Editions and licensing
Both editions are the same software: a license changes only the limits. 5,000 records/s covers homes and small and medium offices — a busy 1 Gbit/s…
| FlowSphera Community (free) | FlowSphera Pro (license for one server) | |
|---|---|---|
| Records per second | up to 5,000 (averaged over a minute, so bursts pass) | no limit, or per license |
| Data kept (flows and every total built from them) | 30 days, or fewer of your choice | per license, e.g. 90 days, or fewer of your choice |
| Term | — | subscription with an end date; afterwards the Community limits apply again |
| Every feature, now and in future versions | ✓ | ✓ |
Both editions are the same software: a license changes only the limits. 5,000 records/s covers homes and small and medium offices — a busy 1 Gbit/s internet edge typically exports a few thousand. Above the limit, records are not stored but counted: Settings → License and an event show how many. Every flow record is kept for the days of the edition it was received under, and that is never shortened: when a license ends, new records are kept 30 days, records received under the license keep their days but only the last 30 days are shown — older records show again with the next license. A new license keeps the stored records as long as its own term (records are raised, never lowered), and while it is active everything stored is shown.
Fewer days on a small disk (2.1.0). Settings → General → Data retention: an administrator keeps flow details for any number of days from 1 up to the edition's (never more). New records get that many days; stored ones are shortened to it and whole older days are deleted within a minute, so the disk is freed at once — confirmed with the administrator's password, because it cannot be undone. The panel shows the size now, about a day and the estimate for the choice. An ended license still deletes nothing: a choice above the new limit keeps the edition's days and applies again with the next license. Long-period pages (Capacity, Usage, the learning of Events) see only what is kept.
Activation takes a minute. After the purchase you receive a license key (FTK-…). Activate it on the server
where FlowSphera runs, in any of three ways:
- Settings → License (administrators): paste the key and press Activate;
- on the server:
sudo flowsphera license activate FTK-…; - while installing or upgrading:
… install.sh | sudo bash -s -- --license FTK-….
FlowSphera fetches the license from the FlowSphera license server and the new limits apply at once. The license is
bound to that server: it holds there and nowhere else, so a copied disk or a shared key does not work on another
machine. Once a day FlowSphera confirms the license with the license server and picks up a renewal by itself — nothing
to re-enter when you extend the subscription (Check for renewal in Settings → License, or
sudo flowsphera license renew, asks at once). If the server cannot be reached for a while, the license keeps working;
only after 30 days without a confirmation do the Community limits apply until it is reached again.
What leaves your server: the key or license, the server's Instance ID and salted hashes of its hardware — no flow data, no addresses, nothing about your network.
Moving to another server: Deactivate in Settings → License (or sudo flowsphera license deactivate) frees the
key; then activate the same key on the new server. Settings → License (and the badge under the logo) warns 30 days
before a license ends and an event two weeks before.