Activate DPA licenses

After the DPA trial period ends, DPA monitors only licensed instances. If your DPA server uses individual licenses, you must activate a license for each database instance that you want to monitor. Make sure that you have the correct license types for the database instances you want to monitor.

Activate licenses online

If the DPA server is connected to the Internet, you can activate licenses online.

1. Complete the following steps to retrieve your license activation key from the Customer Portal.

   If you are evaluating DPA and have received a license activation key from a SolarWinds representative, continue with step 2.

   1. Log in to the SolarWinds Customer Portal.
   2. Choose Licenses > Manage Licenses.
   3. Locate the license, and expand it.
   4. Copy the activation key.
2. On the DPA home page, click License Management. Then click License Manager.
3. Click Enter Activation Key.
4. Select Online Activation, and click Next.
5. On the Online Activation page, paste the activation key into the correct field.

6. In the Amount to Activate section, select All Available or Specify Amount.

   Unactivated licenses can be activated later. You can reuse an activation key on a different DPA server and activate remaining licenses there.
   

7. Enter the remaining information, and click Activate.

Activate licenses offline

Offline activation requires transferring files between the DPA server and a computer connected to the Internet. You can use email, shared storage, or a USB flash drive.

1. In DPA, click License Management > License Manager.
2. Click Enter Activation Key.
3. Select Offline Activation, and click Next.

4. Complete the following steps to obtain a license activation file from the Customer Portal.

   If you are evaluating DPA and have received a license activation file from a SolarWinds representative, continue with step 5.

   1. On the Offline Activation page, identify the type of license you want to activate (for example, Category 1 or Category 2).

      

   2. Copy the text string next to the license type you want to activate, and save it to a text file. This is the unique machine ID. Include the brackets. For example:

      [7R12-X2QN-U8XM-WXTD-23H7-0TD7-59QH-6ERF-5BRN-2M17-328G-0DT2-MNMS-005C-000Z-04Q2-0000]

      Be sure to copy the unique machine ID for the correct license type. If you copy the wrong ID, you will receive the following error when you attempt to activate the license: 

      The UMID is for different product than one being activated.

   3. Transfer this text file to a computer with Internet access.
   4. Log in to the SolarWinds Customer Portal.
   5. Locate the license, and expand it.
   6. Click Activate license manually.
   7. Paste the text string into the Unique Machine ID field, and enter the other required information.
   8. Click Generate License File to download the license file.
   9. Transfer the license file to the DPA server.
5. On the Offline Activation page, click Choose File and browse to the license file.
6. Click Activate.

Next steps

When you activate a license, DPA automatically allocates the license to a registered database instance if you have enough licenses to monitor all registered instances in that license category. If you do not have enough licenses to monitor all registered instances, you must manually allocate licenses to the instances you want to monitor.