Cloud licensing model FAQ

Review the FAQ to learn more about the Automation Anywhere Cloud licensing model.

What is Cloud licensing model?
The Automation Anywhere cloud licensing model is a centralized way for managing and distributing licenses across various applications and deployment models. With Cloud licensing, all licenses purchased by the customers are consolidated into a shared pool of licenses on our Automation Anywhere Cloud.

Automation Anywhere applications such as Cloud Control Room or On-Premises Control Room connect to this Automation Anywhere Cloud license server to access licenses for user assignment and utilization. This centralized way of managing license provides customers the flexibility to access, release, and consume the licenses from different applications across different Control Room instances and deployment setups.

Why is Cloud licensing important?
The Cloud license server is important as it offers customers the flexibility to use Automation Anywhere products and their licenses from all their different Control Room instances and deployment models.
Cloud licensing also meets contractual compliance requirements. It provides entitlements for various Automation Anywhere products, such as the following:
  • Bot Runner, Bot Creator, Automation Co-Pilot
  • Document Automation
  • Feature-based licenses such as the Enterprise Platform license
  • Automator AI Platform Base license
  • API Task
What is file-based licensing and why was it discontinued?
File-based licensing model (the legacy Automation Anywhere licensing method) has been discontinued due to complexity, management overhead, scalability, and compliance challenges. This is now replaced with Cloud licensing. The following products are not supported with this licensing model:
  • Document Automation (with the exception of IQ Bot)
  • Feature-based licenses such as the Enterprise Platform license and Automator AI Platform Base license and Recommendations
  • API Task
Why is connectivity to Cloud important from on-premises Control Room?

Cloud connectivity from on-premises Control Room to Automation Anywhere Cloud is increasingly becoming important for the following reasons:

  • Delivering regular product and package updates
  • Leveraging Generative AI capabilities using LLMs to improve document processing accuracy and reliability for our on-premises customers
  • Using Cloud licensing model to distribute new product licenses to on-premises Control Room instances
What are Cloud licensing prerequisites?

As Automation Anywhere is a centralized license server and is hosted on Automation Anywhere Cloud, our applications such as Cloud and on-premises Control Room instances need connectivity to this Cloud license server.

Cloud Control Room instances are automatically provisioned with license keys to access licenses from the license server. You must provide Control Room license keys to on-premises Control Room at the time of initial setup. On renewal, both on-premises and Cloud Control Room instances will need to be provided with the renewal license keys.

The connectivity to license server is important because it provides users with the flexibility of assigning, releasing, and consuming licenses between the different Control Room instances across different deployment models. This connectivity to a central source of license information provides a one-stop view of purchased and available licenses from all the Control Room instances belonging to a customer.

Connectivity to the Cloud license server is used only to retrieve information about customer purchased licenses. Without this connectivity the Control Room will not be able to validate license information thereby impacting users' ability to allocate and release licenses. Long durations of no connectivity to the Cloud license server will result in Control Room getting locked out and thereby impacting ongoing automatons.

What is meant by secure connectivity to the Cloud license server?
Connectivity from on-premises Control Room instances to the Cloud license server is secured through HTTPS protocol, where the Control Room initiates the connection to the Cloud hosted license server. Inbound access ports need not be opened to the customer's network.
注: This proxy server feature is available from Automation 360.31 release onwards.

Connectivity to the Cloud hosted license service can be routed using a proxy server. This allows the customer to enforce any security policies at the proxy server level and allows restricted access from the on-premises Control Room.

Automation Anywhere Cloud license server supports a static IP address. This IP address does not change, and the customer can use this IP address to enforce security and provide restricted access to the license server.

How to convert customer licenses from file licensing model to Cloud licensing model?

Converting your licenses from a file licensing to a Cloud licensing model is a straightforward and seamless process. This transition can be accomplished without any disruption to your operations. Follow these steps

  1. Ensure that your on-premises Control Room has connectivity to the Automation Anywhere Cloud license server at https:// license.automationanywhere.digital. You can use the network proxy feature or configure firewall rules to allow access to the Cloud license server.
  2. Contact your account team or customer support to begin the conversion of your licenses from file-based to Cloud-based licensing model. This can be done by creating a support ticket.
  3. The Automation Anywhere order management team will handle the conversion of your file-based entitlements to Cloud licenses. Once processed, you can view the converted Cloud licenses and Control Room license GUIDs on your Licenses and Cloud Services portal at https://apeople.automationanywhere.com/s/Licenses.
  4. After the licenses are converted, you must enter the Control Room license GUIDs from Manage Cloud Licenses tab of your Licenses and Cloud Services portal at https://apeople.automationanywhere.com/s/Licenses into all your on-premises Control Room instances. Navigate to Administration > Licenses page and select Install license from server.license install
注:

Once you have transitioned to the Cloud-based licensing model, reverting to the file-based model is not possible.

This process ensures a smooth migration to Cloud licensing model, maintaining continuity in your operations.