Vault Enterprise license keys

Vault Enterprise 1.8 introduced EULA enhancements and license keys that control the availability of features. You must have a Vault Enterprise binary (evaluation or non-evaluation) downloaded from releases.hashicorp.com to use a Vault Enterprise license key.

How license keys work

License keys for Vault Enterprise determine how long you can use Vault and the availability of product features.

Each license key has a start date and an expiration date:

• You cannot start, restart, or unseal any Vault versions released after the expiration date. As a result, you also cannot update Vault with security fixes released after the expiration date.
• You can start, restart, and unseal Vault versions released before the expiration date.

Some license keys also enforce a termination date. If your license key enforces a termination date, you cannot start, restart, or unseal any version of Vault after the termination date. Existing, unsealed nodes continue to operate normally until they restart or have to unseal again.

To review the dates on a license key, run vault license inspect for a local key, or vault license get to query the license key of a Vault cluster.

You must comply with the terms of your Vault Enterprise license agreement, regardless of any automated license key enforcement behaviors. Continued use of Vault Enterprise after your subscription license period expires may violate the terms of your license agreement.

Additional resources