Licensing elements

The License Server comprises several licensing elements:

• Citrix vendor daemon
• Options configuration file
• License request process
• Citrix Licensing Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), Call Home, and compliance

This diagram shows Citrix products connect to the License Server.

Citrix vendor daemon

The Citrix vendor daemon (CITRIX), a process that runs on the License Server, grants licenses. The Citrix vendor daemon tracks the number of licenses that are checked out and which product has them. Citrix products communicate with the Citrix vendor daemon using TCP/IP. By default, the Citrix vendor daemon uses TCP/IP port 7279.

Options file

The options file (Citrix.opt) is a License Server configuration file. The Citrix vendor daemon reads this file every time it restarts or receives a command to reread the file. This configuration file defines licensing behavior-the number of licenses a product server can use, the location of the System Logs, logging levels, and other user-defined customizations. The Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) and Call Home configurations are stored in this file.

License request process

When a product requests a license from the License Server, the Citrix vendor daemon determines whether a license is available for the request.

The license request process has two phases: the product startup phase and the user connection phase.

Product Start-Up Phase:

• When a Citrix product starts, it retrieves the License Server location from its data store.
• The product connects to the Citrix vendor daemon.
• The product checks out a startup license.

User connection phase:

• A user connects to a computer running the Citrix product.
• The product requests a license from the License Server.
• The Citrix vendor daemon checks to see if any licenses are available and grants or denies the product’s request.
• The license module in the product grants or denies the use of the product based on the response from the Citrix vendor daemon.

Citrix licensing Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), Call Home, and compliance usage and analytics programs

The Citrix Licensing CEIP, Call Home, and compliance usage and analytics programs are data collection programs designed to improve your product experience and gather important license compliance information.

Citrix handles your data in accordance with the terms of your contract with Citrix, and protects it as specified in the Citrix Services Security Exhibit available on the Citrix Trust Center.

CEIP and compliance are enabled by default during License Server installation. Call Home is voluntary. You can change your participation in the programs at any time by using the Citrix Licensing Manager. For more information, see “Share usage statistics” under Usage and statistics.

Important

The Citrix Service Provider program requires CEIP and Call Home. If you have Citrix Service Provider licenses installed, you can change the settings, but you cannot disable CEIP or Call Home. When the License Server detects Citrix Service Provider licenses, it enforces daily uploads.

For information about configuring a proxy server, see Configure a proxy server manually in the Get started article.

For information about command-line installation, see Use the Windows command line to install licensing.

Citrix Licensing Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP)

The CEIP program gathers configuration and usage data from your Citrix product deployment and sends the data to Citrix once a day, based on the service start time.

CEIP data elements for build 32000:

CEIP data elements for build 31000 and earlier:

Citrix Call Home

Call Home is voluntary. When you opt in, Call Home performs a periodic collection of system and product configuration, performance, errors, and more. This information is transmitted to Citrix Insight Services once a day, based on the service start time.

You can scramble user names and device information on the License Server before it’s sent to Citrix for processing. For more information, see Anonymize usernames through the License Server.

If you want to disable the Call Home Citrix Cloud-registered License Server upload, use the Citrix Licensing Manager. Change your selection under Usage and statistics > Share usage statistics to either Help improve Citrix products by sending detailed License Server system and non-identifiable usage information (which does not identify users) to the Citrix Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) or Send only basic License Server system and usage information (which does not identify users) required for license compliance purposes. You’re still registered with Citrix Cloud, but your Call Home information isn’t sent.

If you want to remove your registration, see Register and remove registration with Citrix Cloud in Usage and statistics.

Call Home data elements for build 32000:

Citrix Call Home data elements for build 31000 and earlier:

Compliance uploads

Installing the License Server enables the sending of compliance information to the Citrix License Management Service. Your installation of the License Server constitutes your acknowledgment of the License Management Service and your consent to use the License Management Service. You can disable the License Management Service anytime after installation.

For information about the Citrix License Management Service and how to disable the compliance upload, see Citrix License Management Service.

Compliance data elements for build 32000:

Compliance data elements for build 31000 and earlier: