Licensing overview

The vWLC virtual service router is distributed under a commercial license. This means that to access its features, a license must be purchased and activated.

vWLC licensing is provided by the Eltex License Manager (hereinafter — ELM), which performs the licensing function for software and hardware products of Eltex. ELM is used during license activation and subsequent operation to confirm the legitimacy of the purchased software and to grant rights to its use.

There are 2 options for ELM operation:

https://elm.eltex-co.ru:8099
In both cases, network connectivity between the server and the device is required.

When purchasing access to vWLC, a pair of values "serial number" and "license key" is generated, unique for each vWLC instance.

vWLC-Demo mode

Without an ELM license, vWLC operation is limited (demo mode), but this is sufficient to familiarize yourself with the WLC series devices.

In the demo mode, the device has the following limitations:

  1. Two IPsec tunnels;
  2. Device throughput of 1 Mbps;
  3. BGP RIB 1024;
  4. OSPF RIB 1000;
  5. RIP RIB 1000;
  6. ISIS RIB 1000;
  7. SLA function disabled.

With an ELM license, these limitations are removed. If a license was obtained but then reset for some reason, vWLC will switch back to demo mode (for more information on license reset, see the "License management" section of the WLC User manual).

System demo licenses

Upon first launch, vWLC will already have demo licenses installed that enable additional functionality on the device. These demo licenses work only on the device with serial number VWLC0000000.

  1. WIFI-DEMO — a license with a limitation of up to 5 simultaneously operating access points, with the ability to activate and track the status of SoftGRE tunnels for Wi-Fi access point operation.
  2. BRAS-DEMO — a license with a limitation of up to 5 simultaneously operating subscribers. Activates user authorization/authentication/accounting functions for routed traffic. Functionality works with a properly configured RADIUS server. AAA is possible by subscriber IP or MAC address.

These licenses will be lost when the serial number is changed.

These licenses do not cancel demo mode.

vWLC licensing via ELM

Before connecting to ELM, the serial number (can be set during vWLC installation process) and license key must be specified in the device system settings. This can be done with the following commands

vwlc# set system serial-number <SERIAL-NUMBER>
vwlc# set system licence-key <ELM-LICENCE-KEY>

The device must then be rebooted.

Switch to the global configuration mode:

vwlc# configure

In the licence-manager configuration mode, specify the ELM server address and port. Network connectivity between the device and the ELM server is required.

vwlc(config-licence-manager)# host address elm.eltex-co.ru
vwlc(config-licence-manager)# host port 8099
vwlc(config-licence-manager)# enable

After the configuration is applied, the license manager will attempt to make a request to the specified server.

The show licence-manager status command displays detailed information about requests to the license server:

vwlc# show licence-manager status
ELM server type:                root
Last request status:            success
Last request to licence server: 2026-07-12 07:01:00
Next request to licence server: 2026-07-12 07:57:07

The show licence command displays detailed information about the license:

System serial number:  VWLCXXXXXXX                          
System licence key:    ELM0000000000000jle3jQm7IDho26f5X93U42sSlJ...

ELM licence:
    Licence is valid from: 2025-12-26 04:00:00
    Licence expires:       --

Feature                            Source      State                          Value             Valid from             Expiries               
--------------------------------   ---------   ----------------------------   ---------------   --------------------   --------------------   
WLC-AP-SUPPORT-EXT                 ELM         Active                         100               --                     --                     
WLC-VIRTUAL-LIMIT-DEFAULT          ELM         Active                         true              --                     --                     
WLC-VIRTUAL-LIMIT-NET              ELM         Active                         1000000000        --                     --                     
WLC-WIDS-WIPS                      ELM         Active                         true              --                     --

The update licence-manager licence command forces a request to the ELM server without waiting for the next scheduled request:

vwlc# update licence-manager licence
2026-07-12T08:01:00+00:00 %LICENCE-W-EVENT: Licence recieved from Eltex Licence Manager server

A detailed description of the license manager configuration procedure for connecting to Online ELM or Offline ELM is available in the "License management" section of the WLC User manual.

Connection credentials are provided upon purchasing vWLC.

Do not enable the license manager before setting the serial number. After 10 connection attempts to ELM with incorrect credentials, your IP address will be automatically blocked by the license server protection system.

During migration, copying, restoration, export, or other similar operations related to the virtual machine state, vWLC must be rebooted using the reload system command.