Intel® FPGA Software Installation and Licensing

ID 683472
Date 7/08/2024
Public

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5.3.1. Refreshing License Server Token Automatically

The automatic server token refresh flow works with the free, no-cost license for eligible products and ensures that your local Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software installation is updated with the security token used to communicate with the licensing server. Refer to Acquiring Free, No-Cost Licenses for more information about the no-cost licenses.

When acquiring the no-cost license, the Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software connects to the license server and verifies whether the token used to connect with the license server is still valid. If a new token is available, the application accepts and saves it securely and uses it in the subsequent calls to the license server.

The automatic server token refresh flow is disabled by default. It is enabled when you meet the following use cases:

  • You have successfully acquired a no-cost license for eligible products through the Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software GUI.
  • You have not manually disabled the Automatically Refresh License Server Token checkbox in the License Setup page.
    Figure 11. License Setup Options Dialog
Note:
  • Every Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software release has a different token embedded within and each token has one year validity. For example, suppose the token was issued on February 1, 2024, it expires on Jan 31, 2025, which means the token expiry is not dependent on the software release date but on the date the token was issued.
  • Every time you launch the Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software, and you have the Automatically Refresh License Server Token option enabled in the License Setup page, the Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software connects to the licensing server to verify if any new token is available for download. If a new token is available, it downloads the new token and saves it to your local installation. For example, on July 15, 2024, the Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software connects to refresh a token that was generated on May 1, 2024, giving your local installation the ability to acquire a no-cost license valid until April 30, 2025. This means that the token validity does not start from the date it is refreshed, but the date on which it was generated or created.