License Server Help

Automatic server discovery

To make the license activation process easier for your users, you can set up the automatic server discovery. This way, users won't have to manually copy and paste the FLS URL into the License Activation dialog.

Set up automatic server discovery

You can choose any of the following methods to set up automatic discovery:

DNS TXT record

Add a DNS TXT record with the name _jetbrains-license-server to the DNS zone (domain) that the users' machines belong to (for example, company.com).

For the record's text, provide url=<your-fls-url>.

Record example

Let's say your machines belong to the company.com DNS zone, and your FLS URL is http://fls.company.com:8080.

In this case, you'll need to add the following record to the company.com zone:

_jetbrains-license-server.company.com

with this text:

url=http://fls.company.com:8080

How to verify your record

To make sure that your record works, run the following command on a user's machine:

dig _jetbrains-license-server.<your-dns-zone> TXT
dig _jetbrains-license-server.<your-dns-zone> TXT
nslookup -type=TXT _jetbrains-license-server.<your-dns-zone>

If everything is working correctly, the response will look like this:

_jetbrains-license-server.<your-dns-zone>. 3600 IN TXT "url=<your-fls-url>"

Environment variable

Add the JETBRAINS_LICENSE_SERVER environment variable to the local profile on the users' machines. For its value, provide the FLS URL.

JVM option

For JetBrains products that can be configured using JVM options, you can use the -DJETBRAINS_LICENSE_SERVER option. For its value, provide the FLS URL.

To check if your product supports JVM options and how to specify them, refer to your product's documentation. For example, here are the instructions for IntelliJ IDEA.

Check your configuration

To make sure that your configuration works correctly, follow these steps:

  1. Open a JetBrains product and go to the License Activation dialog.

  2. In the Get license from section, select License server.

  3. Click Discover Server. If your configuration is correct, the FLS URL will appear in the Server address field.

License Activation dialog for IntelliJ IDEA
Last modified: 25 August 2023