A SteelHead SaaS license is based on the number of users that are subscribed to the SaaS provider. In the case of All-SaaS licenses where there may be more than one SaaS provider being optimized by the SteelHead appliances, the licensed user count is based on the service with the highest number of subscribed users.

Unlike other add-on SteelHead licenses – for example, SCPS – the SteelHead SaaS license is organization wide, not per SteelHead appliance. You can register any number of SteelHead appliances in your organization with the SteelHead SaaS platform.

After you purchase a SteelHead SaaS license, you are provided with an account to the Riverbed Cloud Portal where you obtain a unique registration key that enables SteelHead appliances to register with the Riverbed Cloud Portal to activate the appliances’ SteelHead SaaS service and to start optimizing SaaS traffic. For details, see Registering and unregistering appliances on the portal.

The SteelHead SaaS license does not increase the optimization capacity of SteelHead appliances registered with the platform. In other words, connections optimized by the SteelHead SaaS service running on a SteelHead appliance count towards the optimized connection limit for that SteelHead appliance. These connections will also count towards the appliance’s outbound optimized throughput limit if there is one.

Before you activate SteelHead SaaS optimization on a SteelHead appliance, ensure that you account for the added connection and throughput usage in the same way you would when introducing any other additional application for optimization on the SteelHead appliance.