SmartBear-ID Based Licenses
Important
Important Notice for TestEngine Customers:
ReadyAPI has fully transitioned to the ID-based SmartBear License Management (SLM) system. We are now moving into the final phase of the deprecation of file-based licenses. Customers still using file-based licensing need to plan for migration to SLM before September 30, 2025.
If you are still in the process of migrating or have yet to start, contact your Account Manager or SmartBear representative today. Our teams are ready to assist with smooth transition strategies. For additional support, log a request with our Customer Care Team, who are standing by to help.
For further information and timelines, refer to the File-Based License End-of-Life Policy.
SmartBear ID-based licenses, introduced with ReadyAPI 3.8.1, are now available for use in TestEngine 1.28. This change is part of SmartBear's transition to a fully proprietary license model. Starting September 1, 2024, any renewals or expansions under legacy file-based licensing will incur a service charge, and all file-based licenses are planned to be deprecated in 2025.
Basics
To activate and use the product, your company needs to purchase a TestEngine license or have a trial license assigned. A license administrator needs to specify a SmartBear identifier (an email and a password). If you don’t have it, you need to create one.
From TestEngine 1.28, we included support for ID-based licenses hosted on your on-premise license server only. If you plan to use an on-premise license server, please inform your SmartBear representative:
Once the license has been made available on manage.smartbear.com, your license administrator needs to convert that license for on-premise use and install the license on an on-premise license server. Once installed, the license administrator should provide the TestEngine admin with the server address.
If authentication is required to request licenses from the on-premise ID-based license server, the TestEngine admin will also need to access the on-premise license portal and get the access key for the license. Once the TestEngine Administrator has the on-premise license server address and access key, license installation can proceed in the TestEngine product.
In TestEngine 1.29.0, we include support for ID-based licenses hosted on SmartBear license servers. This will now become the default method of license support from SmartBear. Once the license has been made available on manage.smartbear.com and your license administrator has assigned it to the TestEngine administrator, the TestEngine administrator needs to login to their manage.smartbear.com account and get their access key. This is then used in requesting and installing a license in TestEngine.
Your license sets the number of concurrent product instances.
Requirements
ID-based licenses are online and offline licenses.
Online licenses are those that are controlled by the SmartBear license servers available on the Web.
On-premises licenses are those that work in private networks, which have no connection to the Web and SmartBear license servers.
By default, the licenses you purchase are online ones. You can convert them to offline licenses and vice versa on the SmartBear License Management.
Currently, all the control over license use is performed by the SmartBear License Servers available 24×7. The computer where you are running TestEngine 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:443https://api.slm.manage.smartbear.com:443https://login.slm.manage.smartbear.com:443https://server.manage.smartbear.com:443https://server.slm.manage.smartbear.com:443https://profile.id.smartbear.com:443https://profile-api.id.smartbear.com:443https://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, TestEngine is smart enough to understand the cause and to remain functioning long enough to let your system administrators fix the issue.
For on-premises licenses, your license administrator can convert your subscription license to an offline one and activate this license on the On-Premises License Server in your network.
Starting September 1, 2024, any renewals or expansions under legacy file-based licensing will incur a service charge, and all file-based licenses is planned for deprecation in 2025. Please contact your SmartBear Account Manager immediately to understand the steps involved in this transition. Click here to learn more.
Managing licenses
You can manage your SmartBear ID and licenses on our License Management Portal:
License priority for ID-based License Requests
A single user may be assigned multiple ID-based licenses for a specific product. If that happens, a license will be selected based on the following:
A license already in use has a higher priority than a free one — for example, you are requesting to use a license on a computer that already has one checked out.
A Commercial license has a higher priority than a Trial license.
An older license has a higher priority than a newer license.
More info on licenses
For complete information on the SmartBear ID-based licenses, see our License Management Documentation.
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, contact our Customer Care Team.