Ran into an interesting issue today, and this might help out anyone whose trying to install a cisco license but getting this weird error when applying to a Nexus switch.

NEXUS(config)#install license bootflash:MDSFEAT022015.lic
Installing license failed: SERVER line in license should have “this_host ANY”

A google search brings up…

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/switches/nexus-7000-series-switches/116445-problemsolution-product-00.html

This is fine, but unfortunately the KB could add a few more tips in here for a better fix.

It needs to look like this EXACTLY in your notepad or else you’ll get this error. And I mean exactly — no white spaces at all, and the formatting I hit space a bunch of times until its right under the “INCREMENT” line. Failing to do this will generate the error message above.

This is a known issue with Cisco’s nexus switches which gives me a WTF moment — how could they of messed up the formatting on a license file?! I spent a good few hours troubleshooting this when at the end of the day it turns out to be a tedious text editing to get the license to work.

Major face palm, Cisco, major face palm.

William Zambrano

NYC networkers is run by William Zambrano, a passionate network engineer who has been in the IT industry for eight years who posts up blog articles, YouTube videos, and holds meetup.com events in the NYC area. He lives in Queens, New York and has consulted in various different companies in the NY area. Previously William worked as a Cisco Certified Systems Instructor (CCSI) but now currently works for Arista Networks serving as a Systems Engineer. William can be reached by email at willzambrano@gmail.com

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