You are attempting to add a license in SQL Monitor and see the error "A connection error has occurred. There was a problem connecting to the Red Gate activation server" and a message that you need to Activate Manually. You can see this error a) if SQL Monitor does not have an Internet connection, or b) you are activating a license by entering the serial key and SQL Monitor has encountered some other problem and needs extra details that the manual activation process provides.

SQL Monitor server has no internet connection

If SQL Monitor has no connection to the Redgate license activation server, you see will see the following error message when you try to allocate your license on the Configuration > Licensing page.

"A connection error has occurred
There was a problem connecting to the Red Gate activation server:
The remote server returned an error: status code (470).
To activate using the redgate website click Active Manually"

You will need to perform all steps of the manual (offline) activation process as described below.

Problem encountered with serial key activation

If you are activating a license by serial key and there was a problem with the key you tried to add, you may see a similar message but with "400 (bad request)":

"A connection error has occurred
There was a problem connecting to the Red Gate activation server:
The remote server returned an error: (400) Bad Request.
To activate using the redgate website click Active Manually"

You will only encounter this error if using the legacy serial key license activation process. Run steps 1 - 4 of the process outlined below to reveal full details of the problem.

NOTE: If you are on v11.2.3 or later of SQL Monitor, or can upgrade, you should register new licenses on red-gate.com, and switch existing serial-activated licenses to redgate.com licenses. See How to allocate your SQL Monitor licenses (versions 11.2.3 and later) 

Manual (offline) activation process

1. In SQL Monitor, click Activate manually. The Manual activation page is shown.
2. Copy all of the Activation request and leave this dialog box open (if you close it you may have to start again).
3. On a computer with an internet connection, go to http://www.red-gate.com/activate and under Step 1, paste the activation request into the box.
4. Click Get Activation Response.
   • For the 400 (Bad request) error the activation response will reveal the cause of the problem. A common error you might see here is "Failed to activate license…all entitlements claimed"
   • For the Status code (470) error, continue to step 5.
5. Copy the activation response. Alternatively, you can save the activation response to a .txt file.
6. Back on the computer where you're activating your SQL Monitor license, paste the activation response.
7. Click Finish. The Activation successful page is shown, and you can now continue to use your tool.