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How Licensing Works

Ignition's licensing is unique and easy to use because Ignition is licensed by the server, not the client. You only need one license for your server; any clients are automatically included. In addition to that, an Ignition license is unlimited and sold based on which modules you want. There are unlimited clients, Tags, and projects. Buy only the modules you need, and don't worry about running into limits. If you want to test other modules, you don't need to do anything extra because of our built-in Trial mode.  All unlicensed modules can be reset in 2 hour trial mode.

Trial Period

Our goal at Inductive Automation is to provide an easy way to access and learn Ignition. We want everyone to have the opportunity to try Ignition and start working with it with no restrictions. You can download Ignition from our webpage, install it, and start using it for two hours at a time.  At the end of the two hour time period, all modules will stop running, but don't panic, you can reset the timer to run for another two hours.  You can reset the timer as many times as you want, so go for it! The Gateway Webpage and the Designer are not affected by this trial, so you can develop for as long as you want without interruption.  If you do have a license, any unlicensed modules will run in this Trial mode, but licensed modules will never timeout.  

You can re-start the Trial period by logging into the Gateway, and clicking Reset Trial to enable another two hours of execution. The Trial Timer may be restarted any number of times. Depending on the module, you may need to take some additional actions. For example, the Vision Clients requires you to log out and back in again in order to continue the Trial.

In the Gateway, the Trial Time banner is displayed near the top of the screen. To reset the trial timer, click the Reset Trial button:


In a Vision Client (for Edge or Ignition Standard), the banner appears near the bottom of the screen.

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Activating a Standard License (Six-Character Key)

When you purchase a license for Ignition Standard edition or Edge, you receive a license key, a six-digit code that identifies your purchase. Use this license key to activate the software online through the Ignition Gateway.  If you later want to add any additional modules, your account is updated and you can re-use your existing license key to activate the new features.  You can also unactivate your license key, and reuse it to activate Ignition on a different machine as many times as you want, allowing you to transfer a license from one Gateway to another. 

You can activate your license in two ways:

  • Online Activation - from the System > Licensing section on the Gateway Webpage, your request to activate your Gateway is activated over the internet. 

  • Offline Activation - if you don't have an Internet connection, you can follow the manual activation process in the Offline Activation section. 

Online Activation Example

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titleClick here for an online activation example
  1. Go to the Gateway Webpage and select the Config section.
  2. From the menu on the left, select System > Licensing.  The Licensing page will appear. If you already have a license key, click the Activate License button. 


  3. The Licensing / Activate Online page will be displayed. Enter your License Key and click Submit. 



    1. If you are connected to the Internet, click the Activate button.

    2. If you want to activate the license offline, click the Offline Activation button.



  4. The Licensing page will refresh, and your Current License will be successfully activated. 



Offline Activation Example

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titleClick here for an offline activation example

When you do not have an internet connection, you can do the following steps to activate your license manually. 

Note_friendly

If you're planning on performing an offline activation to update a license, make sure to unactivate the license first. Otherwise your system may enter emergency mode after attempting another activation. 


  1. Go to the Config tab on the Gateway Webpage.
  2. Scroll down to System > Licensing. The Licensing Activation page appears. 
  3. Click the Offline Activation button.  
  4. Click the Download Activation Request.  An activation request file, called activation_message.txt is generated and downloaded. 



  5. Take the activation_message.txt file to a machine with Internet access and go to https://links.inductiveautomation.com/activation.

  6. Click Choose File and select the activation_message.txt file.



    Note_friendly

    Should any trouble occur with the upload process, please contact our Support department. 


  7. Once you upload the activation_message.txt file, a license file called license.ipl is generated.

  8. Bring the license.ipl file back to the computer on which you're licensing Ignition. Back on the Offline Activation page, upload the license.ipl file. Them click Activate to finish the process. 



  9. The Licensing page will refresh showing your license was successfully activated.
  10. Click View Modules to see a list of all your activated modules. 
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Leased Licenses (Eight-character keys)

A license key with eight characters signifies a Leased License. These types of licenses also require an activation token, which is a very long, unique, string of characters that must also be provided before a Gateway is licensed. Leased licenses are ideal for containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes), as well as cloud-based deployments. 

This type of license requires that the Gateway frequently check in with an activation service to validate the license.

Validation FeatureDescription
Validation TimerThe Gateway will attempt to renew the lease every hour. A renewed lease will also reset the timeout period. This creates a buffer, allowing a Gateway to remain activated in cases where the Gateway is unable to reach the activation service in a timely manner. 
Timeout PeriodLeased sessions have a default timeout period of four hours. If a longer timeout period is needed for specific special applications, please discuss your requirements with your sales representative.
After TimeoutAfter the timeout period has expired, the Gateway reverts to trial mode.

In order to reach the activation service, the Gateway must have internet access at all times. 

Leased License Activation

Activating a Gateway with a leased license follows a similar flow to the standard license's online activation. 

In addition, when selecting Maker Edition during installation, a leased license and activation token are required.



Adding Multiple Licenses to a Single Gateway

In order to better support our community of third-party module authors, we also allow for multiple license keys to be installed on a single Gateway.  A third-party module author can issue a license key for their module directly to a customer, whereby, they can immediately do an install of the module. To learn more, check out the Third-Party Module Showcase to find and purchase modules that extend Ignition's functionality.

It is important to note that there may only be one license on it with a platform version per Gateway. The platform will look similar to the picture below. If you try and activate a second license with a platform onto a Gateway that already has a license with a platform, the new license will overwrite the previous license.

In the image below, two licenses have been applied to this Gateway, but only one is active.

Effective vs Applied Licenses

This page has two sections, which detail different information.

Applied Licenses shows all licenses that have been applied to the gateway. Entries here are typically purchased or given, and have a license key associated with them.

Effective Licenses provides a summary of modules active on the gateway. Modules are active if they're provided by an applied license. This area is the result of potentially multiple licenses across various activation mechanisms. For example, if license A provides module A, and license B provides module B, then Effective Licenses would show that both modules A and B are active on the gateway. The caveat here is that the modules will only appear if they're installed on the Gateway. In this same scenario with licenses A and B, if module B was not installed, then it will not appear under Effective Licenses. 

In addition, the Effective Licenses area may have "synthetic" items that are translated to modules. For example, in the case of Edge gateways, their Applied Licenses will show products. These products will be translated to modules under the Effective License section. 


Module Status

It's important to know which version of a module you have installed and which version of the module you are licensed for.  You could have a license for another version of a module so it's not going to work correctly until you have the correct version of the license. To verify the versions on your installed modules, go to the Modules page in the Status section of the Gateway Webpage or by clicking View Modules in the green banner.  

Here you can see all the modules that are currently running with their version numbers and license status. The licenses are either in Trial, Activated, or Free mode. On this page, you can add or remove modules from your Ignition. If you are licensed for a module you are running, it will run in Activated mode. If you are not licensed for a module you are running, it will run in Trial mode until the Trial time is expired.

For more information on installing new modules, see the Installing or Upgrading a Module page. 

License Incomplete 

Don't be alarmed by a 'License Incomplete' message on the green banner. Click on the View Modules link within the banner.  It opens an informational message box showing modules that are installed. Some of the modules are in Trial Mode.


Updating a License

Online License Update

If you added one or more new module to an existing license, then you'll need to update (Reactivate) the license. You update a license from the Config > Licensing section on the Gateway webpage.  Simply click the Reactivate button next to the license that was changed, as shown below. 



Pressing the Reactivate button will cause the gateway to attempt to reach out to our licensing server, and will update shortly after.

Offline License Update

If the gateway does not have internet access, it will be unable to update automatically. In this case you'll need to do the following:

  1. Unactivate the license following the Offline Unactivation steps mentioned in the next section.
  2. Activate the license via an Offline Activation.
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Unactivating a License

For a given license key, a limited amount of simultaneous activations are allowed at a given time. If you want to activate Ignition on a different server, you must first unactivate it on the current server. You can unactivate the license on one Gateway, and then activate it on a different Gateway if needed. Unactivation occurs immediately over the Internet, and makes this license available for activation on another machine. 

Online Unactivation

To unactivate the Gateway, do the following steps:

  1. From the Config section of Gateway, go to System > Licensing. The Licensing page is displayed and you can see the currently installedlicense key.
  2. Click on Unactivate License icon.



  3. A Licensing / Confirm Unactive window will appear asking you to confirm the unactivation. Click the Yes, Unactivate button. It may take a minute or so for the request to finish.



  4. The unactivation request will be sent to Inductive Automation's licensing servers, and the license will again be available for activation on another Gateway.  

Offline Unactivation

In the event your Gateway is unable to reach our licensing server, you will need to perform an offline unactivation.

To perform an offline unactivation, do the following steps:

  1. Go to your Gateway's Config section > System > Licensing. You will be able to see any licenses that are currently applied.
  2. Click the Unactivate button (trash can icon) under Applied Licenses.



  3. A confirmation window will appear, asking you to confirm the unactivation. Click the Yes, Unactivate button. It may take a minute or so for the request to finish.



  4. An unactivation request file, called unactivation_message.txt will be generated and downloaded.
  5. Take the activation_message.txt file to a machine with Internet access and go to https://links.inductiveautomation.com/activation.
  6. Click Choose File and select the unactivation_message.txt file.



  7. You will see a visual confirmation that your unactivation_message.txt file has been successfully uploaded, and the license key can now be activated on a different Gateway.

Emergency Activation

In cases where you may have a hardware or OS failure and you cannot unactivate a license, Ignition provides an Emergency Activation mode. In this mode, you can temporarily activate your license for 7 days giving you enough time to contact Inductive Automation Support.   

How to Activate in Emergency Mode

Activating your license in emergency mode is exactly the same as activating with your normal license, you don't have to do anything different because Ignition handles it all for you. See License Activation above for details on how to activate. The Gateway will know to run in emergency activation mode and it will display a timer stating how many days, hours, and minutes you have remaining in the Emergency Activation Mode banner.  Any time before it expires, you can contact Inductive Automation Support to get your license fixed.

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