Setup QLS license server for Squish (On Premise Online)

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General

With Squish 9.2.0 support for a new license server developed in-house in the Qt company was added to Squish.

This guide is written for QLS version 3.6.3.

The On Premise Online mode is the default mode for newly acquired Squish licenses going forward.

In this setup the license server installed locally works as a proxy for the license server hosted by the Qt company. This requires an internet connection to the license server hosted by the Qt company at qls.qt.io to register the licenses. The local license server checks back with the QLS on the cloud every seven days and can be configured to email admins about a verification being required, so a stable internet connection is not needed all the time.

After this high level overview we will now explain the exact steps for the setup.

Install the license server

  1. Download the Qt License server from your Qt Account. Only the License Manager and Deputy License Managers can download the license server. If you do not have the correct permissions, please reach out to the License Manager in your company.

  2. Go to "Software Quality > Qt License Server" in your Qt Account and download the Qt License Server on premise installer for your operating system.

  3. Run the installer and follow the flow until the installation is finished. On Linux run the Installer in User space and not as root.

Configure the license server

To configure the license server go to the install location on your system, see the current defaults below:

Linux  : /opt/QtLicenseServer-*.*.*/LicenseManagementTools/QtLicenseServer/*.*.*/QtLicenseServer/Linux_*
Windows: C:\Program Files\QtLicenseServer-*.*.*\LicenseManagementTools\QtLicenseServer\*.*.*\QtLicenseServer\Windows10_x86_64

Depending on the system running the license server you need to look for different files:

Linux   : qt-license-server.service
Windows : qt-service.xml
  1. Configure the QLS_PORT key to the port you want the QLS to respond to clients on. You will need to know this port for Squish setups later on, to tell Squish which port the QLS is responding on.
  1. The SSL support in the license server can be configured via the QLS_ENABLE_SSL key. Set this to "no" if you do not have an SSL cert from your IT that could be used for the machine hosting the license server.

If the cert is obtained from a real CA authority then you only need to place the cert on the license server machine in the install location. If you have a self-signed certificate you will need to distribute it to all client machines.

  1. The key QLS_OPERATION_MODE key needs to be set to the value online.

Setup QLS service

Install the service

After you have configured the license server, we recommend to install the license server as a system service. For this to go the install directory of the license server and open a shell or terminal there.

On Linux you run the install.sh script with root permissions. On Windows you run the qt-service.exe in a terminal with elevated permissions with the command 'qt-service.exe install' (no quotes).

Starting the service

On Windows you need to launch the service yourself with this command

sc start qtlicserver

from a terminal with elevated permissions.

On Linux the install.sh script launches the service automatically, the status can be queries by using

systemctl status qt-license-server.service

Registering the licenses

You still need to register the licenses in the QLS that you actually want to use.

  1. Go to the license server install directory of the license server and open a shell or terminal.

  2. Run the qt-license-server binary with the following command, replace QLS_PORT with your chosen Port; if you use SSL encryption change the http prefix to https :

    qt-license-server register -u http://localhost:QLS_PORT

  3. The registration will prompt you for a Qt Account (email and password) that is used for the registration. This account must have active licenses and must be the license manager, admin or deputy license manager.

  4. Once you have done this, verify the registration with the status command :

    qt-license-server status -u http://localhost:QLS_PORT

If everything was performed correctly you will see an output similar to the one below in your terminal

License: xxxxxxxx-E | Name: | Seat amount: 1 | In use: 0 | Free: 1 | Usage rate: 0.00%
License: xxxxxxxx-T | Name: | Seat amount: 10 | In use: 0 | Free: 10 | Usage rate: 0.00%

With this the setup is complete.

Verification of connection with client

A simple way to verify if you can connect to the QLS from another machine is to use curl

curl QLS_URL:QLS_PORT/api/v2/ping

Replace QLS_URL and QLS_PORT as appropriate for your setup.

If the command is correct you will get a Json response similar to the output below

{"message":"Pong","version":"3.6.3","SHA":"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX","build_date":"2026-06-09"}

Usage of older Squish versions

Install Bridge Floating License Server

For Squish versions 9.1.0 and earlier you need to use a bridge floating-license server to connect to the QLS. This is an addition to the QLS Setup described above and can not be used alone.

  1. Download the latest Squish Floating License Server version from the Qt Account portal under 'Downloads > Archived Versions'

  2. Run the installer and finish the installation with default paths.

  3. Use the configuration file you can get from here fls_bridge_license.cfg . The Port in this configuration can be changed as needed.

  1. Place the license file in the respective folder for the Floating license server

  2. Launch the FLS service or restart if it was running so that the correct license is picked up.

Install the qtlicd Service

Because the bridge will be running as a system service, you need to install the license daemon as a system service as well.

  1. Download the Qt License Service installer from your Qt Account from the same location where you got the license server.

  2. Run the installer and finish the installation. Ignore the url, this will be configured later.

  3. With the installation completed find the Install Folder, see the defaults below.

    Windows : C:\LicenseService-3.6.3
Linux   : $HOME/LicenseService-3.6.3

  4. Install the service by running the command below.

    Windows: qtlicd --install
Linux  : sudo ./installer.sh

  5. Reboot your system, the service is launched on restart.

  6. After the reboot go to the qtlicd install folder and run the command below

    qtlicensetool.exe --accept-terms-and-conditions

  7. In the qtlicd.ini set the server_addr value to the URL of your QLS (example http://localhost:QLS_PORT). See the locations below as to where to find the qtlicd.ini file

    Windows: C:\Program Files\qtlicd
Linux  : /opt/qtlicd

With this the setup is complete