Licensing

CoreSight is licensed per camera. The first 4 cameras are always free — no license file, no registration, no time limit. A license unlocks more camera seats.

How it works

A license is a signed file that grants a number of camera seats (e.g. 16 cameras) to one specific box, perpetually — seats are bought once, not subscribed to.
Licenses verify entirely offline. The box never phones home; an air-gapped installation works exactly like a connected one.
Enforcement happens only when adding a camera: once your active cameras reach the licensed limit (or 4 on the free tier), adding another is blocked with a clear message. Nothing already enrolled is ever disabled.

The License page and your Box ID

Open the License page to see your current tier, seat usage, and — the key piece — the Box ID: this installation's unique identity, with a copy button. Licenses are issued for a specific Box ID, so this is what you provide when purchasing.

The Box ID is minted when the box's database is first created. A full reinstall that recreates the database produces a new Box ID, and an existing license must be re-issued for it. Normal updates and upgrades never change the Box ID.

Obtaining a license

Open the License page on the box and copy the Box ID.
Go to the customer portal at app.coresightvms.com, purchase the camera seats you need, and register them to your Box ID. The portal issues a license.key file for that box.
Download the license file.

Installing the license

Place the file on the box at:

sudo cp license.key /etc/vms/secrets/license.key
sudo chown root:vms /etc/vms/secrets/license.key
sudo chmod 0600 /etc/vms/secrets/license.key

That's it — no restart needed. The license is re-read on every check, so it takes effect immediately; the License page reflects the new tier right away.

Moving seats to another box

A license is active on exactly one box. If you replace the hardware or move sites, get the new box's Box ID from its License page and have the license re-issued for it through the customer portal.

What happens when a license is invalid

CoreSight's licensing never locks you out:

Situation	Behavior
No license file	Free tier — 4 cameras.
License bound to a different box (`wrong box`)	Free tier, with a warning on the License page.
Corrupt / unreadable / invalid license	Free tier, with a warning.
More cameras enrolled than the license allows (after a downgrade)	Existing cameras are grandfathered and keep working; only adding new ones is blocked.

In every case the box keeps recording, playing back, and alarming. The worst case is always "you can't add camera number N+1", never "your site went dark".

Checking status

The License page shows tier, seats used vs. allowed, the customer the license was issued to, and a prominent warning if the license is invalid or bound to a different box — including the reason, so you know whether to fix the file or re-issue it.