Trial experience for Transformation Advisor
When you install and use the product without supplying a license key or Access Key, it operates in trial experience mode.
This page explains what the trial experience is, what happens during and after the trial period, and how to move from the trial experience to a permanently licensed or fully activated state.
What to expect during the trial experience
Trial experience allows you to evaluate the product without specifying a license key. It is useful for product evaluation or short-term testing.
During the trial experience:
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The product runs with full functionality and no feature restrictions.
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You do not need to configure anything to enable the trial experience. It is activated automatically when a license key is not found.
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A message or banner appears in the user interface or logs to indicate that the product is running in trial mode.
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The trial experience is time-limited. The exact duration of the trial experience depends on the product.
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No formal registration or entitlement is required to begin the trial experience.
After the trial experience expires:
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Access to the product is disabled or limited.
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Attempts to start or use the product fail until a valid license key is applied.
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A warning or error message indicates that the license has expired or is missing.
Moving to a permanent license
To continue using the product beyond the trial experience period, you must acquire and apply a permanent license key.
Obtain a valid license key
In order to continue using Transformation Advisor beyond 90 days, you must have entitlement to at least one of the following products:
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IBM WebSphere Hybrid Edition
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IBM Cloud Pak for Applications
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IBM Cloud Pak for Integration
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IBM WebSphere Application Server for z/OS
You should request authorization from your Site Primary Contact or Secondary Contact to access your Passport Advantage Online (PAO) Site (or ask them to download the license key for you).
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Go to Passport Advantage Online for Customers to learn how to request access to PAO.
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Sign in to your Passport Advantage Site and search for one of the products you have entitlement to (listed above).
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Display the listing of eAssemblies for the product.
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Download the license key which has the part number
M0RT9ML. -
Further detail on how to download from Passport Advantage is available here.
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If you do not have access to Passport Advantage Online or your entitled product is IBM WebSphere Application Server for z/OS please contact your IBM Sales representative or submit your contact details here to contact IBM and we will be in touch.
Apply the license key
After you have downloaded the license key file from Passport Advantage, you can apply the key via the user interface:
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Save the license key file to your local computer (it should have a
.licfile extension). -
In the user interface, click on the trial countdown (for example, "90 trial days left") in the top-right corner.
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In the pop-up window, click Upload license key.
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Select the
.licfile from your local machine and upload it.
There is no need to restart the application, the change is applied automatically.
Confirm license status
After the license key has been applied:
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Verify that the product is no longer in trial experience.
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Check the user interface or logs to confirm that the permanent license has been accepted.
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If the product still displays trial warnings or fails to start, revalidate the license file or contact IBM support for assistance.
Moving from Trial Access Key to PoC or Full Access
In addition to the license key-based trial, Transformation Advisor also provides a Trial Access Key. When you install the product, a Trial Access Key is automatically applied, giving you 90 days to evaluate the product. Unlike the license key trial, the Trial Access Key provides limited capabilities — you can scan applications and view recommendations and modernization issues, but access to detailed modernization help, artefact downloads, automation features, and estate-wide reporting is restricted.
To unlock full capabilities, you must upgrade to a PoC Access Key or a Full Access Key.
Moving to a PoC Access Key
The PoC Access Key provides full capabilities for a limited number of applications (usually 3). To obtain a PoC Access Key:
- Contact your IBM representative and request a PoC Access Key.
- Provide your instance UUID. To locate your UUID:
- Click on the Access Key information in the product header to open the Access Key panel.
- Locate the UUID field in the panel and click the copy icon to copy it to your clipboard.
- Your IBM representative will generate a PoC Access Key specific to your instance and provide you with a
.keyfile. - Apply the key via the Access Key panel in the product header. For instructions, see Access Keys.
Moving to a Full Access Key
The Full Access Key provides unrestricted access to all product capabilities across your entire application estate. To obtain a Full Access Key:
- Ensure you have entitlement to at least one of the following products:
- IBM Enterprise Application Runtimes
- IBM Modernized Runtime Extension for Java
- Sign in to IBM Passport Advantage and download the Full Access Key file.
- Apply the key via the Access Key panel in the product header. For instructions, see Access Keys.
Summary
The trial experience provides you with an easy way to evaluate the product, but it is strictly time-bound. You can use the trial experience to validate your setup, but ensure that you transition to a licensed configuration or upgrade your Access Key before the trial experience ends to avoid downtime.
If you need help with obtaining or applying a license, follow the instructions above or contact IBM support.