Seat Activation

Owned by David Russo
Last updated: Aug 16, 2023 by Jessica Tomkins
1 min read



When an instance is started, and an authorization code is present, the instance will automatically attempt to contact the licensing server to request a seat. A number of attempts will be made before the process gives up on the activation.

Messages will be written to stdout (standard output) and stderr (standard error) to show progress and to report errors. For example, messages like this will appear at stdout for a successful activation:

Activating floating license seat (attempt 1 of 3)... Activating floating license seat complete.

If seat activation fails, messages like this will appear at stdout and stderr:

Activating floating license seat (attempt 1 of 3)... Activating floating license seat (attempt 2 of 3)... Activating floating license seat (attempt 3 of 3)... Activating floating license seat failed; No seats are available.

After a failed activation, the instance will still start up, but licensed features will be unavailable.

Attaching User-Defined Data to a Seat Activation


It’s possible to attach custom user-defined data to a seat activation. This can be used to give a meaningful description to a seat, or for troubleshooting purposes.

To attach user-defined data to a seat activation, set the environment variable PJS_FLOATING_USER_DATA when starting the Profound.js / Profound API instance. Any value can be attached, up to a maximum of 50 characters. The value will be displayed in the listing output of the command line interface. It has no other purpose.