License compliance is enforced when you try to access features in the NSX Manager user interface. The license enforcement is based on features and time.

The assigned valid license is used to determine the list of features that you are allowed to use in the NSX Manager user interface. If you are a new user, you can only access those features that are available in the license edition that you have purchased. If you try to access a feature that is not valid for your current license, you see a message similar to what is shown in the following screenshot.


Security Distributed IDS/IPS tab showing an example message displayed if the current license does not allow access to the feature being accessed.

You can upgrade your current NSX deployment to NSX 4.1 or later regardless of the license that is in effect. Similarly, you can perform a backup or restore operation regardless of the license that is in effect. However, after a successful upgrade, backup, or restoration of a backup, the license enforcement is applied based on the current valid assigned license to your NSX deployment.

If an assigned license expires or becomes invalid, only the read and delete operations are allowed for objects that were configured before the license expired or before an upgrade, backup, or restoration process began. The edit, create, and new operations are disabled. A warning banner similar to what is shown in the following screenshot is displayed.
The Select Context Profile UI is shown with a yellow warning banner.

The list of supported features for the different VMware NSX license editions is available at NSX Feature and Edition Guide.

See Add a License Key and Generate a License Usage Report for more information on how to add a license key. You can also find information about the restrictions of the default license, NSX for vShield Endpoint, that is used when you install NSX Manager.