Manage the license

How Bonita Process Designer enforces its license, how to activate or renew a license, and what happens when the license is missing, invalid, or expired.

Bonita Process Designer is a licensed product. A license gate protects access to the application. Until a valid license is present, the application blocks access and redirects an Admin to the license activation page so the license can be activated.

Only an Admin can activate a license. See Roles and permissions.

How the license gate works

Every request to Bonita Process Designer passes through the license gate before it reaches the application. The gate checks that a valid license is in place:

  • If the license is valid, the request continues normally and the application is fully usable.

  • If the license is missing, invalid, or expired, the request is rejected with an HTTP 402 Payment Required response, and the user interface redirects an Admin to the license activation page so the license can be activated or renewed.

The stored license is checked at startup and re-checked periodically while the application runs, so an expiry is detected without requiring a restart. These checks are local: they read the license stored with the installation and do not need outbound internet access.

Activate a license

When Bonita Process Designer starts without a valid license, an Admin is redirected to the license activation page.

The license activation page, showing the request key and the license file upload area

Activation takes three steps:

  1. Copy the request key displayed on the page. This key identifies your installation, and Ofelia needs it to issue a license for it.

  2. Generate a license for that request key on the Customer Service Center, and download the resulting .lic file.

  3. Upload the .lic file on the activation page, then select Use this license.

The license is validated as soon as it is uploaded. If it is accepted, it is stored with the installation, the gate stops redirecting, and the application becomes available to all users according to their roles and permissions. If it is rejected, the page reports the reason and the application stays blocked.

To renew an expiring or expired license, repeat the same three steps: uploading a new license file replaces the stored one.

A license is bound to the host it was issued for. It cannot be moved to another machine, so a license file is only ever accepted by the installation whose request key produced it.

Plan for this when you move Bonita Process Designer to new hardware, rebuild a host, or set up a second environment: each host needs its own license, generated from its own request key. Request the new license before you decommission the old host, otherwise the new installation stays blocked until the license arrives.

What happens when the license is invalid or expired

When no valid license is in place, the license gate blocks the application:

  • All requests receive a 402 Payment Required response.

  • Users cannot view, create, or edit diagrams.

  • An Admin is redirected to the license activation page to activate or renew the license.

Restore access by activating a current license. As soon as a valid license is recorded, normal access resumes for every user.