Asoftware license server is a centralizedcomputer software system which providesaccess tokens, orkeys, toclient computers in order to enablelicensed software to run on them.
In 1989, Sassafras Software Inc developed theirtrademarkedKeyServer software license management tool.[1] Since that time, othercomputing technologyfirms haveadopted the phrase "key server" to be used interchangeably with "software license server."[2][3]
It is the job of a software license server to determine and control the number of copies of a program permitted to be used based on thelicense entitlements that an organization owns. Typically, anend-user customer organization will install a software license server on ahost computer to provide licensing services to an enterprise computing environment.
Publisher-specific license servers are commonly provided bysoftware publishers, or throughthird party providers, to manage software licensing for a specific software publisher's products. Publisher-specific license servers are more commonly used for industry specialized software products than for common software products due to the high value of the managed software products.[4]
The server component of a client–server application may also contain an internal license server.[5][6]