Licensing and Relay Seats
DartRelay is licensed by the Relay Seat. This page explains what a seat is, how seats are taken and given back, how to activate a licence, and how to see exactly which devices are holding seats at any moment.
What a Relay Seat is
Every licence carries a number of Relay Seats. The definition is short, and every part of it matters:
A Relay Seat is one device with a live session. One device may run as many applications and desktops as it likes, on as many hosts, for one seat.
- One device. Not one person and not one session. A laptop with four applications open on three different hosts holds one seat.
- A live session. Signing in to the portal costs nothing. The seat is taken by the first application or desktop that device opens, and given back when the last one on that device ends.
- Signed in. A device with no session holds nothing, whoever used it last.
What counts as a device
A device is a browser on a computer. The first time a browser opens the portal, DartRelay gives it a long-lived identifier in a cookie, and that identifier is what is counted. DartRelay does not guess at devices from network addresses, screen sizes or anything else, so a whole office behind one public address is never counted as one seat, and two people on identical laptops are never merged into one.
That rule has a few consequences worth knowing before your users ask:
| Situation | Seats | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One person, four applications on three hosts, one browser | 1 | One device, however much it runs. |
| Two people sharing one account on two computers | 2 | Two devices. This is the case the device rule exists for. |
| One person using Chrome and Edge on the same computer at the same time | 2 | Each browser has its own cookie, so each is a device. |
| One person closes Chrome, then opens the same application in Edge | 1 | The first browser gave its seat back when its last session ended. |
| A desk PC and a laptop, both with sessions open at once | 2 | Two screens, two devices. |
| A teacher moving between three classroom PCs, signing out of each | 1 at a time | Only devices with a live session hold a seat. |
| Someone clears their browser cookies and launches again | Unchanged total | The old identifier keeps its seat only while its session is still live. The device list gains a row; the count stays right. |
A cookie belongs to an address. If you run several tenants on completely different domain names, one browser that has sessions open on two of those addresses at once counts as two devices.
When a seat is given back
A seat is released the moment the device's last live session ends, by whatever route: the user closes the tab, signs out, an administrator ends the session, the host disconnects it, or a timeout closes it. You do not have to wait for a nightly clean-up.
- A launch that never connects (for example, the user presses an application and closes the tab before it appears) returns its seat within about two and a half minutes.
- A disconnected session still holds a Windows session on the host, so it keeps its seat until your configured disconnect grace closes it. See Session lifetimes and idle timeout.
- Idle sign-out ends the sessions of the idle device only, which is also what returns that device's seat. A laptop's applications are not closed because an old tab timed out on a desk PC.
What a licence carries
Your licence key carries three figures. They are set when the licence is issued; there is nothing to change in the console, because they describe what was bought.
| Figure | What it does | If the licence does not set it |
|---|---|---|
| Relay Seats | The number of devices licensed. | No seat limit. |
| Extra | A percentage allowed above the licensed seats, to absorb short peaks. Launches are refused only once the allowed number is reached. | 0% |
| Grace | The number of days DartRelay keeps launching after the licence can no longer be confirmed: after the expiry date passes, or (for an installation that shares another installation's licence) while it cannot reach the licence holder. | 3 days |
How Extra is worked out
The allowed number is the licensed seats plus the Extra percentage, rounded down to a whole device.
Example: a licence for 70 seats with 5% Extra allows 73 devices. The same licence with 10% Extra allows 77. A licence for 3 seats with 10% Extra allows 3, because 3.3 rounds down. When usage goes into the extra, the console says so (for example "73 allowed: 70 licensed + 3 extra") and the log records each admission into it, so a renewal conversation can be based on the real figures.
Activating your licence
An installation with no licence refuses all launches, including one whose licence has expired past its grace or been deactivated. Activate before you invite users.
When you install DartRelay, the installer asks how the server is licensed. For your first server, choose A new installation ("Activate with a product key"). The other two choices are covered on Running several servers (pools) and Sharing one licence between installations.
- Open the Activation page. In the console, go to System → Activation.
- Enter your product key. Paste the key you received and click Activate. The server needs to reach the activation service over the internet for this step.
- Check the result. The page shows the licence status, its expiry date (if it has one) and the Relay Seats card with the number of devices licensed and allowed.
Launches do not contact the activation service. DartRelay keeps the licence terms locally and refreshes them in the background, so a short internet outage does not stop anyone working.
Renewing
When your licence is renewed, open System → Activation. Opening the page checks for the new expiry date straight away, so the warning strip clears as soon as the renewal is visible. You do not need to activate again.
The licence strip
A coloured strip appears at the top of every console page when the licence needs attention. It cannot be dismissed; it goes away when the cause is fixed. Administrators who can open the Activation page see an Activation › link on it.
| What the strip says | When | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| The licence (or trial licence) expires in N days | From 10 days before the expiry date | Amber, then red for the last 3 days |
| The licence expired and is in its grace period, with the date launches stop | After the expiry date, until grace ends | Red |
| Running on the licence's grace period | An installation using another installation's licence that has not reached it for about 10 minutes | Amber, red on the last day |
| The activated server has not refreshed the licence since a date | A pool member, when the pool's activated server has been quiet for more than a day | Amber |
A perpetual licence never shows an expiry warning. During grace after expiry, the Activation page status reads Active — grace period with the date grace ends.
Grace keeps launches working; it is not extra time on the licence. When grace ends, new launches are refused and the console opens on the Activation page until the licence is renewed.
Seeing who holds a seat: System → Seats
The Seats page lists every device holding a seat, so a question such as "why are we full?" can be answered with evidence rather than guesswork.
The page is controlled by its own permission, Seats. Administrator roles without Full Access do not see it until you grant it in Administrator roles and permissions. Releasing a device needs full permission on the module.
The four figures at the top
| Card | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Devices in use | Devices holding a seat now. This is the same number a launch is refused on. |
| Devices licensed | The allowed number from your licence. If the licence cannot be read it shows Unknown rather than Unlimited. |
| Available | How many more devices can start a session. |
| Highest in 30 days | The peak number of devices at once in the last 30 days, and when it happened. |
The device list
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Device | A friendly name taken from the browser (for example "Chrome on Windows") and a short identifier. |
| Account(s) | The accounts that used this device. Several over a day is normal on a shared PC. |
| Live sessions | How many applications and desktops are open on it now. |
| First seen / Last active | When the device first appeared and when it was last used. |
| Address | The address the device connected from. Behind a load balancer this is the real client address, provided the load balancer is a trusted proxy (see Load balancer and ADC integration). |
| Tenant | Which tenant's allocation the device is counted against. |
| Server | Shown on a pool only: the DartRelay server running the sessions. |
| Release | Ends this device's sessions and returns its seat. |
Two flags help you spot unusual use. They are reports only and never change the count:
- Likely same computer: two devices with the same first account, address and operating system, which usually means two browsers on one PC.
- Several addresses at once: one device identifier live from more than one address at the same time, which suggests a copied cookie.
Use the filter to switch between holding a seat now (the default) and seen in the last 30 days. The CSV export always contains the full 30 days.
Releasing a device
- Open the page. Go to System → Seats.
- Find the device. Use the account and address columns to identify it.
- Click Release. The device's sessions end and its seat returns. The user sees their applications close, so tell them first if you can.
Seat limits per tenant
If you serve several customers from one installation, you can give each tenant its own seat allocation with Max Relay seats on its binding in Tenancy & Branding. A tenant seat is the same device rule counted per customer. Two limits then apply to every launch, and both must have room:
- the tenant's own allocation, and
- the licence for the whole installation.
You may allocate more tenant seats in total than the licence holds, because customers rarely peak together; the Tenancy & Branding list warns in amber when you do. A device using two tenants' addresses at once counts once against the licence but once against each tenant. The two refusals are worded differently so the right person is asked: a full tenant names only that tenant's numbers, while a full licence names the licence.
Worked example
A medical practice has a licence for 20 Relay Seats with 10% Extra, so 22 devices are allowed. Reception has six PCs that several staff share, signing in and out through the day: they never use more than six seats between them. Eight clinicians each use a desk PC and occasionally a tablet at the same time, which can reach sixteen. On a busy Monday the Seats page shows 21 devices in use and the console notes that one device is in the extra. The administrator sorts by account, sees three clinicians with both a desk PC and a tablet open, and has the information needed to decide whether to ask staff to close the tablet session or to discuss more seats at renewal.
If something goes wrong
Users are told no seats are available, but few people are working
Open System → Seats. Look for devices with old Last active times that are still holding seats (usually disconnected sessions waiting for their grace to close them) and for pairs flagged Likely same computer. Release any you are sure are abandoned. If disconnected sessions are the pattern, review the disconnect grace in Session lifetimes and idle timeout.
Nothing launches at all and the message mentions the licence
The installation has no valid licence: it has never been activated, or its licence and grace have ended, or it was deactivated. Open System → Activation and activate or renew.
The strip still warns after renewing
Open System → Activation. Visiting the page fetches the new expiry date immediately. If the strip remains, the server may not be able to reach the activation service; check its internet access.
A tenant is refused but the licence has room
That tenant has reached its own allocation. Raise Max Relay seats on its binding in Tenancy & Branding, or ask the tenant to close unused sessions.
Related pages
Sharing one licence
Let separate installations draw seats from one licence.
Running several servers
How seats and licensing work across a pool.
Session lifetimes
Timeouts and graces that decide when seats return.
Tenancy & Branding
Per-tenant addresses and seat limits.
Monitoring live sessions
See and end individual sessions.