License activation is necessary when you distribute an application that will be locked to a particular end user's machine, or when the expiration date depends on the activation date. Otherwise, license activation is not usually necessary.
Fully automating license activation
We highly recommend using LM-X together with License Activation Center (LAC) for the ultimate solution to license activation, particularly for managing greater numbers of activations. LAC provides an efficient license activation solution that lets you quickly and easily generate licenses and activation keys for end users. LAC gives end users a means to activate their own licenses, without your intervention.
LM-X with LAC
By teaming LM-X with LAC you get an end-to-end software licensing solution. LAC is a cloud-based license management/activation "platform" that offers centralized license management – you can use the Administrative area to define your products, create license orders and send activation keys to your end users. Your customers can then use LAC to generate and download their licenses at the time most convenient for them. LAC natively supports LM-X License Manager, but can be also used with 3rd-party licensing systems.
How LAC works
LAC provides a web-based SOAP API that can be used across many programming languages and streamlines communication between LAC and other applications. The SOAP APIs are separated into the Vendor API and End-user API. The former is used for the administration of licenses, including managing customers or license orders, whereas the latter is used to enable end users to activate licenses by means of an activation key and, if relevant, HostID parameters. The End-user API is sufficient to activate a license.
Thanks to LAC you can completely automate license creation and activation, and minimize the support required to administrate the license fulfillment process.
You can also activate your license manually, or partially automate your license activation as described in Different approaches to license activation.