# License Keys

Every ExaVault installation, free or paid, registers and regularly updates a license key file. The license key tells the appliance which paid features have been provisioned, and a valid license key file is required for both free and paid usage.

In previous versions of ExaVault, system administrators uploaded and updated the license key file manually through the appliance manager application.

Starting with version 18, this process is fully automated. The ExaVault appliance makes an outbound request to our server-side API on a regular basis to retrieve and update your license key. You will not experience downtime due to a missing or expired license key after renewal.

If your paid account goes past due, the appliance automatically reactivates within an hour after the payment is received.

## Firewall Requirements

The license key update mechanism requires unrestricted outbound access on port 443 (HTTPS). This is a mandatory requirement for using ExaVault.

ExaVault does not support any deployment scenario where outbound requests to our API are blocked, regardless of free vs. paid status.

## IP Address Registration and Restrictions

To prevent abuse of our licensing system, each ExaVault installation must be associated with a single IP address at any given time.

Do not proxy outbound traffic through systems that could generate multiple source IP addresses. If you use a proxy, it must not alter the source IP address of license key requests.

### IP Address Changes

We allow legitimate IP address changes and process them automatically. To distinguish between real changes and license sharing attempts, only one IP address change per week is allowed. More than one change in a week is flagged as a potential license violation.

We are not aware of any legitimate need for an appliance to change IP addresses more frequently than once per week. If your setup requires this, contact our support team.

### Cloud Provider Considerations

When deploying ExaVault on a cloud provider, configure the appliance with a static (elastic) IP address. This prevents IP changes caused by instance resizes, stops, and restarts.


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