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.
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.
A common way of integrating LM-X with LAC is by uploading xmllicgen to LAC as a license generator. LAC is responsible for handling information about existing licenses, including license generation and delivery, whereas LM-X is capable of using a generated license. You can completely automate license generation and delivery using the LAC REST and SOAP APIs that let you use LAC on any machine. In addition, the LM-X web-based UI, which is integrated with LAC, lets you activate your license online by entering your activation key in the License Management sub-tab under the Administration tab, as shown below.
You can also activate your license manually, or partially automate your license activation as described in Different approaches to license activation.