Observability

How to activate HCO Licenses in the SolarWinds Platform

Steps showing how to activate licenses based on node count in HCO.

First published date

6/15/2023 2:04 PM

Last published date

3/31/2025 10:24 PM

Overview

In SolarWinds Platform 2022.3 and newer, HCO licenses are able to be activated based on a number of nodes across multiple polling engines, or all nodes on a single engine. This article will show the steps for both Online and Offline activation.

Product section

Hybrid Cloud Observability

Resolution

Note: If HCO is not showing in the web-based license manager, click the “ADD LICENSE” button. Then follow the activation steps.
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Online activation

  1. In the SolarWinds Platform Web Console, click Settings > All Settings.
  2. Click License Manager in the Details section.
  3. Select Hybrid Cloud Observability and click Activate.
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  1. Enter the activation key.
  2. Enter the number of nodes you want to activate for this installation.
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  1. Select All Available if you want to use all the nodes in the license key. 
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  1. Fill in your information and click Activate.
  2. When you return to the license manager, you will see the activated license key with the appropriate number of nodes.
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Offline Activation

Note: If HCO is not showing in the web-based license manager, click the “ADD LICENSE” button, copy the UMID, and send it to Customer Service to generate the license file. 
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  1. In the SolarWinds Platform Web Console, click Settings > All Settings.
  2. Click License Manager in the Details section.
  3. Select Hybrid Cloud Observability and click Activate.
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  1. Click Copy to Clipboard to copy the unique machine key. 
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  1. Use the copied machine ID to obtain a .lic file. If you are evaluating Hybrid Cloud Observability, give the machine ID to a SolarWinds representative to obtain a .lic file and continue with step 6.
    1. Log in to the Customer Portal, and click Licenses > Manage Licenses.
    2. On the Customer Portal License Management page, expand the product license to activate, and click Activate License Manually. 
    3. In the Generate license file section, fill in your information.
    4. Paste the unique machine id from the clipboard.
    5. Enter the number of nodes you want to activate.
    6. Click Generate License File. Save the .lic file locally and transfer it to the offline computer. 
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  1. Back in the License Manager on the offline computer, choose the .lic file, and click Action. 
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  1. Your license is now activated, and the license details are displayed in the License Manager. 
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Note: If you still face issues, please contact customerservice@solarwinds.com with your error message and the steps you have taken.