SmartBear ID-based Licenses

Applies to ReadyAPI 3.51, last modified on March 19, 2024
Important Notice for ReadyAPI Customers

ReadyAPI has moved to SmartBear License Management. From September 2023, all licenses issued for your subscription term will be ID-based licenses by default. If you are not currently on ID-based licensing, it's time to migrate immediately. File-based licensing will no longer be supported as of October 2023. This means that technical support requests related to file-based licensing will not be accommodated. If you encounter technical issues that you're unable to resolve, it could lead to service interruption. For customers still in the process of migration, we recommend reaching out to your Account Manager to discuss your migration plan. Alternatively, you can log a support request with our Customer Care Team for assistance.

SmartBear ID-based licenses are now the default license type we started using in ReadyAPI 3.8.1 and are now issued to all customers. It is more reliable and convenient to use than the license type used in previous product versions.

Basics

  • To activate and use the product, you need to specify your SmartBear identifier (an email and a password). If you don’t have it, you need to create one. We create an ID for you automatically when you are requesting a ReadyAPI trial on our website. You can also create it any time earlier or later.

    That ID is enough to use the product, there is no need to install any other license files or enter license keys.

  • The license can be used on any physical, virtual, or cloud computer. You can install the product on multiple machines and easily switch between them. To make a license available for usage on another computer, simply stop the product on your current machine.

    The number of allowed concurrent product instances is set by your license.

  • The new licenses are suitable for both individual and enterprise users. In the latter case, a license administrator (a person on your side) assigns the license seats to your teammates on the ReadyAPI License Management Portal.

  • ReadyAPI supports a special command-line argument to allow using the licenses on headless machines and in CI/CD systems.

Requirements

Currently, all the control over license use is performed by the SmartBear License Servers available 24×7. The computer where you are running ReadyAPI must have permanent access to these servers. That is, the proxies and firewalls running in your network should allow connection to them:

  • https://manage.smartbear.com:443
  • https://api.slm.manage.smartbear.com:443
  • https://login.slm.manage.smartbear.com:443
  • https://server.manage.smartbear.com:443
  • https://server.slm.manage.smartbear.com:443
  • https://profile.id.smartbear.com:443
  • https://profile-api.id.smartbear.com:443
  • https://auth.id.smartbear.com:443

This access is needed both at the product start and during the product runtime. The addresses are for API servers and don’t have a user interface visible in browsers. When products call these hosts, they add some specific paths or URLs to the addresses.

Note: We encrypt all data at rest and over the wire.

In case a network glitch happens, ReadyAPI is smart enough to understand the cause and to remain functioning long enough to let your system administrators fix the issue.

Use in private networks

If you work in private networks that are not connected to the global Web, you can use SmartBear ID-based offline licenses.

When using SmartBear ID-based offline licenses, instead of ReadyAPI licenses being controlled by the SmartBear license servers available on the Web, SmartBear offers a special license type – offline. Your license administrator can convert your Fixed or Floating license to an offline one and then activate this license on the computer where ReadyAPI is installed, or on the On-Premises License Server in your network. See the links below for detailed information.

License subtypes

ID-based licenses can be Fixed User and Floating. The difference between them is the way the license seats are assigned and controlled. See the SmartBear License Management documentation for complete info.

How do I use these licenses with ReadyAPI?

Managing licenses

You can manage your SmartBear ID and licenses on our License Management Portal:

https://manage.smartbear.com

License priority for ID based License Requests

A single user may be assigned multiple SLM licenses. If that happens, a license will be selected based on the following:

  1. A license already in use has higher priority than free one — e.g. you are requesting to use a license on a computer that already has one checked out.
  2. A Commercial license has higher priority than a Trial license.
  3. A Fixed license has higher priority than a Floating one*.
  4. An older license has higher priority than a newer license.

* Using ReadyAPI in a virtualized and containerized environments requires a Floating license. Fixed licenses will be ignored automatically.

More info on licenses

For complete information on the SmartBear ID-based licenses, see our License Management Documentation.

Please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions page for more information on SLM.

Need assistance?

If you have questions or need assistance with the new licenses, please contact our Customer Care Team.

SmartBear Licensing Portal:
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