License Activation FAQ

This topic only applies to Secret Server On-Premises.

What happens if we find that we had more named users than licenses after activation? Will the account lock us out? The user licenses are per named individual. You can simply disable any excess users so you are within your license count—these users can be re-enabled later and all audit log information is kept.

Why is license activation required?

Activation of license keys is standard practice in the software industry. We try to focus exclusively on implementing customer requests but occasionally we must spend time on licensing especially as Secret Server goes into new geographical markets.

Is there a grace period before we must activate?

Existing customers have 30 days to activate their licenses after upgrading. New licenses must be activated immediately on adding them to Secret Server. Evaluation licenses do not require activation.

How is license activation implemented in Secret Server? Activation is per license and Web server (the combination of the two). Therefore, even if a Web server was already activated, if you bring up a new Web server, it also needs activation. The activation process gathers the name, email, and phone number of the individual activating, for internal purposes only. No other personal information is sent to Delinea.

What will happen if we don't activate our licenses?

Secret Server will go into limited mode if you do not activate your licenses. Limited mode allows you to view passwords, but many other features are disabled such as creating secrets, editing secrets, changing permissions, and using Web services. Activate your licenses to get out of limited mode.

We have several license keys. Do we need to activate each license key individually?

No, the license activation process will activate all license keys that are currently added to your Secret Server. However, additional license key for distributed engine may need to be activated individually if you receive the key after the other licenses.

What if we have been using our license keys on more than one instance of Secret Server?Secret Server software licenses (user, professional, enterprise, or enterprise plus edition licenses) may only be used on a single production instance of Secret Server. You may use your same licenses for a single testing (non-production) environment. If you have used your licenses on multiple production instances of Secret Server, please contact us.

What information is collected and sent during license activation?

License Activation is required for each web server that will be running Secret Server. The request and the response to or from delinea.com are encrypted for added security.

The following information is sent to delinea.com when you activate:

  • Name (user entered)
  • Phone number (user entered)
  • Email (user entered)
  • All licenses (license name, license key)
  • Hardware hash of each Web server

The following information is one-way hashed or omitted before it is sent to ensure it does not reveal any identifiable hardware information.

  • Secret Server version
  • An encrypted value to identify the instance
  • Secret data or the encryption.config file (both omitted).
  • The data that is gathered for is for contacting you if there is a licensing issue. Delinea will not sell or distribute the information provided during activation. The only information available to Delinea staff is the contact information for technical support and customer service.

Our Secret Server does not have outbound access to the Delinea.com Web site. Can activation be done while offline?

Yes, there is an offline option for activating licenses. See Adding, Activating, Converting, and Deleting Licenses.

If we have trouble activating our licenses, what should we do?

  1. If your Secret Server is currently supported, with an equal number of current support licenses and user licenses, our technical support team can help you. Please contact us.

  2. If an error message persists after successful activation, remove expired or invalid licenses from Secret Server by clicking the license name and then deleting it (the license information will remain available to you from your account.

My Server is a VM that moves to different hardware often. Will this cause me to need to reactivate over and over?

You do not need to reactivate over and over. When you activate, you can use Secret Server for a year without needing to reactivate, regardless VM hardware changes. However, if your machine name changes as well as your hardware, you will need to reactivate. If you are using a version older than 7.8.000000, you must reactivate when the VM moves.

Every time a customer switches Secret Server Databases the Secret Server license activation requirement appears. Is this now expected behavior?

Secret Server activation is now based on the Secret Server database name instead of the host name, hence, you can add or change nodes to a Secret Server cluster without reactivating. Activation requires both the license and Secret Server database. Therefore, even if you already activated a Secret Server Web server, when you install another, it too requires activation.

The activation process gathers the name, email, and phone number of the individual activating Secret Server for internal use. Delinea gathers no other personal information.