License

Administration → License (/admin/license) shows what the panel is licensed for and holds its key. Every staff member can see it. Entering, checking and releasing the key needs the License permission, which Owners have.

Entering a key

1. Buy a license, or start the free 15-day trial, on the license site.
2. Copy the key from your account there. It looks like 7KQ2M-0D9XH-PR3TA-W81CE.
3. Paste it under License key and click Activate.

The panel sends the key to the license site with its install ID, its address and how many nodes it has. The site ties the key to this panel and answers with a signed lease: the license’s limits, when it’s paid up to, and how long the panel can go without checking in.

A key works on one panel at a time. To move it to a new controller, click Release this key from the panel on the old one first, or release it from your account on the license site.

Locked to one IP address

A license is also locked to the IP address the panel activated from: the address the license site sees the controller’s requests come from. The page shows it under Locked to IP. Check-ins from any other address are refused, and the panel locks as below, so a copy of the controller on another server can’t use the same license.

• The server’s address changed (a new IP from your provider, or you moved the same controller): on the license site, open the license in your account and click Reset IP lock. Then click Check now here. The license locks to the address the panel comes from now.
• Moving to another server: release the key instead (above), and enter it on the new controller.

Between them, releases and IP lock resets are limited to 3 in 30 days from your account. Past that, open a ticket and we’ll do it for you.

If the controller sits behind NAT or a proxy for outgoing traffic, the license is locked to that public address, not the controller’s own.

What the license covers

Licenses are per node. A license has a number of node slots, and each slot either has no limit on servers or allows up to a set number. Each node takes one slot, and the busiest nodes take the biggest slots.

When there are more nodes than slots, or a node has more servers than its slot allows, the page says Over the limit and names those nodes. Everything keeps running, but:

• you can’t add nodes until the license has more slots;
• new servers aren’t placed on a node that’s at its limit. Placement passes it over, and picking it by hand is refused.

Checking in

The panel checks in with the license site once a day, and Check now does it straight away. A renewed license shows up at the next check.

If the panel can’t reach the license site, it keeps working on its last check for 7 days (1 day for a trial). The page shows Needs attention and the panel tries again every hour. Make sure the controller can make HTTPS requests to the license site.

When the license lapses

A license is locked when there’s no key, it has run out, it was suspended or cancelled, it’s in use on another panel, the panel checked in from an IP address the license isn’t locked to, or the panel hasn’t reached the license site for 7 days.

Turning the controller’s clock back doesn’t stretch a license: the panel remembers the latest time it has seen.

Trying it in the demo

The demo is licensed. Add ?mock=unlicensed to start without a license: any key in the right form activates it, and a key starting with T is a 3-node trial, which shows the Over the limit state.