Licensing issues for Coldfusion 2021

[Matthew22377144yk0g]

We recently purchased a Coldfusion 2021 Standard license with the intent to upgrade our existing CF 2018 installation - we have both a test and production environment.  We initially upgraded the test environment using this license, and then upgraded our production environment.  We removed the license from test, however, in our CF Admin on production, we were no longer able to access the page with licensing settings (we could click on it, but it wouldn't load).  We even reinstalled CF2021, only to have the same issue, and had to revert back to a snapshot of our 2018 environment.

Does anyone have any idea of what could be going on?

[RaviShankar Chagnur]

Hello Matthew,

Can you please let us know the error you were getting while accessing the Coldfusion 2021 License? also, can you share the screenshot of the same

Also, let us know the steps that you have followed for deactivating the License

[Matthew22377144yk0g]

Hi Ravi - thanks for the response.  There was no error when we tried accessing the Licensing and Activation page - it simply would not not load.  If there were any console errors, we didn't collect them (and can't now, as we reverted to a previous server snapshot).

On our test server, if I recall correctly there was a deactivate button next to the licence on the Licensing and Activation page.  We used that, and I can confirm that the test server is no longer using the license (it's in enterprise trial mode now).

[RaviShankar Chagnur]

Do you have a screenshot of the error, if not is it possible to reinstall it, if so please reinstall CF 2021 , you can select option 3 i.e Developer Edition if you do not want to install the Standard version on the test server, once installed, migrate the settings and let us know if you face any issues

[Matthew22377144yk0g]

We reinstalled Coldfusion 2021 and attempted to activate our license again and got this error:

We tried following the offline activation method, but got the following error when uploading the license file.

After applying the latest patches, we tried accessing the activation page again, and it was extremely slow in loading.  This is what we saw in the network logs of our browser.

Eventually the page loaded, but we tried activating the license again, and continued to get the first error message.

[KennethMHutch]

Hi did you resolve this issue?

Are you limited to having one license per server environment?

So did you need 2 licenses one for test, one for Prod?

[Matthew22377144yk0g]

This issue was partially resolved, but there is still strange behaviour.  We're not using a license for test any more - it's running in development mode.  We were given a specific patched file (cfusion-req.jar) by Adobe which allowed our production environment to activate, however it's very slow to boot up and as of yet has not been rolled into the regular updates (we're still running update 6 on this environment).  We're working with Adobe on what to do next (ie. can we keep replacing this file whenever we run updates, will this prevent us from getting some security updates to that file, etc.)

It's worth noting that we have another full environment (test+prod) with a different license running on basically the same server setup and the production environment activated smoothly.  The only difference is that we never tried using the license on test.

[KennethMHutch]

ok thanks for the info. 

So are we limited to one license file per environment? 

[Charlie Arehart]

Kenneth, per the EULA (which is in the cf root folder) you can use a cf Enterprise license on one machine for prod and another machine for test/qa/stage/etc. For CF Standard, it says you must buy MORE than one license to do that. The EULA covers it.

All that said, I don't think the errors and problems that Matthew had been reporting were about such potential misuse/unexpected use of the license. I suspect there were either configuration or networking issues.

Are you asking because you have the SAME behavior he's reporting? Such problems should not require reinstalling cf. I wasn't aware of this thread, which is why I'd not chimed in earlier. I could ask/offer more, if needed. 

[KennethMHutch]

Thanks Charlie, you answered my question. I was just doing research. Thanks for clarify that the issue reported isnt related to missuse of license. 

[KennethMHutch]

One last question, does the deployment type matter?

If its a test server should I use the Testing Deployment type or Production? 

[KennethMHutch]

Nevermind I found an older reponse from you Charlie with the info I needed 

Link: Re: ColdFusion 2021 Deployment Type - Adobe Support Community - 13934845

Again thanks for the assistance you have been a great resource to me as I admin CF at my company. 

Cheers. 

[Charlie Arehart]

Yea, it matters. It IS in fact how they regard that you are using the CF license within the instance. So if you indicated using a test server as prod, they'd want covered by another prod license.

BTW, after posting my answer (and before seeing your reply), I had tweaked my answer about 15 mins ago to add a link to the Adobe docs in cf license activation. Do check it out :

https://helpx.adobe.com/coldfusion/using/coldfusion-licensing-activation.html

[KennethMHutch]

ok got it. so if I update the deployment type changing it from production to testing in licenseinfo.properties is that enough. 

or do I need purchase a new license? 

[Charlie Arehart]

Yes, as I'd said, "So if you indicated using a test server as prod, they'd want covered by another prod license." 

[KennethMHutch]

so updating the licenseinfo.properties doesnt undo me indicating the test server as prod?

[Charlie Arehart]

Let's start over.

If you switch from prod to test AND you deactivate the license (in the cf admin), you won't need to buy another license.

If you left 2 servers having activated licenses, with one marked prod and one marked test, then you MAY need a license for both. 

According to the cf EULA, if you bought a cf enterprise license, you can use that license key on one server as prod and one server as test/qa/stahe/dev/dr. If instead you bought a cf Standard license, the EULA says you must be MORE than one license to use that key on such a non-prod server. 

Finally, if one puts NO license in a cf instance, that runs as either the trial for 30 days or the free dev edition. 

And I see I misread your previous/Jul 25 comment (which I replied to in my last comment) which is why I started, "yes". I should said no, as  I see now you're asking about switching from prod to test. But there's this additional point I just added of whether you left the license activated.

Again, see the Adobe doc page I listed for still more details. 

[KennethMHutch]

Thanks Charlie, I also spoke with Adobe Support. 

Kenneth Hutchins | 08:03 PM
while running the upgrade I marked our test server as production.
Kenneth Hutchins | 08:04 PM
Once I realized this I updated the licenseinfo.properties. does this correct my mistake?
Kenneth Hutchins | 08:04 PM
or do I need to purchase another CF Enterprise license?
Kenneth Hutchins | 08:04 PM
Did you enter the serial key during the installation?
Vikram | 08:05 PM
I did it after the installation, but I marked it as a prod deployment. Because I was use to how the CF 2018 worked.
Kenneth Hutchins | 08:06 PM
OK, we can change it.
Vikram | 08:07 PM
Remove the serial key from the license.properties. Save and restart.
Vikram | 08:07 PM
Change the deploymenttype in licenseinfo.properties
Vikram | 08:08 PM
and you can use the same serial key on other server.
Vikram | 08:09 PM
ok
Kenneth Hutchins | 08:09 PM
how many non prod environments can we run with one license?
Kenneth Hutchins | 08:10 PM
1 ENT license can be used in 1 Prod and 1 Dev server
Vikram | 08:10 PM
Dev as in non prod, correct?
Kenneth Hutchins | 08:12 PM
Yes
Vikram | 08:12 PM
Thats correct

[Charlie Arehart]

Isn't that the same conclusion on "no need to license" that I offered? It lacks other details (what about CF Standard? what about deactivating in the ui? and it makes no mention of the EULA--which relates to how you bought cf).

But you write as if it counters what I said. Do you feel it does? More important, can we consider things as resolved for you? 

[KennethMHutch]

no I just added what they said to confirm what you said. 

Thanks again Charlie. 

[Charlie Arehart]

Ok, thanks. Glad to have helped in resolving things. 

[Mili5EFC]

Hi Charlie ,
This is bit off topic from the original question , but related to licensing. We have purchased  enterprise license for CF2021 , now we are planning to upgrade the version to CF2023 , can the same licence be used ? As it is on the same mahine and we are changing the version only , Do we need to purchase again?
i have deactivated it on the CF21 version.

[Charlie Arehart]

If you're asking whether you can use the cf2021 serial number to activate a cf2023 instance (without buying a cf2023 license), that answer is no.

That said, someone who owns a cf2021 license can buy cf2023 at 50% off. That's called an upgrade license. And when you'd put in the cf2023 s/n you'd be given, it would then ask you for the cf2021 s/n. Then it would activate the cf2023 license.

(This license upgrade option works only with the immediately preceding version, so one can't do this with a s/n for cf2018 or earlier.)

And perhaps more important, note that you can also only buy cf2023 until cf2025 comes out, which could be any day or week now (It's been in public prerelease for some months.) Once that comes out, you'll ONLY be able to buy THAT release. Your cf2021 s/n could NOT be used to get the upgrade discount to 2025--assuming Adobe offers one. 

Finally, to that point, all that I've shared here is how all previous cf upgrades have worked, with regard to Adobe's perpetual cf licenses. Only the "activation" part is new, since cf2021. (And I've always assumed that on activating a new s/n by that "upgrade" process, that would also deactivate the previous s/n, but I've never proven it. Perhaps Adobe or someone else may confirm.)

Note also that Adobe has said publicly they are switching to a subscription-only model for licensing cf. There are no details yet on that, especially with regard to upgrading from earlier release. 

Does it all make sense now? (I realize some may not LIKE how things work. I'm just a messenger, and I'm asking only if my description of things makes sense.)