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Activating a Windows licence on an instance with no Basic IP

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Find out how to attach an Ext-Net public port to a Public Cloud instance created without a Basic IP and activate its Windows licence manually

Objective

Unlike Windows instances created with a Basic IP, Windows instances created without a Basic IP (connected only to a private network) do not have their Windows licences automatically enabled. In this case, you must activate the licence manually to access all Windows services.

This guide is designed to help you configure the public interface for your Public Cloud instances within your vRack.

Requirements

We recommend that you read our guide on Accessing the Horizon interface to familiarise yourself with Horizon.

OVHcloud Control Panel Access

  • Direct link:
  • Navigation path: Public Cloud > Select your project

Instructions

Attach an "Ext-Net" public port to an instance

Via Horizon

Log in to the Horizon interface using the method listed in the first part of this guide.

Choose the proper work zone.

region

Select Compute and then Instances from the menu.

compute and instance

To add an interface, click on the arrow in the “Actions” column to access the possible actions on the instance. Select Attach Interface:

attach interface

Select your interface and confirm.

interface select

Via the OpenStack API

Before continuing, we recommend reading these guides:

First, retrieve all the necessary information:

  • ID of your instances
openstack server list
+--------------------------------------+-------------------+--------+---------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------+
| ID                                   | Name              | Status | Networks                                                            | Image                                  | Flavor   |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------+--------+---------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------+
| f095ad19-5c0a-4ef5-8e01-b3590bc9c6f1 | MyInstance        | ACTIVE |                                                                     | Windows Server 2016 Standard (Desktop) | win-b2-7 |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------+--------+---------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+----------+
  • ID of public and private networks
openstack network list
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ID                                   | Name              | Subnets                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 1ca87837-7860-47a3-8916-c9c516841bf2 | Ext-Net-Baremetal | 1db089a7-1bd9-449f-8e3b-4ea61e666320, 4a614403-b8aa-4291-bd59-0cb2c81c4deb                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| 7394fc68-0f77-40d7-a274-388e7e75d82c | vlan 0            | f3fb67dc-7419-49da-b26c-7f64c480eb63                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| 7a0e67da-70f3-48ed-a6e7-5ec265916211 | private-net       | 57d9faac-f01c-43a2-8866-d9b1dd02cb9e, 5cb270a9-3795-4286-96fe-f3bfa3a328e5                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| b2c02fdc-ffdf-40f6-9722-533bd7058c06 | Ext-Net           | 0f11270c-1113-4d4f-98de-eba83445d962, 1a6c6b72-88e9-4e94-ac8b-61e6dbc4792c, 22e2d853-1b86-48f3-8596-9d12c7693dc7, 4aa6cac1-d5cd-4e25-b14b-7573aeabcab1, 7d6352a6-dbed-4628-a029-fcc3986ae7d6, 9f989c4b-c441-4678-b395-e082c300356e, b072b17b-ef1d-4881-98c7-e0d6a1c3dcea|
+--------------------------------------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

With the previously retrieved items, you can create a public port named "Ext-Net" on the subnet "Ext-Net" and attach it to the instance:

openstack port create --network b2c02fdc-ffdf-40f6-9722-533bd7058c06 Ext-Net
+-------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Field                   | Value                                                                                  |
+-------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| admin_state_up          | UP                                                                                     |
| allowed_address_pairs   |                                                                                        |
| binding_host_id         | None                                                                                   |
| binding_profile         | None                                                                                   |
| binding_vif_details     | None                                                                                   |
| binding_vif_type        | None                                                                                   |
| binding_vnic_type       | normal                                                                                 |
| created_at              | 2023-01-20T10:12:17Z                                                                   |
| data_plane_status       | None                                                                                   |
| description             |                                                                                        |
| device_id               |                                                                                        |
| device_owner            |                                                                                        |
| device_profile          | None                                                                                   |
| dns_assignment          | None                                                                                   |
| dns_domain              | None                                                                                   |
| dns_name                | None                                                                                   |
| extra_dhcp_opts         |                                                                                        |
| fixed_ips               | ip_address='2001:41d0:304:400::128f', subnet_id='4aa6cac1-d5cd-4e25-b14b-7573aeabcab1' |
|                         | ip_address='57.128.42.227', subnet_id='22e2d853-1b86-48f3-8596-9d12c7693dc7'           |
| id                      | ed34add5-aa76-4aab-97af-815724d76e2c                                                   |
| ip_allocation           | immediate                                                                              |
| mac_address             | fa:16:3e:68:35:9c                                                                      |
| name                    | Ext-Net                                                                                |
| network_id              | b2c02fdc-ffdf-40f6-9722-533bd7058c06                                                   |
| numa_affinity_policy    | None                                                                                   |
| port_security_enabled   | True                                                                                   |
| project_id              | 2098640de5e547289e3740b09e725ecc                                                       |
| propagate_uplink_status | None                                                                                   |
| qos_network_policy_id   | None                                                                                   |
| qos_policy_id           | None                                                                                   |
| resource_request        | None                                                                                   |
| revision_number         | 2                                                                                      |
| security_group_ids      | 9f60804a-0ecf-4738-a4d8-30a6bb0d20c2                                                   |
| status                  | DOWN                                                                                   |
| tags                    |                                                                                        |
| tenant_id               | 2098640de5e547289e3740b09e725ecc                                                       |
| trunk_details           | None                                                                                   |
| updated_at              | 2023-01-20T10:12:18Z                                                                   |
+-------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Retrieve the UUID of the "Ext-Net" port:

openstack port list --name Ext-Net
+--------------------------------------+---------+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
| ID                                   | Name    | MAC Address       | Fixed IP Addresses                                                                    | Status |
+--------------------------------------+---------+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
| ed34add5-aa76-4aab-97af-815724d76e2c | Ext-Net | fa:16:3e:68:35:9c | ip_address='2001:41d0:304:400::128f', subnet_id='4aa6cac1-d5cd-4e25-b14b-7573aeabcab1'| DOWN   |
|                                      |         |                   | ip_address='57.128.42.227', subnet_id='22e2d853-1b86-48f3-8596-9d12c7693dc7'          |        |
+--------------------------------------+---------+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+

Attach the port to the instance:

openstack server add port <server_id> <port_id>

Activate your Windows licence

To activate Windows, you must go through PowerShell.

Once you have logged in to your Windows instance, right click on the Start menu and select Windows PowerShell.

Enter the following command:

slmgr.vbs -ato
windows key

The Windows licence will be activated for 180 days.

You will need to repeat this operation every 180 days.

Info

In the meantime, if you want to isolate your instance from the public network, you can disable the public port you have created via Horizon or the OpenStack API. You can also disable the network port directly via Windows.

To check the licence status and expiration date, use the following command:

slmgr.vbs -dli
windows key

Go further

Find out how to change the activation key of your Windows Server.

For training or technical assistance implementing our solutions, contact your sales representative or visit our Professional Services page to request a quote and have your project analysed by our experts.

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