Configuring Renewal Options

A renewal Product Option can be configured with a rule that only makes it available to customers who already own a license that has an expiration date. If a customer satisfies a renewal rule, the renewal Option will be available for purchase in the Renewals & Upgrades section of the Customer License Portal. Upon purchase, the renewal order will update the expiration (Download Until) date of the original/previous license, and the renewal will be listed in the customer's order history.

Non-Expiring License

For a non-expiring software license, you can use the Download Until date in the SOLO Server license record to keep track of software maintenance. The license itself will not expire since your application won't be enforcing the Download Until date.

The Download Until date can also be used to limit download access when using the Electronic Software Delivery (ESD) functionality.

Time-Limited License

For a time-limited license, after a renewal has been purchased and the License ID has been updated in SOLO Server, your application needs to pull the new expiration date from the Download Until field when it periodically checks-in with SOLO Server:

After the expiration date has been updated in the local license file, the application will continue working and will not require the customer to activate again.

Rule Configuration for Renewal Option

Follow these steps for the recommended way to create a renewal Option:

  1. Create/edit an Option under the correct Product ID. This renewal Option will simply be a line-item on the invoice and purchase history, and will automatically update the original license.
  2. Change the following Option fields:
    1. Option Name: (You could name it "1-year Renewal" or "30 day Renewal" etc.)
    2. Option Description: (This will be displayed to the customer on the Renewals & Upgrades page for this specific renewal.)
    3. Option Type: Transaction/Service Fee
    4. Order Confirm HTML: (optional example) Thank you for renewing your software maintenance/subscription for [insert product name].
    5. For New Customers: Disable
    6. Since the customer won’t be receiving a new License ID or be able to activate with the renewal purchase, the following options can be cleared out:
      • Activations per U/M: 0
      • Issue License: Disable
      • Issue Installation ID: Disable
    7. Days to D/L: # of days the original license will be renewed by (for example, 365 for a one year renewal)
    8. Error Message: You must have a valid [insert product name] license before you are allowed to purchase this renewal.
  3. Add a rule to this new Option.
    1. Product: Specify the Product a customer must have to be eligible for the renewal.
    2. Product Option: (optional) Specify the Option a customer must have to be eligible for the renewal.
    3. Set the following parameters:
      • Require License ID: Enable
      • Previous License OK: Enable
      • Maintenance Renewal: Enable
      • Display Upgrade: Enable
    4. Optionally change the following parameters:
      • Expired Maintenance Start Date: Expiration Date. Note that if a license/maintenance has been expired for over a year (for example), and the customer purchases a one year renewal, the license will still be expired since this configuration renews based on the existing expiration date. To prevent this, you can set the Download Expiration Availability and Download Expiration Grace Period to prevent the purchase of a renewal after a specified period.
      • Download Expiration Availability: Choose when the upgrade should be available based on the expiration (Download Until) date of the previous license.
      • Download Expiration Grace Period: The number of days past the expiration (Download Until) date that the previous license(s) are still considered valid.

If a customer satisfies a renewal rule, the renewal Option will be listed in the Renewals & Upgrades section of the Customer License Portal. It will list the specific License ID the renewal would be applied to upon purchase.