Licensing FAQ
Product-specific licensing information
- Citrix ADC
- Citrix Cloud
- Citrix Endpoint Management
- Citrix Gateway
- Citrix Hypervisor
- Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops
The following questions are asked frequently about your licensing environment.
Licenses
What is a license file and what do I do with it?
The license file is a text file that contains the following:
- Product licensing information
- License Server name (or other binding identifier)
- Customer Success Services membership renewal date
- License expiration date (if applicable)
- Other system information
When you purchase a Citrix product, you are entitled to a license file. The License Server uses this file to determine whether to grant a license to a Citrix product.
Why would I return a license?
An example would be if you’re decommissioning a License Server, but you’re not ready to deploy existing licenses elsewhere.
What happens to returned licenses?
Returned licenses are put back in the licensing pool. You can then allocate these licenses in any quantity at any time. After you return a license, remove the old license file from the License Server.
What happens when I archive a license?
Archiving doesn’t remove licenses from an account. Archiving removes them from view. To view archived licenses, click the Archive tab under View Licenses.
How can I get a copy of my license file?
You can obtain a copy of your license file from your License Server. Alternatively, all purchased licenses and allocated license files are available from the secure My Account > Manage Licenses portal at www.citrix.com.
Allocating licenses
What does allocating licenses mean?
When you allocate licenses, you apportion purchased licenses by product and License Server so you can split them among multiple environments or use cases. For example, your organization might own 1,000 licenses for the same product. You might want to use 800 in 1 location and 200 in another location. You can allocate 800 licenses to a License Server in the first location today, and allocate the remaining 200 later to a different License Server.
What’s the difference between a host ID type and a host ID?
The host ID type is the required binding type you supply to allocate licenses. The host ID is the License Server host name, MAC address, or other binding ID required to allocate licenses.
Why can’t I partially allocate some licenses?
Some licenses do not allow partial allocation.
The License Server
Can I rename the License Server?
License files run only on the License Server for which they were made. License files contain the host name or binding identifier of the License Server you specify when you allocate the licenses. You cannot use the license file that you generated for a particular License Server or a MAC address (for an appliance), on a different License Server or appliance.
Create license files that reference the new server name or MAC address by reallocating and generating the new file on citrix.com.
If I upgrade my License Server does it affect my license files?
No. The License Server and all product licenses are fully backward compatible and do not introduce any issues into your environment.
Can a single License Server supply licenses to users connecting from different servers using different product editions?
Yes. One License Server can contain licenses for multiple editions of a Citrix product. The type of license checked out corresponds to the edition that is configured on the product server. A product server is configured to consume a specific edition of a license and checks out that license edition.
For example:
ProductServerA is configured to check out Advanced licenses.
ProductServerB is configured to check out Premium licenses.
LicenseServer1 contains both Advanced and Premium licenses.
- Users who connect to LicenseServer1 from ProductServerA check out Advanced licenses only. After the number of Advanced licenses on LicenseServer1 is exceeded, new requests from ProductServerA users are denied until existing Advanced connection licenses are released.
- Users who connect to LicenseServer1 from ProductServerB check out Premium licenses only. If the number of Premium licenses on LicenseServer1 is exceeded, new requests from ProductServerB users are denied until Premium connection licenses are released.
Note
License checkout times might increase if many product servers that have many users are contacting the same License Server simultaneously. One License Server can accept only 10,000 inbound TCP/IP requests at one time. If you are planning to have more than 10,000 Citrix product servers connecting at the same time, we recommend that you use several License Servers. These product servers can include Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, Delivery Controllers, and Appliances.
Examples of possible deployments:
Scenario 1: Two sites
- SiteA contains product servers configured for the Advanced edition.
- SiteB contains product servers configured for the Premium edition.
- One License Server (shared).
- User1, User2, User3, User4…User5000 connect only to SiteA.
- User5001, User5002, User5003…User10000 connect only to SiteB.
Scenario 2: One site
- The site has two sets of published applications.
- The site is configured as Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Premium concurrent and Delivery Groups 2 as Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops user/device
- One License Server (shared).
- User1, User2, User3, User4…User5000 connect only to the concurrent licenses.
- User5001, User5002, User5003…User10000 connect only to Delivery Group 2 user/device licenses.
Disaster recovery and maintenance
How do I license my disaster recovery site?
You can use the same licenses for your disaster recovery that you use for your production environment.
- Configure and manage your disaster recovery environment independently of your production environment.
- Don’t use both the production and backup License Servers to service license checkouts at the same time.
- Make only one License Server accessible at any one time
- The License Server in your disaster recovery environment must have an identical host name to the License Server in your production environment.
What happens if my License Server is offline for maintenance activity?
The standard 30-day grace period allows your systems to continue to function without degradation of performance or denial of service to support License Server maintenance requirements.
What can I do if my License Server is unrecoverable?
When you have a backup copy of your license files available, you have 30 days to do the following:
- Rename an existing server in your environment to have the identical host name as your original License Server.
- Install the License Server component and your backup license files to relicense your environment.
What can I do if my License Server is unrecoverable and I do not have a backup copy of my license files immediately available?
When you don’t have a backup copy of your license files immediately available, you have 30 days to access your My Account > Manage Licenses portal at www.citrix.com. To relicense your environment, do the following:
- Download your license files.
- Rename an existing server in your environment to have the same host name as your original License Server.
- Install the License Server component and the license files you downloaded.
What can I do if my License Server is unrecoverable and I cannot rename an existing server in my environment?
When you can’t rename an existing server in your environment, you have 30 days to relicense your environment. Do the following:
- Identify another server in your environment.
- Install the License Server component.
- Access your My Account > Manage Licenses portal at www.citrix.com.
- Return and reallocate your license files using the host name of the new server you selected.
- Download and install these license files.
Does any failure of the License Server degrade performance or deny service to users?
No. The 30-day grace period prevents you from experiencing degradation in performance and denial of service to users.