt seamlessly to these changes.
- Automation: Some organizations prefer not to manage per-instance capacity manually, opting instead for full automation of the scaling process based on real-time requirements. This is particularly relevant in environments with many instances and frequently changing capacity needs. GEL supports this approach through integration with standard automation environments.
Summary - Why is GEL So Popular?
In the post-digital transformation era, organizations face a more dynamic application environment than ever before. It’s only natural to require a licensing solution that matches the evolving, dynamic nature of this landscape. GEL has become popular because it delivers precisely this adaptability.
Here’s what customers value most:
- Dynamic Capacity Management: GEL allows NetOps teams to allocate, increase, or decrease capacity on demand, ensuring smooth operations and flexibility. It accommodates fluctuations in application popularity or traffic surges without the need for complex re-licensing processes.
- Flexible, Instance-Agnostic Licensing: GEL adopts an instance-agnostic licensing model rather than licensing each instance individually. This enables customers to allocate ADC capacity across a wide range of instances without worrying about per-instance limitations. With a generous instance allowance and an option for unlimited instances, GEL allows organizations to scale and adapt their infrastructure efficiently.
- Multi-Cloud and Cross-Environment Flexibility: GEL's license pool is not confined to a single environment. It extends across private, public, and hybrid clouds, as well as physical appliances, allowing seamless capacity allocation wherever needed. This flexibility enables organizations to manage ADC resources efficiently in multi-cloud and cross-environment setups, ensuring consistent performance and scalability regardless of application deployment locations.
- Scaled deployment focus: Delegated and Dynamic Pool Management: GEL supports both the delegation and dynamic adjustment of capacity pools, making it ideal for large-scale environments. Organizations can benefit from a single large capacity pool while allowing different teams to manage their sub-pools autonomously. GEL also enables seamless splitting, merging, increasing, or decreasing of pools based on evolving organizational needs, ensuring optimal resource allocation.
- Low Friction with Vendor: GEL minimizes the need for frequent vendor interactions when scaling or reallocating resources. Customers can manage their capacity internally, reducing delays and streamlining operations without the constant overhead of touching the vendor for any configuration change.
- Automation Integration: For environments with numerous instances and rapidly changing capacity needs, GEL supports full automation of the scaling process. It integrates with standard automation environments, allowing real-time capacity adjustments without manual intervention.
To learn more about Radware unique licensing model for ADC, GEL, please visit Alteon Global Elastic License (GEL) | Radware.