On-Premises Licensing

SAFR systems require a license to operate.

License Limit Metrics

SAFR licenses limit usage according to the following metrics:

License limit metrics for your SAFR license can be found on the Status page of the Web Console.

Licensing for On-Premises Deployments

In on-premises deployments, SAFR licenses are attached to your SAFR system's primary server. The following describes how the SAFR license is managed:

Offline Licensing

If your SAFR system doesn't have Internet connectivity, you still need to obtain & install a SAFR license for SAFR to work. If your SAFR Server is installed on a Windows machine, you can take advantage of the streamlined integrated offline licensing acquisition process. If, on the other hand, your SAFR Server is installed on a Linux or macOS machine, you'll need to do the more cumbersome manual offline licensing acquisition process. Windows users also have the option to do the manual process, in case they want a more manual process for some reason.

Integrated Offline Licensing Acquisition

Windows only.

To obtain a SAFR license on an offline Windows SAFR Server, do the following.

  1. Install SAFR Platform on the target on-premises machine.
  2. When prompted to log into the Desktop Client, click on Advanced Options server, and ensure that Server Location is set to This Machine.
  3. Click on Manage Offline License, located just below the Server Location field. The following dialog will pop up:

  4. Click Load License Request File, and select the Download from server… option.
  5. Enter your SAFR Account credentials when prompted.
  6. Get the license request file.
    1. Click the icon to the right of the Load License Request File button.
    2. Select the View in folder option.
    3. Copy the license request file.
  7. Transfer the license request file to a machine connected to the Internet. (e.g. by copying the file to a USB flash drive)
  8. Install SAFR Desktop on the machine connected to the Internet.
  9. On the Desktop Client's sign-in screen, select Advanced Options, then Manage Offline License.
  10. Click Load License Request File and select the Load from file option. You should then load the license request file that you transferred from your offline SAFR Server machine.
  11. Click Load License File and select the Download from Cloud option.
  12. Get the license file.
    1. Click the icon to the right of the Load License File button.
    2. Select the View in folder option.
    3. Copy the license file.
  13. Transfer the license file to your offline SAFR Server machine.
  14. On the SAFR Server machine, open the Desktop Client, select Advanced Options, then Manage Offline License.
  15. Click Load License File and select the Load from file option. You should then load the license file that you transferred from the online Desktop Client machine.
  16. Click Install License File.
  17. You'll need to enter your credentials once more.

The SAFR license has now been installed on your offline SAFR Server.

Manual Offline Licensing Acquisition

If your offline SAFR Server is installed on a Linux or macOS machine, do the following to obtain a SAFR license. Windowes users who want a more manual process for some reason can also get a SAFR license using this process.

  1. Obtain a license request file for the machine on which SAFR Platform is installed.
    1. On the machine that has SAFR Platform installed, run get-license-request.py.

      On Windows:

      1. Open Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin) by right clicking on the Windows Start menu (located in the bottom left corner of the screen) and selecting the appropriate entry.
      2. Navigate to the folder containing get-license-request.py. (usually C:\Program Files\RealNetworks\SAFR\bin\)
      3. Run python get-license-request.py

      On Linux:

      1. Open Terminal.
      2. Run sudo python /opt/RealNetworks/SAFR/bin/get-license-request.py

      On macOS:

      1. Open Terminal.
      2. Run python /Library/RealNetworks/SAFR/bin/get-license-request.py
    2. When prompted, enter the SAFR account name and password.

    3. The script will attempt to read safrports.conf to communicate with CoVi. If safrports.conf can't be found, then the script will use the default port, 8080.

    4. Running the script generates a file called safr_license_request.json in the same working directory as the script. Make sure to run the script in a directory that you have write access to.

      usage: get-license-request.py [-h] [-n HOSTNAME] [-p PORT] [-q] [-v]
      
      Generates a license request specific to your SAFR installation.
      
      optional arguments:
        -h, --help            show this help message and exit
        -n HOSTNAME, --hostname HOSTNAME
                              Host name to your SAFR installation.
        -p PORT, --port PORT  Port to your SAFR installation.
        -q, --quiet           Suppress output.
        -v, --verbose         Enable DEBUG logging.
  2. Retrieve the license by sending the license request to SAFR Cloud.
    1. Copy the newly generated safr_license_request.json file and the get-license.py script to the same folder on a machine that has Internet access and has Python 3.X installed. get-license.py can be found here:

      • Windows: C:\Program Files\RealNetworks\SAFR\bin\get-license.py
      • Linux: /opt/RealNetworks/SAFR/bin/get-license.py
      • macOS: /Library/RealNetworks/SAFR/bin/get-license.py
    2. Run the get-license.py script.

      On Windows:

      1. Open Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin) by right clicking on the Windows Start menu (located in the bottom left corner of the screen) and selecting the appropriate entry.
      2. Navigate to the folder containing get-license.py.
      3. Run python get-license.py

      On Linux:

      1. Open Terminal.
      2. Navigate to the folder containing get-license.py.
      3. Run sudo python get-license.py

      On macOS:

      1. Open Terminal.
      2. Navigate to the folder containing get-license.py.
      3. Run python get-license.py

      Note: On a macOS machine you might receive an error message about being unable to load SSL root certificates. This is an issue with the way Python handles SSL certificates on Macs. More information about the issue can be found here. A workaround can be found here.

    3. When prompted, enter the SAFR account name and password.

    4. This will generate a file called safr_license.json in the current working directory. Be sure to execute in a directory that your user account has write access to.

      usage: get-license.py [-h] [-p PATH] [-e ENV] [-q] [-v]
      
      Gets a license from SAFR licensing servers.
      
      optional arguments:
        -h, --help            show this help message and exit
        -p PATH, --path PATH  Path to license request file.
        -e ENV, --env ENV     License server environment to communicate with.
        -q, --quiet           Suppress output.
        -v, --verbose         Enable DEBUG logging.
  3. Install the retrieved license onto your installed SAFR Server.
    1. Run insert-license.py to install the license onto your primary SAFR Server.

      On Windows:

      1. Open Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin) by right clicking on the Windows Start menu (located in the bottom left corner of the screen) and selecting the appropriate entry.
      2. Navigate to C:\Program Files\RealNetworks\SAFR\bin\
      3. Copy safr_license.json into this folder.
      4. Run python insert-license.py

      On Linux:

      1. Open Terminal.
      2. Navigate to /opt/RealNetworks/SAFR/bin/
      3. Copy safr_license.json into this folder.
      4. Run sudo python insert-license.py

      On macOS:

      1. Open Terminal.
      2. Navigate to /Library/RealNetworks/SAFR/bin/
      3. Copy safr_license.json into this folder.
      4. Run python insert-license.py
    2. When prompted, enter the SAFR account name and password.

    3. The script will attempt to read safrports.conf to communicate with CoVi. If safrports.conf can't be found, then the script will use the default port, 8080.

      usage: insert-license.py [-h] [-n HOSTNAME] [-p PORT] [-f FILE] [-q] [-v]
      
      Inserts a license specific to your SAFR installation.
      
      optional arguments:
        -h, --help            show this help message and exit
        -n HOSTNAME, --hostname HOSTNAME
                              Host name to your SAFR installation.
        -p PORT, --port PORT  Port to your SAFR installation.
        -f FILE, --file FILE  Path to license file.
        -q, --quiet           Suppress output.
        -v, --verbose         Enable DEBUG logging.

See Also