License Vault Help

License Vault for educational institutions

We invite you to use License Vault to distribute your classroom licenses to students and faculty members. If's completely free for educational institutions.

Check our the feature list below to see how it can benefit your organization. If you're ready to give it a try, skip straight to the setup instructions.

Why use License Vault

Easy to set up and start using, License Vault makes the license distribution process quick and hassle-free. Here's what it has to offer:

The cloud solution

License Vault Cloud is hosted by JetBrains and doesn't require installation or maintenance.

It's accessible from any device with a network connection via any web browser. You can use it to distribute licenses both for the shared computers in your school's computer labs and for your users' personal devices.

Automatic license distribution and transfer

License Vault automatically assigns licenses to users. All a user needs to do is launch their product, provide the License Vault URL, and log in.

There's no need to manually revoke licenses from students who no longer need them for their studies. If they stop using their license, it automatically becomes available to others in about 20 minutes.

Secure access with single sign-on

All users need to log in before obtaining a license from License Vault.

Logging in with JetBrains Accounts works out of the box for all accounts registered with an email address from your school’s domain (for example, @university.edu).

You can also set up another authentication method to integrate License Vault in your existing infrastructure, such as a Google Classroom or an Active Directory domain. Check out the full list of supported modules and then refer to this page to learn how to configure them.

Access rules

With access rules, you can restrict or provide access to licenses for certain users or groups. You can also prioritize users who need to be able to obtain a license, even when none are available.

Real-time statistics

Built-in usage statistics and reports can help you analyze and optimize license usage in your organization.

Start using License Vault

When you request or renew your classroom licenses, you'll have an option to start using License Vault. Follow the steps below to try it.

  1. Apply for classroom licenses for your school or request to renew your existing ones.

  2. Once your request is approved, you will receive an email with a link to activate your licenses. Follow the link in the email. You will be redirected to the JetBrains Account page.

  3. Use one of the following two options to sign in:

    • Sign in or create a new JetBrains Account with the email address that you entered when requesting your licenses.

    • Sign in with an existing JetBrains Account that has administrator permissions for your organization.

    If you're not the person who requested the licenses, and your JetBrains Account doesn't have administrator permissions, request them from your organization's administrator. Refer to this page to learn more about obtaining administrator permissions.

  4. We will ask you to choose how you want to distribute your licenses. Click Use License Vault.

  5. Read License Vault Cloud Terms and Conditions and click Accept and continue. You will be redirected to the License Vault setup screen.

    The License Vault setup screen for the owners of                  free educational (classroom) licenses
  6. If necessary, click Add / Remove Licenses to add more licenses to License Vault or transfer some of the licenses to another team to distribute them in a different manner.

  7. Specify the Server name. Use letters and digits. Spaces are not allowed.

  8. Configure User access to licenses.

    At this step, you can set up JetBrains Account as the first authentication module for your License Vault.

    With JetBrains Account, access to licenses is granted or denied based on the email domain. Users who log in with an email address that belongs to any of the domains you specify here will have access to licenses. Anyone who tries to log in with an email address from a different domain will be denied access.

    To configure user access via JetBrains Account:

    1. Leave the Grant access... checkbox selected. This will grant access to all users who log in via JetBrains Account with an email address from the same school domain as your own.

    2. If your school has multiple email domains, enter the additional domains in the text field below the checkbox. Public email domains, like gmail.com, are not allowed for security reasons.

    If you prefer not to configure user access via JetBrains Account at this stage, clear the Grant access... checkbox. If you don’t see the checkbox, simply leave the domain list empty. You can return to these settings later when configuring authentication modules.

  9. Once you've done all of the above, click Start License Vault.

    It may take us a few minutes to get everything ready. Once the setup is complete, you'll see the License Vault URL. This means your License Vault is good to go!

  10. Click Go to License Vault at the bottom of page and enter your JetBrains Account credentials to log in to your License Vault for the first time.

How to access and administrate License Vault later

The moment you set up License Vault, a new team is added to your organization profile. Use it to access License Vault from your JetBrains Account at any time.

  1. Log in to your JetBrains Account with organization administrator privileges.

  2. In the menu on the left, click on your organization’s name.

  3. Click Teams.

  4. Click on the team named License Vault Cloud (ServerName), where ServerName is the name you specified when setting up your License Vault.

    How to access License Vault from JetBrains Account
  5. In the menu on the left, click License Vault.

    The License Vault team in your organization profile

    This will take you to the License Vault settings page. It might look slightly different from the picture provided here, as the available settings vary depending on your usage plan.

    The License Vault settings page

Get your License Vault ready to meet your users

Configure your authentication modules

To obtain licenses from License Vault, users need to log in through an authentication provider.

The default JetBrains Account auth module works out of the box. Skip this step if you configured it when setting up your License Vault and intend to use it as the only auth module.

If you want to configure a different auth module used in your organization, confirm that it is on the list of supported auth modules and consult Configuring a new authentication module for setup instructions.

You can configure more than one module. If you do so, users will be able to select their preferred authentication provider when logging in.

Share the License Vault URL with your users

Your License Vault is now ready to issue licenses.

Copy the License Vault URL from the License Vault settings page and share it with your users. Refer them to User guide: Activating a license for instructions.

Internet connection requirements

An internet connection is required both to obtain a license from License Vault and to continue using it.

Users can work for up to 48 hours without an internet connection, as long as they don't restart the product. After 48 hours, they'll have to reconnect to the internet to continue using the product.

If they restart their product while disconnected, they'll immediately lose access to their license and won't be able to use the product until they reconnect to the internet.

Connecting to License Vault via a proxy

If JetBrains products in your organization are configured to use a proxy to connect to the internet, make sure that the URLs listed in Connecting to License Vault via a proxy are reachable through it.

Set up access rules and view usage statistics

When your users start obtaining licenses, you may choose to set up rules to restrict or provide access to licenses for certain users or groups. Refer to Access rules for instructions.

To learn about the real-time usage data and aggregated statistics License Vault provides, check out License usage statistics.

Migrate from License Server to License Vault

If you're using License Server (on-premises), you can switch to License Vault in two simple steps.

  1. Transfer your licenses from the License Server team to the License Vault team.

    Consult Transferring licenses between teams for instructions.

  2. Share the new License Vault URL and activation instructions with your users.

Still in doubt about whether you want to make the move to License Vault? Check out this page to learn about the benefits of License Vault compared to License Server.

Last modified: 02 February 2024