62  Activation Basics

When RStudio Workbench is first installed on a system it operates in evaluation mode for a period of time and then subsequently requires activation for continued use.

To determine the current license status of your system you can use the following command:

$ sudo rstudio-server license-manager status

After purchasing a license to RStudio Workbench you’ll receive a license key that can be used to activate the license on a given system.

You can activate your license key with the command:

$ sudo rstudio-server license-manager activate <product-key>
$ sudo rstudio-server restart

Note that you need to restart the server in order for licensing changes to take effect.

If you want to move your license of RStudio Workbench to another system you should first deactivate it on the old system with the command:

$ sudo rstudio-server license-manager deactivate

License Details

RStudio Workbench licenses include some details that you’ll see when you run the status command. These are part of the license and can’t be changed without purchasing a different license. They are as follows:

Value Meaning
enable-launcher Whether the Job Launcher is enabled.
sessions The maximum number of concurrent R sessions that can be run; 0 if unlimited.
users The maximum number of users that can connect to the server; 0 if unlimited.

Typically, RStudio Workbench licenses either disable the Launcher but allow for unlimited local users and sessions, or enable the Launcher and provide limits on users and/or sessions. If you have questions about the best kind of license for your use case, contact for help.

Note that when named user licenses are in effect (users is greater than 0), R Session Auditing is enabled by default to help you keep track of which users are using the product.