To operate SAP NetWeaver or individual components you need one or more of the following SAP NetWeaver license keys:

After you have installed the components, the system is equipped with a temporary license, which is valid for four weeks. During this time you have to apply for a permanent license from SAP and install it.

In SAP NetWeaver 7.0 and higher, there is a new type license key in addition to the old type. This new license key is based on a digital signature. Both types of license key are installed and administered with SLICENSE, as previously, and are available as temporary and permanent license keys. The functions for the new license keys can be found by choosing the New Licenses button and are described in the procedure the same as the existing functions are.

To allow a seamless transition, both types of license keys initially function in parallel after the upgrade. If license keys of the old type were already installed, you can continue to use these. However, we recommend that you also import license keys of the new type, since the license keys of the old type will be deactivated in the future. For this reason, only keys of the new type are assigned for new installations.

The flexible license mechanism is now available for high availability environments and Adaptive Computing, where systems and system components are frequently moved between servers (more information: Flexible License Mechanism). It extends the previous license procedure so that the license for a system is no longer linked to the hardware of a message server. This means that the license remains valid, even if you move the message server to another server.