This topic explains some important properties and rules relating to keys.

Number of Keys Required per Product and Application

A key applies to a single product. Applications using several products will use several keys.

Key Expiry

Depending on the licensing contract, keys may have an expiry date. This is always the case for EVAL keys, which expire at the end of the trial period. Some keys may also include a maintenance termination date. Past this date you will not be able to upgrade to newer versions of ILOG products nor to use patches built after this date, although you will still be able to use the older versions. Provided you renew your maintenance contract before the maintenance termination date, you will be allocated new keys bearing new maintenance termination dates.

Keys Bound to Applications

NODE and SITE keys may or may not be bound to an application. If they are, the application name is declared in the key.

RUNTIME keys are always bound to an application and can only be used for the deployment of the declared application.

RUNTIME Keys

A RUNTIME key is necessary to deploy, that is, distribute, an application developed by means of a development key (either NODE or SITE). For every ILOG product used in your development, you must have an associated RUNTIME key. Furthermore, the RUNTIME key is necessarily bound to a given application name.