Licensing and Activation

For SmarterMail HA, activation only needs to be done once, on the first hub. All SmarterMail HA installs will show up as Unlimited Mailboxes, and all nodes run as SmarterMail Enterprise Unlimited. In addition, SmarterMail HA licenses include the MAPI & EWS add-on. As such, a trial of MAPI & EWS will not be available, instead showing the same Active License as SmarterMail High Availability. (Unlimited Mailboxes.)

The Licensing page (found under Settings > Activation > Licensing) is where a system administrator manages the SmarterMail license key, activates or reactivates the installation, and tracks the status of any add-ons — such as Cyren Premium Antispam, Cyren Premium Antivirus, Message Sniffer, ActiveSync, MAPI & EWS, and the SpamFoo add-ons. Understanding how activation, reactivation, and trials work is important for keeping an installation in good standing, especially when mailbox counts change or hardware is replaced.

Initial Licensing at Installation

During the installation process for SmarterMail, you're asked to input a license key, which defines the Edition and mailbox count that is activated once the installation completes. If you so desire, you can install SmarterMail as the Free Edition, which is good for use with 1 domain and up to 10 mailboxes.

The Free Edition's restrictions go beyond the 10-mailbox and 1-domain caps. Even while an installation stays under those limits, Free Edition cannot use Enterprise-tier features and add-ons, including ActiveSync, MAPI & EWS, Cyren Premium Antispam, Cyren Premium Antivirus, and Message Sniffer — these require at least a Professional or Enterprise license, depending on the feature. Free Edition also cannot be used as part of a SmarterMail High Availability (HA) cluster; HA requires a valid HA license on every node.

Example: A small business installs SmarterMail Free to evaluate it internally. They configure a single domain, example.com, and create 10 mailboxes for staff. This fits comfortably within the Free Edition limits, but if they want to test Cyren Premium Antivirus or set up ActiveSync for mobile devices, they'll need to license the installation as Professional or Enterprise first — Free Edition alone won't unlock those add-ons even though mailbox usage is within bounds.
Example: An admin running SmarterMail Free tries to add an 11th mailbox or a second domain. Both actions are blocked until the installation is licensed with a paid key that supports the additional domain or mailbox count.

Upgrading and Add-ons

To upgrade to a paid version and unlock additional mailboxes and/or gain access to use purchased SmarterMail Add-ons, a license key must be activated. Furthermore, if the SmarterMail installation is moved to another server or upgraded to a different version or product level, the product will need to be activated again. System administrators can use the Licensing section to activate SmarterMail or view current licensing information and limits.

It's worth distinguishing between changes that require a full Activate versus those that only require a Reactivate (both actions are covered in detail below). Moving the installation to new hardware, restoring it onto a different server, or changing the licensed product edition (for example, moving from Professional to Enterprise) all require activating the license key again from scratch. Simpler changes — such as increasing the mailbox limit on an existing key, renewing Maintenance and Support, or purchasing an add-on for a license that's already activated — typically only require a Reactivate to pull down the updated entitlements.

Note: Activation of a license key requires the server to contact SmarterTools over port 443 (HTTPS). Please ensure that any firewall or internet security software you have installed allows an outgoing TCP port 443 request to SmarterTools' licensing servers. If the server cannot connect for security reasons or due to internet connectivity restrictions, please contact sales@smartertools.com to request steps for a manual activation. A manual activation requires the server's hostname, which can be found by entering 'hostname' into the server's command prompt.

The Licensing View

When accessing Licensing, the current licensing details for SmarterMail and its add-ons will be displayed, including the license key, license level information, status of the license or subscriptions, the number of items used out of the total limit, and an indication of whether an add-on trial is available. A license's current Maintenance and Support status is listed as well as its expiration date. (This includes the status of any add-ons as well as SmarterTools' licenses.)

Each add-on — ActiveSync, MAPI & EWS, Cyren Premium Antispam, Cyren Premium Antivirus, Message Sniffer, and SpamFoo Antispam — is displayed as its own card showing whether it's active, trialing, or available for purchase, along with the current usage against its limit (for example, the number of mailboxes using ActiveSync out of the licensed cap). This lets an administrator see, at a glance, exactly which parts of the installation are paid, trialing, or unlicensed.

One card behaves a little differently: SpamFoo Classification is granted to every SmarterMail installation by default and isn't something that can be trialed or purchased separately — it's simply included, so its card will always show as active rather than offering a Start Trial or Purchase option.

Available Actions

The following actions can be taken:

Activate - Select this option to activate a new SmarterMail license key. Activating a paid ("owned") license requires authentication by verifying the SmarterTools account login credentials associated with the purchase. Trial license keys do not require authentication to be activated, since no purchase is tied to them.
Reactivate - Select this option to refresh the limits of the SmarterMail installation. This will cause SmarterMail to call back to the SmarterTools servers to refresh the limits of the license key and should be used after purchasing an add-on, upgrading to the Enterprise edition, renewing Maintenance and Support, or increasing the mailbox limit. Reactivating is immediate and does not require authentication with the SmarterTools account credentials.
Purchase - Select this option to be taken to the SmarterTools website where you can purchase a new license key or add-on.
Start Trial - If a trial is available for a particular add-on, a "Start Trial" link will be displayed on its card. This allows the system administrator to test the functionality for up to 30 days. A trial can only be activated one time per add-on. To continue using the service after the trial, the add-on must be purchased. Trials also require an existing license key already on file, which is part of why trials are not available on Free Editions of SmarterMail — a Free Edition installation has no purchased key to attach the trial to.

Note: The ActiveSync trial is limited to 25 mailboxes.

Example: An administrator running SmarterMail Professional wants to evaluate Message Sniffer before committing to a purchase. From the Message Sniffer card on the Licensing page, they select Start Trial and get 30 days of full functionality. If they decide to keep it, they use Purchase before the trial ends; otherwise the add-on simply becomes unavailable again once the 30 days elapse.
Example: An administrator who already ran the ActiveSync trial once, let it lapse, and later wants to trial it again on the same license key will find Start Trial is no longer offered for that add-on — each add-on trial is a one-time offer per license key, not something that resets automatically.

Reactivate vs. Activate: Practical Scenarios

Scenario — adding mailboxes: An administrator's organization grows and they purchase an increase from 100 to 150 mailboxes on their existing Enterprise license. After completing the purchase, they return to the Licensing page and select Reactivate. SmarterMail immediately calls back to SmarterTools, pulls down the new 150-mailbox entitlement, and no account credentials are required.
Scenario — moving hardware: The same organization later migrates their entire SmarterMail installation to a new physical server as part of a hardware refresh. Because the installation is now running on different hardware, the license key must be activated again from scratch using Activate, which prompts for the SmarterTools account credentials associated with the purchase (since this is a paid, "owned" key).

Expiration Behavior

It's important to distinguish between two different kinds of expiration that appear on the Licensing page:

Maintenance and Support (M&S) expiration: When M&S lapses on a paid license, SmarterMail continues to run normally with all currently licensed features and mailbox limits intact — the product does not stop working or revert to Free Edition. What's lost is eligibility for free updates and upgrades to newer SmarterMail versions and continued access to standard support channels until M&S is renewed.
Trial expiration: If you are running a trial version of SmarterMail, it will automatically revert to SmarterMail Free when the trial expires. Any mailbox count or domain count above the Free Edition's 1 domain / 10 mailbox limits, or use of add-ons that require a paid license, may become unavailable until a paid key is activated.

Trial expiration isn't the only thing that can trigger an automatic reversion to Free Edition. If a license key is remotely revoked by SmarterTools — for example, due to a chargeback or a fraud-related billing issue — the installation will automatically revert to Free Edition and the administrator will be alerted, just as if a trial had run out.

Example: An administrator's Enterprise license M&S expires while they're mid-renewal with their reseller. Mail flow, mailbox access, and all previously licensed add-ons keep working uninterrupted; the only practical effect is that a newer SmarterMail build released during the lapse won't be eligible for install until M&S is renewed and the license is reactivated. By contrast, if that same administrator had instead been running a 30-day trial of SmarterMail Enterprise and let it expire without purchasing, the installation would automatically drop back to Free Edition limits — 1 domain and 10 mailboxes — and any usage beyond that would need to be addressed by purchasing and activating a paid key.