Knowledge Base

What is IP Binding for Plesk license?

Introduction

Those partners who want to protect their Plesk licenses from being stolen and used at alien servers could use restrictions by IP. There are two types (levels) of such restrictions available in KA:

Restrict by IP range(s). IP range(s) are specified at client level in Key Administrator. Applicable to all Plesk licenses under the client.
Restrict by individual IP address (so-called "IP binding"). IP address is specified at license level in Key Administrator. Applicable to an individual license.

You can use either type of restrictions for your licenses (or their combination).

Restrict by individual IP address (so-called "IP binding")

IP binding is the feature that allows you to bind any Plesk license to a certain server IP address.

How does IP binding work?

There are two possible behaviors of “IP binding” feature:

“Lookup only”

This behavior is the default one and is useful for cases when you need to reinstall Plesk on the same server. For example, you have a Plesk server with a production license that is bound to the server IP address. After you reinstall Plesk, you get clean Plesk instance without any data and license file. Plesk will connect to Key Administrator and get the license file with the server IP address.

"Lookup and Restrict"

In addition to “reinstall” scenario, this behavior also includes “restrict” scenario. It allows restricting a Plesk license for use only on one server.

When your Plesk license is bound to some IP address and has “Lookup and Restrict” behavior selected, it can be used only on that server. If someone tries to copy the license file and install it on a different server, this new instance of Plesk will fail to update license.

This behavior can be helpful for partners who want to restrict usage of their Plesk licenses to certain IP addresses and avoid piracy.

How can I manage IP binding?

IMPORTANT: IP binding management is available only for Plesk partners having access to Key Administrator and/or Key Administrator Partner Central. If you are a Plesk partner and need to change IP binding behavior, log in to your account in Key Administrator/Partner Central.

IP binding behavior can be set at two levels:

1. “Reseller” / “Client” level:

All newly created clients inherit IP binding behavior from a parent account.
IP binding behavior can be set for the required client.

2. “Key” level:

When a new key is created, it inherits the behavior specified for its client.

IMPORTANT: changing behavior for a client does not change the behavior for already existing keys under this client. “Inheritance” works only during key creation. So if the behavior is set to “Lookup and Restrict” for an existing client, it should be also switched to “Lookup and Restrict” explicitly for all previously created keys.

To switch IP binding behavior between “Lookup only” and “Lookup and Restrict” behaviors for existing licenses you can choose one of the following options: