Using Acronis License Server

Acronis License Server is a mechanism that tracks licenses of Acronis products.

A license key is associated with the Media Access Control address (MAC address) of the machine managed by Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 agent. In cases when the machine has multiple network interface cards (NICs), the license key is associated with the first enumerated physical NIC and its MAC address.

Acronis License Server can import multiple license keys from .txt or .eml files, saving you from the time-consuming procedure of typing in numbers.

When upgraded, recovered or reinstalled, the Acronis License Server keeps all the imported licenses intact. However, it is recommended that you copy the file(s) with license keys to removable media, or create a hard copy of that file(s) and keep it in a safe place. This ensures that you have license data available in case of hardware failure. 

  Viewing information about licenses
  1. Run the Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console.
  2. Click Manage licenses. Connect to the machine where Acronis License Server is installed. This will display all license keys available on the license server. One license key can contain multiple licenses.

    Right-click on the column headings bar to choose the details to display: Product name, License key, Import date, Expiration date and Total number of licenses assigned to each license key, as well as how many of them are available (i.e. free) and used. For example, if one license corresponds to one license key, Total=1, Available=1, Used=0 (if the license is free) or Available=0, Used=1 (if the license has been acquired).

  3. To display more information about used licenses, select View usage info on the sidebar. (This item does not appear while all licenses are free).

    This viewing mode lists all licenses that are acquired. Right-click on the column headings bar to choose the details to display: Product name, Host name, Host address, License key, Acquire date (date of deployment or installation that used the license) and Renewal date.

You can sort any list using View > Arrange Icons by. 

  Removing licenses

To completely remove a license from the Acronis License Server, select it from the list of available licenses and click Remove license on the sidebar. 

  Revoking licenses

Revoking makes used licenses available again. You may need it when:

  • A managed machine is taken out of service permanently.

    Revoke the license from the machine either before or after taking out the machine.

  • A network card is replaced on a managed machine.

    Replacing a network card on a machine normally results in changing the MAC address and thus the agent on this machine becomes inoperable. Revoke the license from the machine either before or after replacing a network card. Once the machine is turned on, the agent accesses the license server and acquires any of the available licenses automatically. Thus the agent becomes fully operable.

To revoke a license:

  1. In the Available licenses view, select the product
  2. Click View usage info on the sidebar
  3. Select the host from which you wish to revoke the license (see the Host name column)
  4. Click Revoke license on the sidebar.

When an agent is uninstalled, its license is revoked from the license server if the license server is accessible at the time of uninstallation. This is the case for all agents except for Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for ESX/ESXi. 

  Using the Acronis License Server Management Tool

The LicenseServerCmdLine.exe file is located in the license server installation folder, by default it is \Program Files\Acronis\LicenseServer.

LicenseServerCmdLine.exe uses the following syntax: 

  LicenseServerCmdLine [command] [option1] [option2]

LicenseServerCmdLine.exe supports the following commands and command options: 

  --status [servername or server IP-address]

Displays the status of the specified license server, i.e. the number of total/free licenses for each Acronis product. 

  --import [servername] [license key]

Adds a new license key to the specified license server. You can specify multiple license keys (space separated). 

  --import-file [servername] [filename]

Imports license keys from a .txt or .eml file. 

  --help

Shows usage.

Using Acronis License Server