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Keysight Licensing Lexicon
General Licensing Terminology
Entitlement
An entitlement is the legal right to use a product or service, based on a purchase or other transaction between Keysight and the customer. Examples: An entitlement to a type of license, or to support, or to a defined granular use of a software product.
Entitlement Certificate
A digital or paper artifact that serves as evidence of the purchased entitlement(s) and enables subsequent license redemption / activation. Typically, an entitlement certificate is emailed, but in some cases a paper copy is shipped with the purchased product. The entitlement certificate must be redeemed on the Keysight Software Manager (KSM) website to receive a license file.
Feature
In the context of licensing, a feature is a licensed capability. Generically, feature can simply mean some element of functionality in a product.
Feature name
The name of the licensed feature that the product references when it checks if the license is valid for use.
The right to use software as granted by Keysight. This can be an artifact that contains the key to unlocking software (examples: a license file, codeword, user authentication, etc.).
Licensing is a legal agreement that defines the terms of software usage. When used as a modifier "licensing" means a software implementation or structure required for licensing to operate, e.g. "licensing folders."
License File
A license file is the file provided to a customer by the Keysight Software Manager (KSM) customer portal after a customer requests a license. A license file, which is a text file with an extension of .lic, must be installed on a PC, an instrument, or a floating license server before it can be used.
License Manager
A software utility on a client (local) machine that allows installation, viewing, and management of local and floating licenses. Examples include PathWave License Manager (PLM) and Keysight License Manager (KLM).
License Server
A server process that (1) runs on the client machine itself, in which case it can also be called a licensing daemon and enables node-locked, transportable, or USB portable licenses, or (2) runs on a separate machine (i.e. on a floating/network license server machine) in which case it is called a license server. A license server can serve floating, node-locked, transportable, or USB portable license types.
License Version
The version included in the license that encodes the subscription expiration date. This is the date when access to technical support and downloads of newer versions of the product ends.
License Types
- This type of license is locked to a specific host instrument or PC, and only allows use of the product on this host.
- Use node-locked licenses when your product only needs to be used with a single instrument or PC. It provides the most cost-effective alternative for single-use situations.
Transportable
- This type of license is provisionally locked to a specific host instrument or PC, and only allows use of the product on this host, but it can be unlocked from one host and then locked to another host. You can do this using PathWave License Manager (or Keysight License Manager 5).
- Use transportable licenses when your product periodically needs to be used on a different instrument or PC. The transport process enables product use to be shifted between physically adjacent instruments or PCs, and also between geographically distributed instruments or PCs.
USB Portable
- This type of license is locked to a USB key (sold separately), and can be physically moved from one host instrument or PC to another with that USB key. When connected to a host, the USB key enables the use of the product on that host. This enables multiple users who are physically adjacent to share licenses without being connected to a network.
- Use USB portable licenses when your product needs to be shared frequently among different instruments or PCs and multiple users, and the instruments or PCs may not always be connected to a common network.
- USB portable licenses require installing an additional software driver. See Keysight Licensing USB Driver.
Floating
- This type of license is locked to a license server, a host PC that manage pools of licenses. The licenses can be used by multiple users on multiple instruments or PCs; the license server ensures that each purchased license count is used by only one user at a time. This enables geographically-distributed users to share licenses across a common network.
- Use floating licenses when your product needs to be shared frequently among different instruments or PCs and among multiple users, and you have a common network that can interconnect all the instruments and PCs with the license server.
Trial License
- A trial license is a node-locked, limited-duration subscription license. A trial license provides a way to evaluate Keysight software before a purchase–thus sometimes referred to as an evaluation license.
Device License
- A node-locked license that is bound to the unique identifier of a Keysight-provided device (typically an instrument).
License Terms
- This term of license usage allows you to use the product indefinitely.
- Perpetual licenses include software updates and support for the first year. Support may be renewed annually for a fee after that.
- Use perpetual licenses when you will need to use the product for an extended period of time (e.g. many years) and you may not need updates and support after the first year.
- This term of license usage allows you to use the product for a specific limited time.
- Subscription licenses include software updates and support through the term of the license.
- Use subscription licenses when you want the security of continued support, you expect to upgrade the product to newer versions as they become available, or you will need to use the product only for a year or two.
Licensing Process Terminology
An umbrella term that comprises the intermediate steps needed to make one's software work, e.g., following a purchase this would include steps for: license redemption > license delivery > license installation.
Making a license unusable in order to disable use of a software application, its features, or options. This can be a state change to a license or its removal (taken offline or retired). A typical scenario for license deactivation is to support the transfer a license between two working computers, instruments, or devices.
Assignment
The process that assigns a license to a specific host ID of a PC, server, or instrument.
HostID
A unique identifier for an instrument, PC, or other hardware device. Host IDs are ideally stable identifiers such as: Ethernet (MAC) addresses, FlexNet IDs (USB dongles), or Keysight Model,Serial Numbers. Machines typically have more than one host ID; when requesting a license file, instructions on KSM identify which one of the machine's host IDs is appropriate. Host IDs are typically different from machine hostnames, or server/network names.
Request
The action of pulling licenses from a given entitlement for the purpose of assignment to host IDs, up to the maximum specified. The word "redeem" is sometimes used similarly to "request"-- in the context of licensing, the two are equivalent in meaning.