docs: adding an faq in preperation for Consul Enterprise 1.10.0

website/content/docs/enterprise/index.mdx

@@ -25,65 +25,3 @@ Features include:
 
 These features are part of [Consul
 Enterprise](https://www.hashicorp.com/consul).
-
-## Licensing
-
-All Consul Enterprise agents must be licensed when they are started. Where that license comes from will depend
-on which binary is in use, whether the agent is a server, client or snapshot agent and whether ACLs have been
-enabled for the cluster.
-
--> ** Consul Enterprise v1.10.0 removed temporary licensing.** In previous versions Consul Enterprise
-agents could start without a license and then have a license applied to them later on via the CLI
-or API. That functionality has been removed and replaced with the ability to load licenses from the 
-agent's configuration or environment. Also prior to v1.10.0 server agents would automatically propagate
-the license between themselves. This no longer occurs and the license must be present on each server
-when they are started.
-
-### Binaries with Built In Licenses
-
-If you are downloading Consul from Amazon S3, then the license is included
-in the binary and you do not need to take further action. This is the
-most common use case.
-
-In the S3 bucket you will find three Enterprise zip packages. The packages with `+pro` and
-`+prem` in the name, are the binaries that include the license. The package
-with `+ent` in the name does not include the license.
-
-When using these binaries no further action is necessary to configure the license.
-
-### Binaries Without Built In Licenses
-
-For binaries that do not include built in licenses a license must be available at the time the agent starts. 
-For server agents this means that they must either have the [`license_path`](/docs/agent/opts#license_path) 
-configuration set or have a license configured in the servers environment with the `CONSUL_LICENSE` or 
-`CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH` environment variables. Both the configuration item and the `CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH` 
-environment variable point to a file containing the license whereas the `CONSUL_LICENSE` environment 
-variable should contain the license as the value. If multiple of these are set the order of precedence is:
-
-1. `CONSUL_LICENSE` environment variable
-2. `CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH` environment variable
-3. `license_path` configuration item.
-
-Both client agents and the snapshot agent may also be licensed in the very same manner. However to prevent
-the need to configure the license on many client agents and snapshot agents those agents have the capability
-to retrieve the license automatically under specific circumstances. 
-
-#### Client Agent License Retrieval
-
-When a client agent starts without a license in its configuration or environment, it will try to retrieve the
-license from the servers via RPCs. That RPC always requires a valid non-anonymous ACL token to authorize the
-request but the token doesn't need any particular permissions. As the license is required before the client
-actually joins the cluster, where to make those RPC requests to is inferred from the [`start_join`](/docs/agent/opts#start_join) 
-or [`retry_join`](/docs/agent/opts#retry_join) configurations. If those are both unset or no 
-[`agent` token](/docs/agent/opts#acl_tokens_agent) is set then the client agent will immediately shut itself down.
-If all preliminary checks pass the client agent will attempt to reach out to any server on its RPC port to
-request the license. These requests will be retried for up to 5 minutes and if it is unable to retrieve a
-license within that time frame it will shut itself down.
-
-#### Snapshot Agent License Retrieval
-
-The snapshot agent has similar functionality to the client agent for automatically retrieving the license. However, 
-instead of requiring a server agent to talk to, the snapshot agent can request the license from the server or 
-client agent it would use for all other operations. It still requires an ACL token to authorize the request. Also
-like client agents, the snapshot agent will shut itself down after being unable to retrieve the license for 5 
-minutes.

website/content/docs/enterprise/license/faq.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+---
+layout: docs
+page_title: Consul Enterprise License FAQ
+description: Frequently Asked Questions pertaining to Consul Enterprise Licensing.
+---
+
+# Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
+
+This FAQ is for the license changes introduced in Consul Enterprise version v1.10.0+ent.
+Consul Enterprise automatically load Consul licenses when a Consul server agent starts using Consul Enterprise.
+
+## Q: Can I get a quick summary of the Consul changes?
+
+Starting with Consul Enterprise v1.10.0, the license enablement process is different.
+
+HashiCorp Enterprise servers will no longer start without a license. When the server instance initializes the license watcher, the server reads from either an environment variable or file.
+If the license is missing, invalid, or expired, the server will immediately exit.
+This check is part of the server boot-up process.
+
+In previous versions of HashiCorp enterprise products, one server could distribute a license to other servers via the Raft protocol.
+This will no longer work since each server must be able to find a valid license during the startup process.
+
+## Q: What resources are available?
+
+The list below is a great starting point for learning more about the license changes introduced in Consul Enterprise v1.10.0+ent.
+
+- [Consul Enterprise Upgrade Documentation](https://www.consul.io/docs/enterprise/upgrades)
+
+- [Consul License Documentation](http://localhost:3000/docs/enterprise/license)
+
+<!-- - [License configuration values documentation]() -->
+
+- [Install a HashiCorp Enterprise License Tutorial](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/nomad/hashicorp-enterprise-license?in=consul/enterprise)
+
+## Q: Do these changes impact all customers/licenses?
+
+The license changes introduced in v1.10.0 only affect Consul Enterprise.
+This impacts customers that have an enterprise binarie (EVAL / non-EVAL licenses) downloaded from releases.hashicorp.com.
+The license changes do not, at this time, impact customers with the baked-in licensed binaries (Pro/Premium). In a later release of Consul Enterprise, baked-in binaries will be deprecated.
+
+## Q: What is the product behavior change introduced by the licensing changes?
+
+Starting with Consul Enterprise 1.10.0+ent, a valid license is required on-disk (auto-loading) or as an environment variable for Consul Enterprise to successfully boot-up.
+The in-storage license feature will not be supported starting with Consul Enteprise 1.10.0+ent. All Consul Enterprise clusters using v1.10.0+ent must ensure that there is a valid license on-disk (auto-loaded) or as an environment variable.
+
+## Q: What is the impact on EVAL licenses due to this change?
+
+The 6-hour trial period for EVAL licenses will be deprecated as of Consul Enterprise 1.10.0.  
+This means that any clusters deployed with Consul 1.10.0+ent binaries will need to have a valid license on the disk (auto-loaded) or as an environment variable.
+Failure in providing a valid license key will result in the Consul server agent not starting.

website/content/docs/enterprise/license/overview.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+---
+layout: docs
+page_title: Consul Enterprise License
+description: Consul Enterprise License Overview.
+---
+
+# Consul Enterprise License
+
+## Licensing
+
+All Consul Enterprise agents must be licensed when they are started. Where that license comes from will depend
+on which binary is in use, whether the agent is a server, client or snapshot agent and whether ACLs have been
+enabled for the cluster.
+
+-> ** Consul Enterprise v1.10.0 removed temporary licensing.** In previous versions Consul Enterprise
+agents could start without a license and then have a license applied to them later on via the CLI
+or API. That functionality has been removed and replaced with the ability to load licenses from the
+agent's configuration or environment. Also prior to v1.10.0 server agents would automatically propagate
+the license between themselves. This no longer occurs and the license must be present on each server
+when they are started.
+
+### Binaries with Built In Licenses
+
+If you are downloading Consul from Amazon S3, then the license is included
+in the binary and you do not need to take further action. This is the
+most common use case.
+
+In the S3 bucket you will find three Enterprise zip packages. The packages with `+pro` and
+`+prem` in the name, are the binaries that include the license. The package
+with `+ent` in the name does not include the license.
+
+When using these binaries no further action is necessary to configure the license.
+
+### Binaries Without Built In Licenses
+
+For binaries that do not include built in licenses a license must be available at the time the agent starts.
+For server agents this means that they must either have the [`license_path`](/docs/agent/opts#license_path)
+configuration set or have a license configured in the servers environment with the `CONSUL_LICENSE` or
+`CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH` environment variables. Both the configuration item and the `CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH`
+environment variable point to a file containing the license whereas the `CONSUL_LICENSE` environment
+variable should contain the license as the value. If multiple of these are set the order of precedence is:
+
+1. `CONSUL_LICENSE` environment variable
+2. `CONSUL_LICENSE_PATH` environment variable
+3. `license_path` configuration item.
+
+Both client agents and the snapshot agent may also be licensed in the very same manner. However to prevent
+the need to configure the license on many client agents and snapshot agents those agents have the capability
+to retrieve the license automatically under specific circumstances.
+
+#### Client Agent License Retrieval
+
+When a client agent starts without a license in its configuration or environment, it will try to retrieve the
+license from the servers via RPCs. That RPC always requires a valid non-anonymous ACL token to authorize the
+request but the token doesn't need any particular permissions. As the license is required before the client
+actually joins the cluster, where to make those RPC requests to is inferred from the [`start_join`](/docs/agent/opts#start_join)
+or [`retry_join`](/docs/agent/opts#retry_join) configurations. If those are both unset or no
+[`agent` token](/docs/agent/opts#acl_tokens_agent) is set then the client agent will immediately shut itself down.
+If all preliminary checks pass the client agent will attempt to reach out to any server on its RPC port to
+request the license. These requests will be retried for up to 5 minutes and if it is unable to retrieve a
+license within that time frame it will shut itself down.
+
+#### Snapshot Agent License Retrieval
+
+The snapshot agent has similar functionality to the client agent for automatically retrieving the license. However,
+instead of requiring a server agent to talk to, the snapshot agent can request the license from the server or
+client agent it would use for all other operations. It still requires an ACL token to authorize the request. Also
+like client agents, the snapshot agent will shut itself down after being unable to retrieve the license for 5
+minutes.

website/data/docs-nav-data.json

@@ -830,6 +830,19 @@
       {
         "title": "Sentinel",
         "path": "enterprise/sentinel"
+      },
+      {
+        "title": "License",
+        "routes": [
+          {
+            "title": "Overview",
+            "path": "enterprise/license/overview"
+          },
+          {
+            "title": "FAQ",
+            "path": "enterprise/license/faq"
+          }
+        ]
       }
     ]
   },

website/redirects.next.js

@@ -81,6 +81,11 @@ module.exports = [
     destination: '/docs/connect/registration/sidecar-service',
     permanent: true,
   },
+  {
+    source: '/docs/enterprise/license',
+    destination: '/docs/enterprise/license/overview',
+    permanent: true,
+  },
   {
     source: '/docs/enterprise/connect-multi-datacenter',
     destination: '/docs/enterprise',