Question
Why a license key shows that it is going to expire in 1 month?
How does license key management work in Plesk?
How does key renew work in Plesk?
Answer
Plesk has an automated Key Management System that allows the administrator to update the license directly from the Plesk interface under the Tools&Settings > License Information (previously 'License Management') page.
In order to eliminate fraud and the theft of Plesk keys, an expiration date that requires a Plesk key to check in with a management system for renewal is implemented. In other words, a Plesk key should be retrieved from the key management system every month. This is done automatically by Plesk.
Note: the license expiration date does not affect any key Plesk feature, such as SUS, email support, etc.
Yearly licenses:
For yearly licenses, there are 2 dates that should be noted:
- Billing date - once a year. This is the date when your license should be paid for the next year.
- License update date - once a month, when a Plesk server will connect to a licensing server on 5224 (old one, non-standard port) or 443 (new, the default HTTPS port) in order to retrieve the current information about the license. Billing or payments are not involved in the update process.
Connection issues:
Plesk uses 2 ports: 5224 (old one, non-standard port) and 443 (new, the default HTTPS port) to communicate with the key management system, so make sure that the ports are opened in the firewall for outgoing connections. If Plesk fails to renew the key for some reason, a note about failed renewal will be displayed in Plesk. To learn how to make sure the connection is working properly, visit:
