Licensing — Overview
merchantCENTRAL uses a modular licensing model. Each connector is licensed individually and can operate in demo or production mode. This section explains everything you need to know about licensing as a customer.
Basic Concept
When you install merchantCENTRAL, the platform is initially not licensed. You have two options:
- Free 30-day demo — Register directly in Business Central via the Demo Registration Wizard. All installed modules are activated immediately.
- Production license — Your sales contact at ALTENBRAND Datentechnik will provide you with a License Key, which you enter in the License Setup.
Automatic Background Operation
After setup, the licensing system runs fully automatically:
- Every 24 hours, the license is validated against the server in the background — when opening the company in Business Central
- Daily heartbeat sends anonymized usage data to the license server
- No manual intervention required — you are only notified in case of issues (e.g., expiring demo)
No workflow is interrupted
The automatic validation and heartbeat run in the background. Even if the license server is temporarily unreachable, your work will not be blocked (→ Offline Tolerance).
In This Section
| Page | Description |
|---|---|
| License Setup | Enter License Key, check status, detect environment |
| Start Free Demo | Register a 30-day trial license (self-service) |
| License Overview | View all modules and their status |
| Privacy & Data Transfer | What data is sent to the license server? |
| Troubleshooting | Common problems and solutions |