LoadRunner requires license to function. The license entitles to (1) the protocol the user is permitted to run, (2) the number of Vusers (or concurrent users it can generate) and (3) the type of monitors available to the user. After LR8.1 FP3 (standing version of this writing is LR9.0), the license model have changed from individual or group protocols to Bundle Licenses. In a Bundled License, the protocols of the same genre are grouped together (e.g. Web (HTTP/HTML), FTP, Winsock are grouped together into Web & Multimedia Bundle). This (in my opinion) provides a neater way to manage the licenses. Also, the all monitors are made available as “All Monitors” with exceptions to the diagnostics modules (e.g. J2EE, .NET, SAP, etc.).

It seemed that all is good with LR8.1 FP3. However, with the grouping feature of the protocols, and all monitors being available, there are no free meals, the costing have also increased.

Once you’ve upgraded to LR8.1 FP3 from a previous version, and you would like to uninstall FP3, there are no methods to rollback the upgrade other than uninstalling LR again and upgrade to the Feature Pack that you desired (e.g. FP2).

The license effectively constraints the Controller in the type of Vusers to run, the number of Vusers to run and the type of monitors entitled. As such, you can still install Vugen and Analysis to perform recording/replaying and analysis of the graphs without worrying about the license restrictions.

The license is usually bounded by a Host-ID (with exception on dongle based license) which generates the License Key for the machine. Take note that if you change system values like System Date, this will create a security violation to the license causing it to fail when you startup Controller. If such things arises, don’t do anything else, it’s not going to work; just contact Mercury/HP for an unlocking license to save you the troubleshooting time.

The Host-ID changes every time, however be assure that the license generated remains the same. This as described in Document ID 30252 is because the Host-ID is based on an algorithm to calculate the value out based on system values. That is the reason, changes such as the System Date may cause the Host-ID to be inconsistent with the License Key.

There are a couple of KBs in the support website that provides useful information on licenses. I’ve listed them down for your reference. Take note that you have to be a valid user of the support website in order to access the articles:

Document ID 3422 - How to determine the number of Vuser licenses
Document ID 9120 - Error: “You do not have a license for this Vuser type”
Document ID 10260 - How to get a LoadRunner license key
Document ID 10749 - How to generate a hostID without installing first
Document ID 11369 - How to enter a new license key for LoadRunner
Document ID 36169 - Error: “Loadrunner security Violation. Please reset the System Date”
Document ID 39992 - Where is the license key saved after it has been applied during LoadRunner installation