Manage cloud licenses

Cloud-based licensing differs from on-premises licensing.

Download Optimizely licenses from the Optimizely license portal. Cloud environments scale instances dynamically based on traffic volume, so licensing counts the number of running instances.

Instance-bound licenses (also called cloud licenses) tie licensing to the number of running instances and support Azure and Amazon commercial clouds.

An instance-bound license can be seen as an on-premises server license based on a floating number of instances. When activated, a cloud-based site will "call home" to register its running web app instance.

License setup and activation

Activate instance-bound licenses for environments running in Microsoft Azure.

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Note

If you are using Optimizely Digital Experience Platform (DXP), this is not needed, because Optimizely DXP has no instance validation and does not require manual activation.

Define the URLs

Use the same instance-bound license file for test and production environments. To avoid licensing errors, define the same URL in both environments.

1. In the CMS admin view for each environment, add the site URL.
2. In the CMS admin view for each environment, activate the license.

Activated instances count toward the total number of instances the license allows.

Behind a firewall

Versions 12.5 and higher

If running behind a firewall, open port 443 (SSL) to cloud-api2.episerver.com.

Versions 12.0 to 12.4

If running behind a firewall, open port 443 (SSL) to cloud-api.episerver.com.

Optimize license usage

Understand how instance counting works and how to optimize cloud-based license usage on Microsoft Azure.

Count instances

Cloud licenses float across instances, so you can add and remove instances as traffic changes, as long as the total does not exceed your license limit.

Instance counting ties to the Azure server name. Multiple web apps and deployment slots share the same instances (servers), so the number of apps and slots does not affect licensing. Use an Azure App Service Plan that does not exceed your license limit.

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Note

If you use the same license across multiple Azure App Service Plans (for example, for separate test and production environments), the license must support the combined number of instances.

Use deployment slots

Azure deployment slots avoid cold starts after deployment. Deploy a version of your solution to a Web App staging slot, where Azure warms up the site automatically. When the warm-up completes, Azure swaps the slot to the live environment. Optimizely supports deployment slots for both technical and licensing purposes.

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Caution

If you point a staging slot at the production database, deploying new code to the staging slot can upgrade the database schema. The upgraded schema will then be incompatible with the production code version, causing errors in production.

Exceed the instance limit

During a scale-up or system upgrade, the instance count may temporarily exceed your license limit. If this happens, a notification appears in the CMS edit view. The front end remains functional, and site operation continues without interruption. The notification disappears when the instance count returns to an approved level. The same notification appears if communication to the Optimizely licensing service is lost.

Switch between production and developer licenses

If you restore a production database backup to your development environment, you may see a notification that no active license exists. This happens because the production database was activated with a production license, but your development environment uses a developer license. Reactivate the license manually to resolve the issue.