Tutorial: Purchase and Activate an Access Server Subscription License (Admin Web UI)
Learn how to purchase and activate an OpenVPN Access Server subscription license — covers buying a license key on openvpn.net, selecting your connection count and billing cycle, and activating the key in the Admin Web UI.
Overview
Access Server subscription licenses determine how many simultaneous VPN connections your server can support. You can purchase a subscription for the number of connections you need and activate it from the Admin Web UI.
This tutorial shows you how to purchase and activate an Access Server subscription license key.
Important: Activation required for some BYOL deployments
Starting with Access Server 3.2.2, some new bring-your-own-license (BYOL) deployments require activation during first launch.
After you accept the license agreement, the Activate your Access Server step displays. You must enter a valid license activation key before you can continue to the Admin Web UI.
If you need an activation key, you can select Go to Access Server Hub from that step and create or locate a subscription.
After activation, your available VPN connections update based on the subscription, and you can continue with Access Server setup.
This step only appears on new BYOL deployments that require activation. Existing installations aren't affected.
Prerequisites
An installed Access Server.
An OpenVPN.net account on the Access Server Hub.
Admin Web UI access.
Sign in to the Access Server Hub or create an account.
Select Subscriptions.
Current keys display here if you have any.
Select the option to purchase or create a subscription.
Choose the number of VPN connections and billing option appropriate for your deployment.
Complete the subscription setup.
Copy the activation key.
If you already have an available Access Server subscription, copy its activation key instead.
How you access activation depends on your deployment.
From the Admin Web UI
For an existing installation or a deployment where the Admin Web UI is already accessible:
Sign in to the Admin Web UI.
If you haven't installed Access Server, refer to the quick start guides in the installation topic.
To navigate to your Admin Web UI, open a web browser and enter your server's IP address or DNS address as the URL, with /admin at the end. For example, https://192.0.2.22/admin.
Select Activation.
Select Activate License Key.
Paste the activation key.
Select Activate License Key.
On a new BYOL deployment that requires activation
If the Activate your Access Server page appears immediately after you accept the license agreement:
Paste your activation key into the activation field.
Select Activate.
Wait for Access Server to validate the key.
After successful activation, Access Server replaces the zero-connection placeholder subscription with the activated subscription and updates the available VPN connection limit.
You can then continue into the Admin Web UI.