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Does my test environment need a license?

Does my test environment need a license?

This article explains how licensing applies when setting up a Checkmk test or staging environment for configuration changes, upgrades, or validation tasks.

APPLIES TO ALL CHECKMK COMMERCIAL EDITIONS

Table of Contents

This article applies to customers with an active Checkmk subscription. If you are evaluating Checkmk for the first time, refer to the FAQ at the bottom of the pricing page: Checkmk Pricing

Problem

You want to set up a testing environment for Checkmk, for example to test configuration changes, software updates, or other modifications before applying them to production.

The test environment may be temporary or permanent. It may consist of a single site or a distributed setup. In some cases it is used briefly for a one time change. In other cases it is used continuously to validate updates or configuration changes.

You want to understand whether this environment needs to be licensed and how it affects your subscription.

Solution

Legal considerations

There are two primary sources that describe how licensing applies in this scenario:

In particular, refer to the Checkmk End User License Agreement, section 2.4.

 

In summary, as long as the environment is used exclusively for testing Checkmk itself, such as configuration changes or software updates, the monitored services in that environment do not count toward your subscription.

Note that this is an interpretation of the referenced legal documents and may change in the future. For binding clarification, always refer to the official legal texts.

Technical considerations

In all cases, ensure that test hosts and services are clearly identified and documented to avoid unintentionally affecting production monitoring or license reporting.

  • Using productive licenses for test environments
    You can use your productive licensing credentials if the test environment is intended to run longer than 30 days or if it is part of a distributed monitoring setup.

  • Excluding test services from license reporting
    If you require a large number of services for testing purposes, you may want to exclude those services from the license report.
    Details on excluding services from license reporting can be found in the license reporting section of the Checkmk User Guide linked above.

 

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