OpenText Data Protector licensing is governed by the Additional License Authorizations (ALA) for Data Protection software products, version 5200-1998 dated 2026-06-16, which replaced version 5200-1973 of 2025-05-01.[1] The ALA sets out the License Options for Data Protector, Data Protector for Cloud Workloads, Backup Navigator, PlateSpin Migrate, Virtual Machine Explorer and related products, and forms part of the applicable agreement, which it names as the Micro Focus End User License Agreement, a master agreement or a Quotation.[1] OpenText lists the current ALAs on its software licensing page.[3] The OpenText contract framework is covered in OpenText licensing.
Editions
Data Protector is licensed “by capacity”, “by CPU socket” or “by feature”, and “These licensing models may not be combined within a single Data Protector Cell Manager.”[1] Catalog: Data Protector: capacity, CPU socket and feature-based models cannot be combined in one Cell Manager.
| Offering | Model | Catalog |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity Based Licensing (CBL), Adaptive Backup and Recovery (ABR) | Capacity, TB of front-end data | None (earlier names) |
| Data Protector Premium | Capacity | Data Protector Premium |
| Data Protector Enterprise Suite | Capacity | Data Protector Enterprise Suite |
| Data Protector Express | CPU sockets on hypervisor hosts | Data Protector Express |
| Data Protector Single Server Edition | Feature-based base licence | Data Protector Single Server Edition |
| Data Protector Starter Pack | Feature-based base licence | Data Protector Starter Pack |
| Virtual Machine Explorer Professional / Enterprise Edition Starter Pack | CPU sockets, 4 or 6 included | Virtual Machine Explorer Professional Edition Starter Pack, Virtual Machine Explorer Enterprise Edition Starter Pack |
OpenText publishes no prices for these offerings. The ALA notes that capacity licensing has been known successively as CBL, ABR, DP Premium and “most recently, Enterprise Suite”. The four differ in included features: all include Cell Managers, tape, on-line backup and granular recovery extensions, Zero Downtime Backup and Instant Recovery, and Advanced Backup to Disk and NDMP; Premium and Enterprise Suite add the SCOM Management Pack and the advanced Reporting Server; the feature table marks a Backup Navigator capacity licence for Adaptive Backup and Recovery only, and access to all Data Protector for Cloud Workloads features (through an optional add-on licence) for Enterprise Suite only.[1] Starting with Data Protector 10.10, encryption is part of the capacity licence.[1]
Data Protector Express includes Cell Managers and Manager-of-Managers, tape drives and libraries, on-line backup for VMware and Hyper-V, granular recovery for VMware, Zero Downtime Backup, the Encryption Extension and a basic Reporting Server.[1]
Metrics
- Front End Capacity (TB). “the size of the primary data that is being protected for client applications, virtual machines, and systems by Data Protector”. A TB is 1024 GB.[1]
- CPU Socket. A physical connector between a microprocessor and a circuit board on a physical server; Express and VM Explorer count used sockets on hypervisor hosts.[1]
- Feature-based units. Drives, library Slots, systems with on-line backup, TB of used disk for Zero Downtime Backup, Instant Recovery, NDMP and Advanced Backup to Disk, and clients with encryption.[1]
- Data Protector for Cloud Workloads. Per TB of front-end data backed up.[1]
- PlateSpin Migrate. Server Workload License and Project Server Workload License; the latter expires once the workload is moved, or two years after purchase, whichever is earlier.[1]
Counting / floors
Capacity
From Data Protector 2018.11 (10.20), Backup Sets may not together exceed the licensed TB. Backup Sets whose components are all older than 90 days do not count; if incrementals were taken in the past 90 days, the most recent full backup counts even when it is older.[1] Catalog: Data Protector capacity: Backup Sets older than 90 days do not count; only full or synthetic full backups are counted.
For every release, data from the same source system is not double counted, only full backups count in full/incremental/differential schemes, a synthetic full counts under incremental forever, and a volume backed up in chunks must be covered for the sum of the chunks. Copies made by Object Copy or Automated Replication Synchronization are not counted.[1] Before 10.20, the measure was the largest full backup per client in the Cell Manager database.[1]
Feature-based (traditional)
A Single Server Edition or a Starter Pack is required. The Starter Pack “is obligatory” under this model because it holds the initial Cell Manager licence; it includes unlimited backup clients, one Drive and libraries of up to 60 Slots.[1] A clustered Cell Manager sharing one virtual IP needs one Starter Pack, while in a virtual machine environment each Cell Manager installation, identified by its IP address, needs its own.[1] Catalog: Data Protector Starter Pack: one per Cell Manager; one per clustered Cell Manager sharing a virtual IP; one per virtual Cell Manager installation.
Drive licences are needed for as many Drives as are in use at any time, which “is typically the total number of configured Drives”, and cannot be shared between Cells. Library Extensions are licensed per library by physical Slots (61 to 250, or unlimited above 250), not logical Slots.[1] Advanced Backup to Disk is licensed per TB of backup disk used; for deduplicating targets the measure is the data stored after deduplication and compression.[1]
The Encryption Extension is required for each client with encryption configured; tape drive encryption needs no licence.[1]
Virtualization & partitioning
On-line Backup is licensed per system, not per database. Each partition (LPAR, nPar, vPar) and each cluster node needs a licence, as does each Oracle RAC node with an Application Agent and each node with a configured Oracle Data Guard standby.[1] Catalog: Data Protector On-line Backup: one licence per system, per partition, per cluster node, and per ESX(i) or Hyper-V host actively backed up.
| Environment | On-line Backup licence required (ALA 5200-1998) |
|---|---|
| VMware VADP backup | One per ESX(i) server actively used for backup or recovery, regardless of Cell Managers |
| Microsoft Hyper-V | One per Hyper-V server actively backed up |
| Application or database inside a VM | One per virtual machine |
| Microsoft SharePoint | One per physical system holding persistent data |
Source: Data Protection ALA, On-line Backup licensing in Virtual Environments.[1] From DP 2019.12 (10.60), only systems actively involved in backup or recovery are counted; earlier versions counted every installed integration, even idle ones.[1]
Granular Recovery Extension for VMware is licensed per ESX server hosting the virtual machines whose files are recovered. Virtual Machine Explorer is licensed by CPU sockets on hypervisor hosts, with a Professional (4 sockets) or Enterprise (6 sockets) Starter Pack mandatory and further sockets added on top.[1]
Cloud / BYOL
Cloud object storage targets such as AWS S3 and Azure Blob count as Backup to Disk devices for the Advanced Backup to Disk licence.[1] Data Protector for Cloud Workloads is licensed per TB of front-end data.[1] Unless stated otherwise, the ALA authorizes use of one Device at a time for internal use; it publishes no hyperscaler BYOL terms.[1]
Programs
- Non-production. All products in the ALA are Class 3 except PlateSpin Migrate, which is Class 2 for perpetual licences and Class 3 for subscription licences.[1] Class 3 products receive no no-charge non-production licences under the Non-Production Licensing Guide.[2] See Non-Production Licensing (Classes 1-4).
- Cyber Assurance Add-on. A per Server Instance subscription to install the DP Scan Agent on one Scan Host, with the antivirus Scan Engine licensed separately.[1]
- Embedded OpenText Intelligence. Limited to data produced by Data Protector and Data Protector for Cloud Workloads, to licensed users, and to one program instance per licensed Cell Manager or DP4CW instance.[1]
Out of scope
- Prices and part numbers, which OpenText does not publish.
- Backup Navigator and Data Protector Management Pack terms beyond their inclusion in capacity licences.
- Earlier ALA versions, including 5200-1973 (2025-05-01).
- SaaS backup offerings governed by OpenText Service Descriptions.