Licensing

Alta checks the license at the Cesbo license servers. Use the Check license dialog to see the license status, activate the license, and run a check at once.

UI Navigation: Go to Settings → Check license

Licensing Model

Alta is licensed by subscription only. The license belongs to a company in your Cesbo profile.

Get a License

Licenses are managed in your Cesbo profile at app.cesbo.com, by members of the company that owns the license. The license is then activated on the server from the Alta web interface: see Activate the License.

Try Alta

For public testing use the shared test license. It needs no activation. The steps are in Installing Alta.

What One License Covers

One license has a limited number of device slots. Each activated server uses one slot.
Instances that use the same configuration directory share one license file. Instances with separate configuration directories have separate license files, and each can have its own license on the same server.
The license is tied to the server: a license activated for another server IP address is refused.

Activate the License

Activation is done only in the web interface.

Open Check license and click Activate.
Open the link and log in to your Cesbo profile at app.cesbo.com as a member of the company that owns the license.
Check that the hostname on the page is the hostname of this server, and choose the license. If the license has no free slot, pick the device to replace.
Alta receives the license on its own and starts checking it.

The activation link expires after 10 minutes by default. After that, start again. A failed activation can be started again or dismissed.

Remove or Replace a Device

Any member of the company that owns the license can:

Remove a device: in the Cesbo profile choose the license and use Manage device.
Replace a device: activate the new server from its Alta web interface and pick the old device as the one to replace. The old device is removed when the new one receives the license.

The removed device shows activation required after its next check. Alta has no button to remove a device.

License File

Alta stores the license in license.txt next to the configuration file. The activation writes this file, do not create or copy it by hand.

All Alta instances that use the same configuration directory share one license file.
Instances with separate configuration directories have separate files, and each can have its own license on the same server.
Activating a server that already has a license replaces the local license. The previous activation stays in your Cesbo profile until you remove it there.

License Checks

Alta needs:

Internet access to the Cesbo license servers (ls4.cesbo.com).
A server clock within 5 minutes of the license server clock.

Alta checks the license once a day and on the license expiry date, so a renewal is applied at once.
If the license is refused (expired, removed, or activated for another server IP address) or the answer fails verification, Alta checks it every hour.
Click Re-check now in the dialog to check the license immediately. The button can be used once every 10 seconds.

When the license stops Alta, all receivers are stopped. They start again after a successful check, their Enable setting is not changed.

Status codes:

20100: No license.
20000: The device was removed from the license.
20002: The license has expired.
20140: The answer from the license server failed verification.
20003: Alta keeps running, but the server clock differs from the license server clock by more than 5 minutes. Enable NTP on the server, then click Re-check now.

Offline Operation

If the license servers cannot be reached, Alta retries every minute:

Within 30 minutes after the start, Alta keeps running without any answer.
After a successful check, Alta keeps running up to 30 days without a new one. The dialog shows the remaining time during the last 7 days.

What Happens When a License Expires

When the license expires, its status is 20002. Alta stops all receivers. They start again after a successful check, and their Enable setting is not changed.
A renewal is applied at once: Alta checks the license on the expiry date.