Convert a license type for Linux in License Manager

You can use either the License Manager Console or the AWS CLI to convert the license type of eligible Ubuntu LTS instances.

License type conversion considerations

Some of the considerations that license type conversion is subject to are listed as follows. This is not a comprehensive list and is subject to change. RHEL doesn't currently have any additional considerations.

Ubuntu conversion

• The instance must be running Ubuntu LTS in order to convert the license type to Ubuntu Pro.

• You can’t use license type conversion for a Ubuntu Pro subscription. To remove a Ubuntu Pro subscription, see Remove a Ubuntu Pro subscription.

• Ubuntu Pro is not available as a Reserved Instance. For savings with On-Demand Instance pricing, we recommend that you use Ubuntu Pro with Savings Plans. For more information, see Reserved Instances in the Amazon EC2 User Guide and What are Savings Plans? in the Savings Plans User Guide.

Convert a license type using the License Manager console

You can use the License Manager console to convert a license type.

Note

Only instances that are in a stopped state and have been associated by AWS Systems Manager Inventory are displayed.

To start a license type conversion in the console

1. Open the License Manager console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/license-manager/ .

2. From the left navigation pane, choose License type conversion, then choose Create license type conversion.

3. For Source operating system, choose the platform of the instance you want to convert:

   • RHEL

   • Ubuntu LTS

   • Windows BYOL

   • Windows license included

4. (Optional) Filter the available instances by specifying a value for Instance ID or Usage operation value.

5. Select the instances whose licenses you want to convert, and then choose Next.

6. Enter the Usage operation value for the license type, select the license that you are converting to, and choose Next.

7. Verify that you are satisfied with your license type conversion configuration and choose Start conversion.

You can view the status of your license type conversion from the license type conversion panel. The Conversion status column displays the status of the conversion as In progress, Completed, or Failed.

Convert a license type using the AWS CLI

To start a license type conversion in the AWS CLI, you should confirm the license type of your instance is eligible, and then perform a license type conversion to change to the required subscription. For more information on eligible subscription types, see Eligible subscription types for Linux in License Manager.

Determine the license type of your instance

Verify that you have installed and set up the AWS CLI. For more information, see Installing, updating, and uninstalling the AWS CLI and Configuring the AWS CLI.

Important

You might need to update the AWS CLI to run certain commands and receive all required output in the following steps. Verify that you have permissions to run the create-license-conversion-task-for-resource AWS CLI command. For more information, see Create IAM policies for License Manager.

To determine the license type currently associated with your instance, run the following AWS CLI command. Replace the instance ID with the ID of the instance for which you want to determine the license type:

aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-ids <instance-id> --query "Reservations[*].Instances[*].{InstanceId: InstanceId, PlatformDetails: PlatformDetails, UsageOperation: UsageOperation, UsageOperationUpdateTime: UsageOperationUpdateTime}"

The following is an example response to the describe-instances command. The UsageOperation value is the billing information code associated with the license. A usage operation value of RunInstances indicates that the instance is using AWS provided licensing. The UsageOperationUpdateTime is the time when the billing code was updated. For more information, see DescribeInstances in the Amazon EC2 API Reference.

"InstanceId": "i-0123456789abcdef",
"Platform details": "Linux/UNIX",
"UsageOperation": "RunInstances",
"UsageOperationUpdateTime: "2021-08-16T21:16:16.000Z"

Convert to Ubuntu Pro

Before you convert your instance from Ubuntu LTS to Ubuntu Pro, your instance must have outbound internet access configured to retrieve a license token from the Canonical servers and install the Ubuntu Pro Client. For more information, see Conversion prerequisites for License Manager license types.

To convert Ubuntu LTS to Ubuntu Pro, follow these steps:

1. Run the following command from the AWS CLI while specifying your instance’s ARN:

   aws license-manager create-license-conversion-task-for-resource \
       --resource-arn <instance_arn> \
       --source-license-context UsageOperation=RunInstances \
       --destination-license-context UsageOperation=RunInstances:0g00

2. Run the following command from within the instance to retrieve details about your Ubuntu Pro subscription status:

   pro status

3. Confirm your output indicates that the instance has a valid Ubuntu Pro subscription:

   

Remove a Ubuntu Pro subscription

License type conversion can only be used to convert from Ubuntu LTS to Ubuntu Pro. If you need to convert from Ubuntu Pro to Ubuntu LTS, you will need to raise a request to AWS Support. For more information, see Creating a support case.