How to license Windows VMs using the UKCloud Key Management Server

Overview

You need to register the Windows virtual machines (VMs) that you create with the UKCloud Key Management Server (KMS). You need to set up a connection with the KMS to enable registration.

Setting up a connection with the UKCloud KMS

Before product activation, make sure your VMs can communicate with the UKCloud KMS that exists outside your cloud organisation.

To allow this communication, you need to create a source network address translation (SNAT) and firewall rule on your edge gateway:

  1. In the VMware Cloud Director Virtual Data Center dashboard, select the VDC for which server activation is required.

  2. In the left navigation panel, under Networking, select Edges.

    Edges menu option in VMware Cloud Director

  3. On the Edge Gateways page, select the edge that you want to configure and click Services.

    Services option

  4. On the Edge Gateway page, select the NAT tab and create a new SNAT rule.

  5. Make sure that the Applied On field is set to reflect your network firewall tenant (NFT).

  6. In the Original IP/Range field, enter the IP address, CIDR or range of addresses you want to SNAT out.

  7. For the translated address, enter the external IP address of your edge gateway or one of your external IP address assignments.

    For more information about creating SNAT rules, see How to create NAT rules.

  8. Select the Firewall tab and make sure that an outbound rule exists on your firewall.

    Contact UKCloud Support for details of the Destination IP and Destination Port.

    For more information about creating firewall rules, see How to create firewall rules.

Activating your Windows licence

  1. Open a console to the VM you want to license and activate.

  2. Launch a command line with administrator rights.

  3. Enter:

     C:\ > slmgr /skms  kms.ukcloud.com:1688

  4. You'll see the following pop-up box:

    Windows Script Host dialog box

  5. If an error message appears indicating that the KMS server can't be contacted, it means either that the edge gateway hasn't been configured correctly or that DNS can't be retrieved. Try again by issuing the same command but using the IP address of the activation server:

     C:\ > slmgr /skms  <external IP address>:1688

    Windows Script Host dialog box

  6. Click OK, then from the same command line window, enter:

     C:\ >slmgr /ato

    Product successfully activated

Feedback

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