How Licenses Are Distributed

License Distribution

Software licenses are distributed in two different ways:

• – Licenses available for multiple users on a shared server
• – active licenses on each user’s computer
• In addition, it is possible to combine the two previous license distribution methods. For example, you can activate one license on a single computer and activate the remaining licenses on a shared license server.

Licenses activated on each user’s computer (nodelocked)

• In cases where licenses are activated directly on the user’s computer, it is important to know that:
• – A license server administrator is not required: in fact, each user can independently manage the license server installed on their own computer
• – There is no need to manage license access rights: each user activates only the licenses they need. Furthermore, licenses are activated separately on each user’s computer, so there is no need to manage any access rights
• – If a user’s license were activated on a laptop, there would be no need to borrow licenses or set up a VPN connection
• – However, each user has access only to the licenses installed on their own computer. If it becomes necessary to use a license installed on another computer, you must use a license installed directly on the new workstation. Otherwise, you will need to deactivate the licenses on the first computer and reactivate them on the second, which is time-consuming. For this reason, in fact, an analysis of the usage and utilization of nodelocked licenses reveals rather low figures.

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Licenses activated on a shared server (floating license server)

When managing licenses through a license server, it is important to note that:
– a designated person is required to maintain the server and manage license usage
– the server administrator can (and must) control access to and configurations of the license server. Licenses can, in fact, be distributed according to a set of specific company policies
– licenses can also be used off-site; in this case, the user must borrow a license from the license server or use a VPN connection to it
– in this scenario, there is a high rate of license utilization: in fact, with floating licenses, they are available to multiple users. Each license is issued by the server only when needed. When a user no longer needs a license, they can close the application they were using, and the license thus becomes available to another user. In this case, therefore, the transfer of licenses between users is quite simple.

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