There are several options for licensing Parallels RAS. Read this chapter to find out which licensing options are right for you and how to purchase and upgrade licenses.
Parallels RAS uses concurrent-user licensing. This means that a user can establish any number of connections to Parallels RAS as long as the number of users simultaneously accessing Parallels RAS does not exceed the number of concurrent user licenses.
Consider the following examples:
One user, one device, one connection — one license is needed.
One user, one or multiple devices, multiple connections — one license is needed.
Multiple users, each establishing one or multiple connections — a license is needed for each user. When all licenses are used up, the next user will have to wait for one of the current users to log out from all sessions.
The following table shows license consumption by connection type and user rights:
| Connection Type | User Rights | Consumes RAS License |
|---|---|---|
* Maximum up to two connections of either type per RD Session Host.
You license Parallels RAS with a prepaid subscription, which works as follows:
Your active subscription allows you to upgrade to a newer version of Parallels RAS whenever one becomes available.
A subscription is purchased for a predefined period of time, either one month, one year, two years, or three years. One-month subscriptions can only be purchased online.
If a subscription is purchased online, by default it is set to automatically renew when the subscription period ends. Subscriptions purchased through a reseller must be renewed through the reseller.
Support is included in the cost of the subscription. You can choose either the Standard or Premium support plan.
If your license expires, Parallels RAS continues to run for a grace period of 30 days, within which time you should renew your subscription. Please note that the grace period does not apply to sublicenses. Sublicenses are described in Create additional license keys.
Please also read about Microsoft license requirements in Parallels RAS.
RAS desktop/published application connection
Non-admin
Yes
RDP desktop/published application connection
Non-admin
Yes
RAS published application connection
Administrator
Yes
RAS published desktop connection*
Administrator
No
Direct or tunneled RDP desktop connection*
Administrator
No
You can purchase Parallels RAS licenses online or you can contact a Parallels partner.
Visit http://www.parallels.com/products/ras/buy/
To find a Parallels partner near you, visit http://www.parallels.com/partners/locator/
Once you purchase licenses, the Parallels partner will provide you with a single license key which you can use to activate Parallels RAS. You only need one key to register and activate all your licenses.
If you don't already have a Parallels account, you will also receive an invitation to join one.
Important: A license key can be used to activate a single installation of Parallels RAS. You can change the activated installation up to three times (for backup purposes, if a previously activated server has been damaged or stolen, etc.). If you need to activate several Parallels RAS installations to work simultaneously, you need multiple license keys.
Parallels RAS gives you a grace period of 7 days during which time you can connect more users to a farm than your subscription terms specify. To continue providing access to the increased number of concurrent users, you should purchase more licenses before the grace period is over. The 7-day grace period can be used again later after you purchase more licenses.
If by the end of the grace period you don't purchase more licenses, the Parallels RAS farm will continue to operate normally as long as the number of concurrent users doesn't exceed the limit specified in your subscription. If the number of concurrent users exceeds the limit at any time, your Parallels RAS farm will be temporarily deactivated. This means that none of the users will be able to get the listing of published resources from the farm or use those resources. Please note that deactivation may not happen as soon as the license overuse occurs, but it will happen within 1-2 hours. To re-activate the farm, you have to make sure that the number of concurrent users doesn't exceed the license limit. Parallels RAS performs the validation every 20 minutes. As soon as it detects that the number of concurrent users is at or below the limit, it will reactive the farm.