Installing JetBrains IDEs on classroom and personal computers
While classroom licenses can be used for both classroom computers and students' and teachers' personal computers, we recommend using individual licenses on personal computers whenever possible.
If you need to install classroom licenses on both classroom and personal computers, License Vault becomes the natural choice for your setup. Because Floating License Server must not be exposed outside the school network for security reasons, connecting to it must only be permitted from within the campus network or via the school’s VPN. This restriction does not apply to License Vault, so using it on personal computers is less complicated.
Alternatively, your school can also use Floating License Server within the school’s internal network and License Vault for personal computers when they run outside the school’s network.
JetBrains strongly recommends configuring your Floating License Server so that it is accessible only within the school’s network. Allowing access from outside without the school’s VPN may result in third parties abusing the license server, leading to license cancellation.
You can also let students request their own free individual educational licenses. However, you won’t be able to control what the students request for themselves, since each person requests and renews their individual license independently.
Combining licensing methods
You can use a single classroom licensing method or combine them as needed. The simplest setup is to use either one Floating License Server or one License Vault per school. If your situation requires more, for example, if you need to manage multiple campuses centrally or support various groups with diverse needs, you can configure different licensing options within the same JetBrains account.
Calculating the number of licenses needed
Licenses for use in a classroom are assigned per seat, as outlined in the Installing JetBrains IDE on classroom computers section. When you need to distribute licenses both in classrooms and to students' and teachers' personal computers, calculate the number of licenses for the classrooms first, then add the number of students and teachers who need licenses for their personal computers.
When the IDE starts, it requests a license from your Floating License Server or License Vault, regardless of whether the IDE starts on a physical computer or a virtual machine. When the IDE stops running, it releases the license, making it available for others. If the IDE crashes or the computer powers off abruptly, the license is automatically considered released after 20 minutes.
Remaining setup steps
The other configuration and installation steps for distributing licenses to both classrooms and personal computers are identical to those for installing JetBrains IDEs on classroom computers.
Of course, you don't have to install the IDEs on the personal computers of students and teachers automatically. They can do that manually themselves. Simply provide them with the License Vault URL to let them activate the IDEs on their personal computers with License Vault.
Direct assignment of classroom licenses
Teachers can manually assign licenses directly to individual students by using their email addresses. To minimize the complexity of license management, we recommend using this method only if you have no more than 30 individual users.