Patent ID: 8682799

Claim:
A method for configuring port licenses in a switch having a plurality of ports for communication in a network system, comprising: a switch processor initializing the switch in the network system; the switch processor reading a memory accessible to the switch to determine if any licensing value is set for the switch, the licensing value indicating whether one or more of the plurality of ports can be used for communication in the network system; if no licensing value is set, then the switch operates as if all the plurality of ports are licensed; launching a reconfiguration process for reconfiguring port licenses, if the licensing value is set and upon the switch receiving a command via a processor executable management application for configuring a port of the switch as a licensed port; launching the management application during the reconfiguration process; the switch processor reading the licensing table from the switch memory, the licensing table storing licensing information for each of the plurality of ports; the switch processor checking if a maximum number of port licenses for the user would be exceeded if the license for the port is granted in response to the command; and the switch processor modifying the licensing table for configuring the port as a licensed port, if the maximum number of port licenses would not be exceeded.