Licensing Overview

In the past, SmartBear products used different key-based license types and systems. The company has now moved to a unified licensing approach, binding licenses to individual users, instead of computers where the licensed products are installed.

This approach has a number of benefits over the previous system:

• A licensed user can install their SmartBear product on any number of computers, and the system will automatically enforce concurrency limits based on the number of seats
• A license administrator can see idle time across the organization's licenses and disconnect idle licenses
• Reports detailing usage statistics are now available and exportable
• One licensing tool covers all participating SmartBear products

The below video gives an introduction to SmartBear License Management:

• The computer where your SmartBear product will run needs a connection to the SmartBear license servers:

  https://manage.smartbear.com:443

  https://api.slm.manage.smartbear.com:443

  https://api.id.smartbear.com:443

  https://id.smartbear.com:443

  Proxies and firewalls running in your network should allow access to these addresses. If needed, ask your network administrators for assistance in configuring the proxies and firewalls.

• By default, right after purchase, a license is not assigned to any user. The license administrator — a person who manages the licenses on your side — should assign it to a user (or users) before they run their SmartBear product. See Activate and Use Licenses.

• To run the product, users need a SmartBear account — an email and password combination that gives access to SmartBear portals and services.

  The Portal creates the SmartBear account automatically when a license administrator assigns a license to a user. The user will receive an email with a link to connect to the Portal and to specify their password.

By default, licenses from SmartBear License Management are for machines with an active internet connection. However, to use SmartBear products within private networks, you can request conversion to an offline license. See Licensing in Private Networks for more information.

We offer Fixed User and Floating licenses. Both can have one or multiple seats:

• Fixed User: The license administrator assigns seats to users and each seat can be consumed only by the user to whom this seat is assigned.

• Floating: the seats are not strictly assigned to users. The license administrator defines a group (pool) of users, and any person from this pool can use the license if there is a free seat available.

  One person can consume multiple seats. This happens when that person is running the product on multiple computers concurrently.

See also License Types.

Can I use SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) to access SmartBear License Management?

Do I need to be connected to the license server during the product run?

Does the license server store information about the machine where the product is running or about the license user?

What security measures are in place for License Management users?

What will happen if the Internet connection breaks during the run?

What if a product didn’t release a license because of a crash or some other error? How do I make my license available?

Can licenses be grouped by business unit?

License Management comprises the following components:

Click the image to enlarge it.

Key

• SLM - SmartBear License Management
• SaaS - cloud-based version of License Management
• On Premise - off-line version of License Management for floating licenses
• SKUs - SmartBear products using License Management

License Types

Using the Portal

Activating and Using the Licenses

A license administrator is a person who controls and manages licenses on your side. That can be a different person than those who run SmartBear products.

A license administrator is a person who controls and manages licenses on your side. That can be a different person than those who run SmartBear products.