Ruckus : Licensing with TFTP & USB

This topic in my opinion is one of the really big downfalls of the Ruckus Switches and there are a couple, but I will leave that for another time. Licensing however, It is overly complicated, and a total waste of time. Why when you buy a piece of hardware it doesn’t come working the way you want it to, is beyond me. Ruckus have to fix this or they will lose customers. They recently told me that they had delivered 42 ICX switches to a customer. When I thought about the licensing process that needs to be done on each device, I think I would have quit on the spot. Luckily…I only had to license 4…for now. This however is not normal practice,  Here Goes:

When you buy a license key wether it be for Layer 3 or 10G ports you need a transaction key and then you need a License ID.

To get the LicenceID you need to run the command:

#show version

The you need to go to https://support.ruckuswireless.com/code_registration (you will need a ruckus account for this). The License Code comes in a separate Email (if you don’t receive that you may need to contact support). Follow the steps online:


They then have you download a file or they will send you a xml file.
(I recommend opening up the XML file and naming them something better than what they send you).

For USB Install

Copy the XML License Files to USB Stick

View Current License

#Show license

View License files on USB on Switch

# show files disk0

Copy license files from USB to Switch

#Copy disk0 license <license-filename> unit <switch-number>

For TFTP Install

Copy files from TFTP Server to Switch

#copy tftp license <tftp-server-ip> <license-filename> unit <switch-number>

Delete License

#Licence delete unit <switch number>

Verify License

#show license