Difference between revisions of "Licensing"

Latest revision as of 12:56, 11 January 2024

When you move your WHMCS system, if the domain, IP address, or directory you use it in is changing, you must update your license.

For information on checking your license key information and forcing license updates, see License Information.
For information on troubleshooting common licensing errors, see License Troubleshooting.

Methods to Use

The method to use to do this depends on your license type:

Purchased Directly from WHMCS

If you purchased your license from us directly, you can reissue your license from our client area without any manual intervention from us.

To do this:

Log in to the WHMCS Members Area.
Go to Services > My Licenses.
Select your license key.
Click Reissue under the Management Actions tab.
Visit your WHMCS installation in the new location. The system will save the new valid access details.

Purchased from Your Web Host

If you received your license from your hosting provider, you can't reissue your license from our client area. This is because the domain and IP address cannot change. Contact your hosting provider to have them update the license for use at the new location.

If you are moving to a different hosting provider, you cannot move your license key with you and you will require a new license key for use at the new location.

Moving WHMCS

To move WHMCS:

Disable or remove the WHMCS cron jobs from the old server. This prevents automation from running and making changes.
Create a backup of your database following these instructions.
Make sure the new server meets the system requirements.
Transfer the files to the new server.
Restore the database via phpMyAdmin on the new server and make any changes to the database settings in configuration.php.
Use the appropriate method above to reissue your license for the new location.
In the WHMCS Admin Area, update the system URLs at Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > General Settings.
Check whether the system properly modified your cron jobs, payment gateway callbacks, and email forwarders.
Update your custom directory locations.
Update your storage locations.
Update your redirect URIs for any sign-in integrations, mail providers, or payment gateways that redirect users to WHMCS.
Delete the WHMCS files from the old location.

Transfer Services: Have our team transfer your WHMCS installation.Services

Licensing While Offline

Licensing continues to function when WHMCS is offline. WHMCS uses a local key licensing system with periodic remote verification checks. Once every seven days, your WHMCS system will contact our server to ensure it is being run in the correct location and that the license is still valid. Whether your WHMCS system is online is not dependant on our server being online during the time the local key is valid.

If our licensing server is unavailable on the day of your next verification check, the system will allow up to three days to make a connection. If, after this time, the system still can't verify your license with our licensing server, your WHMCS Admin Area will become inactive until WHMCS can contact our server again.

The WHMCS Client Area will always remain online, even if you have an invalid or expired license, to ensure your clients have uninterrupted access.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==Moving WHMCS==
+When you move your WHMCS system, if the domain, IP address, or directory you use it in is changing, you must update your license.
-When you move your WHMCS system, if the domain, IP or directory you use it in is changing then you will need to have your license updated.  How this is done depends upon the license you have.  There are 2 different scenarios as below.
-===1. You purchased your license directly from us===
+<div class="docs-alert-info">
-If this is the case then you are able to reissue your license from our client area @ http://whmcs.com/members without any manual intervention from us.  Just login, go to Services > My Licenses, select your license key and click '''Reissue''' under the Management Actions tab - then visit your WHMCS installation in the new location and it will save the new valid access details for it
+* For information on checking your license key information and forcing license updates, see [[License Information]].
+* For information on troubleshooting common licensing errors, see [[License Troubleshooting]].
+</div>
-===2. You obtain your license from your web host===
+== Methods to Use ==
-If this is the case then you won't be able to reissue your license from our client area because the domain and IP are not allowed to change.  Please contact your hosting provider to have them update the licence for use at the new location. If you are moving to a different hosting provider it will not be possible to take you licence key with you, a new licence key will be required for use at the new location.
+The method to use to do this depends on your license type:
-Moving WHMCS is straight forward:
+=== Purchased Directly from WHMCS ===
-* Take a backup of your database [[Maintenance#Backing_up_your_WHMCS_Database|following these instructions]],
-* Make sure the new server meets the [[System_Requirements|system requirements]],
-* Transfer the files across to the new server,
-* [[Maintenance#Restoring_a_Database_Backup|Restore the database]] via phpmyadmin on the new server and make any changes to the database settings in configuration.php.
-* You'll then need to re-issue your license as described above.
-* Login to your WHMCS admin and update the system URLS in Setup > General Settings.
-* Check that your cron jobs, payment gateway callbacks and any email forwarders are modified accordingly.
-* Finally, delete the WHMCS files and cron from the old location.
-==Changing the License Key WHMCS uses==
+If you purchased your license from us directly, you can reissue your license from [https://www.whmcs.com/members our client area] without any manual intervention from us.
-To change the license key your WHMCS system uses, login to the admin area and go to Help > Change License Key.  You can then enter your new license key there along with your admin login details to verify the change.  If you are getting a license invalid error so that you are unable to login then there is also a link to the change license page from the license error page.
+To do this:
-==Is licensing dependant on whmcs.com being online?==
+# Log in to the [https://www.whmcs.com/members WHMCS Members Area].
+# Go to '''Services > My Licenses'''.
+# Select your license key.
+# Click '''Reissue''' under the '''Management Actions''' tab.
+# Visit your WHMCS installation in the new location. The system will save the new valid access details.
-No. WHMCS uses a local key licensing system with periodic remote verification checks.  What this means is that once every 7 days, your WHMCS system will contact our server to ensure it is being run in the correct location and that the license is still valid.  Your WHMCS system being online is not dependant on our server being online during the time the local key is valid.
+=== Purchased from Your Web Host ===
-Should our licensing server be down on the day your next verification check is due then the system will allow up to 3 days for a connection to be made.  If after this time, the system is still unable to verify your license with our licensing server then your WHMCS Admin Area will become inactive until it can contact our server again.
+If you received your license from your hosting provider, you can't reissue your license from our client area. This is because the domain and IP address cannot change. Contact your hosting provider to have them update the license for use at the new location.
-Your WHMCS Client Area will always remains online even if you have an invalid or expired license to ensure your clients access is not interrupted.
+If you are moving to a different hosting provider, you cannot move your license key with you and you will require a new license key for use at the new location.
-==Common Errors==
+== Moving WHMCS ==
-===No Connection Error===
-A No Connection error on the admin login page suggests there is a problem preventing your server from communicating with the WHMCS licensing server. This is commonly a CURL or DNS resolution problem, these are essential items in the use of WHMCS and is something your server admin will need to investigate and correct.
-*CURL - CURL is an extremely important part of WHMCS and is needed for a number of the operations performed such as server connections etc.
+To move WHMCS:
-*DNS - DNS is a vital part of internet functionality in order to be able to resolve hostnames of servers, domain name lookups, and licensing. Ensure your DNS resolve whmcs.com to the correct IP address.
-To test the connection between your server and the WHMCS licence server, a built-in test tool is available on the admin area login page:
+# Disable or remove the WHMCS cron jobs from the old server. This prevents automation from running and making changes.
+# Create a backup of your database [[Backups#Manual_Database_Backup|following these instructions]].
+# Make sure the new server meets the [[System_Requirements|system requirements]].
+# Transfer the files to the new server.
+# [[Maintenance#Restoring_a_Database_Backup|Restore the database]] via phpMyAdmin on the new server and make any changes to the database settings in <tt>configuration.php</tt>.
+# Use the appropriate method above to reissue your license for the new location.
+# In the WHMCS Admin Area, update the system URLs at '''Configuration (<i class="fa fa-wrench" aria-hidden="true"></i>) > System Settings > [[General Settings]]''' or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, '''Setup > General Settings'''.
+# Check whether the system properly modified your cron jobs, payment gateway callbacks, and email forwarders.
+# Update your [[Further Security Steps#Secure_the_Writeable_Directories|custom directory locations]].
+# Update your [[Moving_Storage_Locations|storage locations]].
+# Update your redirect URIs for any [[Sign-In_Integrations | sign-in integrations]], [[Mail_Tab#Mail_Type_or_Mail_Provider | mail providers]], or [[Payment_Gateways#Supported_Gateway_Modules | payment gateways]] that redirect users to WHMCS.
+# Delete the WHMCS files from the old location.
- /admin/login.php?conntest=1
+<html><a href="https://www.whmcs.com/services/#transfer?utm_medium=docs" class="docs-video-tutorial"><em><small>Transfer Services: Have our team transfer your WHMCS installation.</small></em><span class="button">Services</span></a></html>
-For example, if your admin area is located at http://yourdomain.com/admin/login.php, you'd visit http://yourdomain.com/admin/login.php?conntest=1
+== Licensing While Offline ==
-A successful test result looks like:
+Licensing continues to function when WHMCS is offline. WHMCS uses a local key licensing system with periodic remote verification checks. Once every seven days, your WHMCS system will contact our server to ensure it is being run in the correct location and that the license is still valid. Whether your WHMCS system is online is not dependant on our server being online during the time the local key is valid.
- Testing Connection to 'https://licensing28.whmcs.com/license/test.php'...
+If our licensing server is unavailable on the day of your next verification check, the system will allow up to three days to make a connection. If, after this time, the system still can't verify your license with our licensing server, your WHMCS Admin Area will become inactive until WHMCS can contact our server again.
- URL resolves to 184.94.192.9 ... Ok
- Response Code: 200
- Connection Successful!
-If you see any errors, it will be necessary to work with your server admin/hosting provider to resolve the cURL connectivity issue. Showing the test results should assist in their troubleshooting.
+The WHMCS Client Area will always remain online, even if you have an invalid or expired license, to ensure your clients have uninterrupted access.
-====Caveat for Shared and Reseller Hosted Customers====
-Some hosting providers may operate very restrictive environments, which results in a No Connection error despite the aforementioned test returning a successful result.
-In this situation, we have found that changing the PHP version to 7 resolves the error. Instructions for doing this are located here: https://www.hostgator.com/help/article/php-configuration-plugin
-===License Invalid===
-A Licence Invalid error on the admin login page can be caused by one of the following changes:
-*The license key has been entered incorrectly<br/>
-Please ensure the full key is entered, this includes the prefix eg. "Leased-", "Owned-", "WebHost-" and "Dev-".
-*The domain being used to access your install has changed
-*The IP address your install is located on has changed
-*The directory you are using has changed<br />
-Following any changes to the location of your WHMCS installation, the licence must be updated accordingly. Please refer to [[#Moving WHMCS|Moving WHMCS]] above for instructions on doing so.

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