Secure NMC subscription offline activation | Schneider Electric Nigeria

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Secure NMC subscription offline activation

Issue:
Users have a Network Management Card (NMC) and do not wish to expose it to the internet, or for other reasons must keep devices on the same network as their NMC from accessing the internet

Product:
Network Management Card 3 devices (AP9640/AP9641/AP9643)
Devices that use an embedded NMC3, including but not limited to certain model rack PDU/ATS manufactured after specific dates 2022
Devices that support v3.x+ NMC3 firmware, and can use the Secure NMC System Tool to upgrade

Solution:

To activate a Secure NMC subscription in an offline scenario, the following steps must be performed:

Install the Secure NMC System (SNS) Tool on your air-gapped network.
Launch the SNS Tool as normal and add your NMCs into the Tool.
Once all the NMCs have been added, close the Tool, and navigate to the directory containing SecureNMCSystemTool.exe in a command prompt window.
Run the command SecureNMCSystemTool.exe --exportofflinelicensingfile to export a CSV file of the required information needed to license your NMCs. The additional argument --unlicensed or -u can also be passed in with this command to only export a list of unlicensed devices. This will produce a file called OfflineLicensingDevices.csv in the same directory, containing a list of MAC Addresses and Serial Numbers of your NMCs.

NOTE: See SecureNMCSystemTool.exe –help for more info on the commands and short options.

Move the OfflineLicensingDevices.csv file to a Secure NMC System Tool instance with an outgoing internet connection. Depending on your security policies, you can either directly copy this file over or manually type out the contents of it. It needs to be placed in the same directory as SecureNMCSystemTool.exe.
Run the command SecureNMCSystemTool.exe –processlicensinglist. This will import the OfflineLicensingDevices.csv file and generate the necessary license files.
You may be asked to provide your email address in the console if it has not already been provided in the SNS Tool UI. If your devices are not eligible for the 1-year included subscription, you will be asked to provide the Activation ID of a purchased subscription to proceed. Enter the Activation ID to license your devices when prompted. When this completes, a ZIP folder called LicenseFiles.zip will be generated.
Take the LicenseFiles.zip folder and copy it back across to your air-gapped Secure NMC System Tool instance, placing it in the same directory as SecureNMCSystemTool.exe.
Navigate to this directory in a command prompt window and run the command SecureNMCSystemTool.exe --importlicensingfiles. This will import your licensing files to the Tool. Now you can launch the Tool as normal and proceed with the firmware update process.