Network Management

Guide to SolarWinds Product Licenses

This article will direct you to information regarding the licensing tiers, and license activation and management process for each product.

First published date

11/19/2018 3:13 AM

Last published date

4/16/2026 10:15 PM

Overview

This article will direct you to information regarding the licensing tiers, and license activation and management process for each SolarWinds product.

SolarWinds Platform products support subscription licenses. See License types in the SolarWinds Platform help for details.

Finding license keys

License keys for most products can be found by logging into the Customer Portal and selecting Licenses > Manage Licenses. SolarWinds Backup licenses are not in the Customer Portal, they are sent via email.

If you do not see your license listed in the Customer Portal and did not receive an email, please contact Customer Service.

Product section

Orion Platform

Resolution

Updated: April 15, 2026

ARM	SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted Essentials (SWOSH)
Dameware	NPM
DPA	SAM
DRE	IPAM
ETS	LA
Kiwi CatTools	UDT
Kiwi Log Viewer	VNQM
Kiwi Syslog Server	SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted Advanced (SWOSH)
NTM	NTA
Patch Manager	NCM
SEM	VMAN
Serv-U	SCM
SQL Sentry	Scalability Engines
SWO SaaS	HA
SWSD	SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted Enterprise Scale (SWOSH)
Task Factory	EOC
WHD	SolarWinds Platform
	NAM
	SRM
	WPM

Access Rights Manager (ARM)

Existing customers

Existing customers can continue to use the existing license model unchanged to the existing extent (8MATES). Within the scope of the valid maintenance, updates can continue to be installed and used. In order to extend the scope of functions (upgrade), a switch to the new license model is required.

General licensing information

Access Rights Manager is licensed by the number of enabled accounts in Active Directory (including all enabled AD user accounts and service accounts).

Managing your license

For license activation, see Activate your Access Rights Manager License in the ARM Getting Started Guide. To update an ARM license, see Update the ARM license.

Trial licenses

You can download a free trial version of ARM here. The trial version contains a license that is automatically activated by the installation itself. The trial license is valid for 30 days from the date of installation and is subject to the following restrictions:

The number of rows in the reports is limited.
The number of change actions that can be executed is limited.

For more information, see the latest release notes.

Dameware

General licensing information

Dameware has both stand-alone and centralized versions. See Dameware stand-alone licensing or Dameware centralized licensing for details.

Managing your licenses

Dameware licenses can be activated during installation and managed with the stand-alone SolarWinds License Manager. For more information, see Activate a Dameware license in the Dameware Installation Guide.

If you no longer have access to the machine running Dameware, your license can be deactivated manually in the Customer Portal. See Manually deactivate a DameWare or ETS license in the Customer Portal.

Database Performance Analyzer (DPA)

General licensing information

For general information on licensing DPA, see DPA licensing in the DPA Administrator Guide. Please note that DPA has different categories of license for monitoring different types of databases. See License types for more information.

Managing your licenses

See Activate DPA licenses and Allocate or deallocate DPA licenses in the DPA Administrator Guide.

Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE)

General licensing information

For general information on licensing DRE, see DRE Licensing.

Engineer's Toolset (ETS)

General licensing information

For more information about licensing for ETS, see Engineer's Toolset v11.0 licensing (FAQ).

Managing your licenses

Engineer's Toolset licenses with the same expiration date and that show as not activated can be merged into a single license. For more information, see Merge Engineers Toolset License Keys (FAQ) and License Management in the Customer Portal.

If you no longer have access to the machine running ETS, your license can be deactivated manually in the Customer Portal. See Manually deactivate a Dameware or ETS license in the Customer Portal.

Engineer's Toolset for Desktop

ETS for Desktop licenses can be activated during product installation. For more information, see Install Desktop Engineer's Toolset.

Engineer's Toolset on the Web

Enterprise Operations Console (EOC)

General licensing information

See SolarWinds SolarWinds Platform product licensing.

Managing your licenses

High Availability (HA)

Managing your licenses

For information on activating HA licenses, see Activate High Availability pool licenses in the SolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide.

IP Address Manager (IPAM)

General licensing information

To learn about the different IPAM licenses available, see IPAM licensing and deployment in the IPAM Installation Guide.

Managing your licenses

Kiwi CatTools

See Enter a Kiwi CatTools license key in the Kiwi CatTools Installation Guide.

Kiwi Log Viewer

See Apply a Kiwi Log Viewer license.

Kiwi Syslog Server

See Enter a Kiwi Syslog Server license key in the Kiwi Syslog Server Installation Guide.

Security Event Manager (SEM), formerly Log & Event Manager (LEM)

General licensing information

See Choose a licensing method for your SEM deployment in the SEM Installation Guide.

Managing your licenses

To activate a license, see SEM license activation. To update a license, see Update the SEM License.

Log Analyzer (LA)

General licensing information

For an explanation of what consumes LA licenses, see LA Licensing in the Log Analyzer Administrator Guide.

Managing your licenses

Network Automation Manager (NAM)

General licensing information

Your SolarWinds NAM license is a bulk license for NPM, NCM, NTA, VNQM, IPAM, UDT, and SolarWinds High Availability (HA). Network Automation Manager is licensed on the number of nodes that are monitored. A node is defined as a unique network device including, but not limited to, routers, switches, firewalls, and wireless controllers and access points.

See also information on HA licensing and on Scalability Engines licensing.

Managing your licenses

Netflow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)

General licensing information

See SolarWinds NTA licensing for the types of licenses currently available.

Managing your licenses

Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

General licensing information

See NCM licensing model in the NCM Administrator Guide.

Managing your licenses

Network Performance Monitor (NPM)

General licensing information

See NPM licensing for information on NPM license tiers.

Managing your licenses

Network Topology Mapper (NTM)

Managing your licenses

NTM licenses can be activated during installation or using the stand-alone SolarWinds License Manager tool. The stand-alone License Manager is also used for managing NTM licenses after activation. For more information, see Install a production copy of NTM and Activate licenses with License Manager.

Patch Manager

General licensing information

See Patch Manager Licensing to learn how Patch Manager is licensed.

Managing your licenses

See Activate the Patch Manager license in the Patch Manager Installation Guide.

Scalability Engines

Additional Polling Engine (APE)

For information on assigning licenses to polling engines, see Assign Licenses in the SolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide. For information on activating stackable licenses, see Activate stackable poller licenses.

Additional Web Server (AWS)

For information on activating licenses, see Activate Licenses in the SolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide. For information on evaluating AWS when you have a commercial APE license, see Evaluate SolarWinds Platform products.

Server & Application Monitor (SAM)

General licensing information

See SAM licensing model in the SAM Administrator Guide. SAM Licensing FAQs provide additional details.

To learn how SAM licenses are impacted if multiple SolarWinds Platform modules are deployed see How your SAM license relates to other SolarWinds Platform module licenses.

Managing your licenses

Server Configuration Monitor (SCM)

General licensing information

See SCM licensing in the SCM Administrator Guide.

Managing your licenses

Serv-U MFT Server, Serv-U FTP Server, & Serv-U Gateway

Note: Serv-U Licenses now Available in Customer Portal. If your license was purchased prior to July 27, 2016, locate your activation email or contact Customer Service for assistance.

Managing your licenses

For information on registering Serv-U MFT, FTP, or Gateway, see Register the Serv-U MFT license key. To deactivate a license, see Deactivate a license in Serv-U.

SQL Sentry

See SQL Sentry License Management.

Storage Resource Monitor (SRM)

General licensing information

SRM license levels apply to the number of hard drives and solid state drives across all Shared Storage (SAN, NAS) systems rather than nodes. For more information, please see Licensing SRM in the SRM Administrator Guide.

Managing your licenses

SolarWinds Observability (SWO) SaaS

General licensing information

For general information on licensing SWO SaaS, see SWO SaaS Subscription.

SolarWinds Service Desk

General licensing information

For general information on licensing SWSD, see Licenses for ESM Customers.

Task Factory

See Task Factory Licensing.

User Device Tracker (UDT)

General licensing information

See UDT licensing information for information on UDT license tiers.

Managing your licenses

Virtualization Manager (VMAN)

General licensing information

See VMAN licensing information for information on VMAN license types.

Managing your licenses

VoIP Network Quality Manager (VNQM)

General licensing information

See VNQM licensing and deployment for information on VNQM license types.

Managing your licenses

Web Help Desk (WHD)

General licensing information

See Product Licensing in the WHD Installation Guide for information on WHD license tiers.

Managing your licenses

See Activate your license in the Web Help Desk Administrator Guide.

Web Performance Monitor (WPM)

General licensing information

Licensing for many SolarWinds Platform products is based on the amount of nodes monitored. WPM licensing is based on the number of transactions assigned to transaction locations that host a WPM Player. Also called "player locations," transaction locations may be on the main Orion server or on remote servers that connect to the Orion server.

WPM is licensed by the total number of transactions implemented, regardless of whether transactions are managed or unmanaged. The number of licenses used is calculated by multiplying the number of recordings by the number of locations assigned, as shown in these examples.

5 transactions at 1 location = 5 licenses
5 transactions at 3 locations = 15 licenses

LICENSE TIER	IMPLEMENTED TRANSACTIONS	LICENSE
WPM5	5	License with 1st-year maintenance
WPM10	10	License with 1st-year maintenance
WPM20	20	License with 1st-year maintenance
WPM50	50	License with 1st-year maintenance
WPM100	100	License with 1st-year maintenance
WPM200	200	License with 1st-Year maintenance
WPMX	Unlimited, standard playback rate	License with 1st-Year maintenance

Managing your licenses

Disclaimer: Please note, any content posted herein is provided as a suggestion or recommendation to you for your internal use. This is not part of the SolarWinds software or documentation that you purchased from SolarWinds, and the information set forth herein may come from third parties. Your organization should internally review and assess to what extent, if any, such custom scripts or recommendations will be incorporated into your environment. You elect to use third-party content at your own risk, and you will be solely responsible for the incorporation of the same if any.