Licenses acquire and activate

License Manager and License Server are installed as part of the installation process of your purchased products. The Activation Server is not installed on your local computer or network. These components work together to provide licensing for your installed products.

License Activation is the process of enabling a purchased license on a License Server for use by a product. The Activation Server takes an Activation ID, validates it, and provides and an activated license in return.

Acquiring a license occurs when an install product is started. An installed product, when running, acquires its activated license from the License Server and releases it when no longer needed.

Note: For detailed information on how to activate and acquire licenses, see Activate and acquire licenses.

This section provides an overview of how license activation works. For both activation modes, the license entitlement file must be copied to the target computer where License Manager components are installed, or to a location on your network where the target computer can access it.

You can use a trial license for a given product for try-out and testing purposes.

Note: For detailed information and procedures regarding trial licenses, installation and activation, see Use a trial license.

Online Activation

Online activation provides the means to activate licenses when there are no internet restrictions in your environment. This mode is configured by default in the Activation Settings menu.

For online activation to work, make sure that the License Manager has connectivity to both the License Server, typically via an intranet, and to the Activation Server via the Internet. For more information on online activation, see Activate licenses in online mode

Offline Activation

Offline activation provides the means to activate licenses when the Internet connection to the Activation Server is restricted to certain areas in your environment.

In this mode there are two nodes involved to complete the activation process:

• A node with License Manager components installed and network access to a License Server but no Internet access to the Activation Server. The Offline Activation mode must be selected in the Activation Settings menu.

• A node with Internet access to the Activation Server and License Activation Web Page.

For more information on offline activation, see Activate licenses in offline mode