License Management Overview
Keeping track of your software licenses and license numbers can be a hassle, whether
you have thousands of licenses or just a few. Each week we hear from customers who
have misplaced their license numbers, or lost track of how many licenses they have
purchased.
To help with these problems, we have implemented an online license management system.
This self-service system allows you to:
- Review a list of the licenses you have purchased.
- Request license numbers/electronic license certificates for those licenses.
- Track the license numbers/electronic license certificates that have been issued.
- Transfer licenses between computers.
- Transfer licenses between accounts.
- Merge accounts for easier management.
How it Works
When you purchase software from us you do not immediately receive a license number
or electronic license certificate. Instead we credit your license account with the
appropriate number of licenses.
Using this online system, you then request the license numbers or electronic license
certificates that you need, which are e-mailed to you (or to the designated recipient).
If you have purchased more licenses than you currently need, you can leave the extras
in your account, and request the license numbers only when you need them.
The system tracks your issued licenses, so you can always see how many licenses
you have purchased and how many are in use.
Account Management
The system allows you to split and merge license accounts and to transfer licenses
between accounts to suit your needs.
For example, if you purchased licenses on several different orders and those licenses
are in different accounts, you can merge the licenses into a single account for
easier administration.
Or you might want to split the account: resellers who have purchased blocks of licenses
can split those licenses into a separate account for each of their end-users.
License Numbers, Certificates, Files, and Keys
Depending on the product you have purchased and the installation medium you are
using (e.g., CD versus downloaded installation package), the license you need for
the software may take one of several forms:
- A license number, entered during the installation.
- An electronic license certificate (license file), applied after installation.
- A license key to be embedded in your application.
When you request a license for one of your products, you will receive the license
information in all of the formats that may be required for that product.
Host-Locked Licenses
Licenses for some of our software are host locked, meaning that they are tied
to a specific computer. When you request a license from your account for a product
that uses host-locked licensing, you will be required to provide information about
each computer for which you are requesting a license. This information is used to
generate a license file that will work only for the specified computer.
To transfer one of these licenses to another computer you must return the old license
and request a new license for the new computer.
You can always install the software temporarily on unlicensed computers if you need
to, for example in the case of a server failure where you need to move the software
to another computer for a while. The software will work for 30 days without a license;
after that you can always request a temporary license by logging in to your license
account (temporary license requests are processed automatically, 24 hours a day,
so you can easily get a temporary license in an emergency).
Questions or concerns about this licensing system? Contact us;
we don't want this to be an excessive burden for you.
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