A grace period happens when a License Server has been copied or hardware has been changed. It is a type of protection to try and prevent users from copying a server and using more licenses than entitled. When cloning a virtual machine, the License Server will enter a grace period.

There are 3 ways to identify a grace period:

• The server tile displays ‘Grace Period’
• A notification displays underneath the currently logged on user
• The License detail page displays the grace period.

The licensing grace period allows you to continue performing normal licensing functions for a limited time without interruption. The grace period lasts fifteen days. You have the duration of the grace period mode to rectify the grace period mode before the server stops allowing licenses to be acquired.

The most common causes of a Grace Period and things to avoid with the new licensing model:

• Changing the MAC Address
• Cloning or copying a virtual machine
• If you encounter hardware failure on the node hosting your License Server and choose to reimage your machine
• Trying to use one license in two places.
• Exporting a Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) from one system to another, then using it to set up a new VM.

Hardware changes resulting in a MAC Address Change. This includes:

• Changing the Network Interface Card (NIC)
• Cloning or copying a virtual machine
• Moving a virtual machine from one host to another
• Manual modification of the MAC Address via the OS or MAC spoofing software.

If you need to do any of the above, please deactivate the licenses first.

Ending the Grace Period

If the Grace Period ends, the License Server will stop allowing licenses to be acquired. Therefore it is encouraged that the Grace Period is ended within 15 days. There are a handful of options available when wanting to end the Grace Period on a machine.

A detailed procedure for ending the grace period is provided in the AVEVA Enterprise Licensing Guide. There are two ways to exit a Grace period:

1. Use the Exit Grace period code
2. End the Grace period and remove activated licenses

Scenario 1: Use Exit Grace period code

Call AVEVA Technical Support and request an Exit Grace period code. The Exit Grace period code will be emailed to you from AVEVA Technical Support. Using the Exit Grace period code allows you to keep all your activated licenses.

The code is valid for three days from the date it was generated. You must apply the code within the three days of its generation to end the Grace period on that License Server, or it will expire.

After you apply the code successfully, it appears in the License Manager under the License Summary tab. The License Summary displays an expiry date of three days from the date it was generated. This expiry date does not affect operations. The license server will not go back into the grace period after the expiry date. The expiry date is simply when the Exit Grace period code expires.

An Exit Grace period code can be used once. A separate code must be generated for each License Server in a Grace period.

If you have a redundant pair and one or both servers are in the Grace period, only the End Grace period and Keep Activated Licenses option appear in the Manage License Server panel. The same Exit Grace period code will end either or both grace periods.

Scenario 2: End Grace period and remove activated licenses

This procedure avoids calling Technical Support for an Exit Grace period code.

1. From the AVEVA Enterprise License Manager, deactivate all licenses on the License Server that are in Grace period.
2. End the Grace period by clicking Manage, then clicking End Grace Period and remove activated Licenses.

You do not have to provide an Exit Grace period code in this scenario. Note that the option to End Grace period and keep activated Licenses is greyedout because an Exit Grace period code is needed for that option to be active.

Ending the Grace Period using this method resets the License Server ID. If the user does not deactivate the license as indicated in Step #1 in this section, the licenses will still be held in the old License Server ID. To release those licenses, the user must call AVEVA Technical Support and get the licenses released from the old License Server ID.

Note: Upgrading certain versions of AVEVA Enterprise Licensing can result in a grace period. End this grace period by syncing licenses in the license server. For information on how to sync licenses, refer to Syncing Licenses in the AVEVA Enterprise Licensing Guide.

If the license server is in a Grace Period before the upgrade, it will remain in Grace Period following the upgrade. To end the Grace Period after upgrading, you will need to contact Technical Support to obtain a Grace Period exit code. To avoid this scenario, end the Grace Period before upgrading to a newer License Server version