Both physical and virtual appliances depend on the Trellix DTI network (cloud.fireeye.com) for automatic license updates and DTI services such as threat intelligence and software and security content updates. Virtual appliances also depend on the DTI network for the token server, which continually renews the lease on its product license.
A virtual appliance has a unique activation code, which serves the following purposes:
Gives the appliance a unique identity (its appliance ID).
Activates the product (FIREEYE_APPLIANCE) license.
Allows access to the license token server.
Provides access to the DTI network.
Protects you from fraudulent use of the virtual appliance.
Allows the virtual appliance to initialize—the appliance remains disabled until you apply the activation code.
The activation code is highly sensitive, because it gives the virtual appliance its identity and access credentials. Trellix takes measures to prevent fraudulent use of activation codes as described in How It Works.