From v8 onwards, you must install the package that matches your license e.g., if you have a license for NoMachine Workstation, the software you install must be a NoMachine Workstation package.

It is not possible to use your subscription license file to activate a NoMachine Free Edition installation.

Similarly, it is not possible to use your subscription license in a product of a different name. In this case, the server reports for example:

NX> 630 ERROR: The installed server type CS is not suitable for the subscription type EDSS.
NX> 630 ERROR: Please uninstall the server and install the appropriate product or
NX> 630 ERROR: contact NoMachine to acquire a different subscription.
 

Note that up to version 8.9, installing the license reports a more general error:  'The subscription is not suitable for this server version'.

To solve it, uninstall the current package, install the package that fits your license and install the license.

Updating Workstation or Small Business Server installations from v7 to v8 is an out-of-the-box process. There are some exceptions which require a new license and these are detailed here: https://kb.nomachine.com/AR12S01147

What you should do is:

1) Verify that the installed server software matches the license you own. If not, uninstall it and install the appropriate package.

To check which NoMachine RPM package is installed:

rpm -qa | grep nomachine

To check which NoMachine DEB package is installed:

dpkg -l | grep nomachine

2) Upgrade server installation v7 to v8

Installing version 8 from scratch will be necessary if you're using two v7 servers in failover cluster or if you want to adopt any of the new cloud server products (see https://kb.nomachine.com/AR12S01147). In those cases obtaining a new v8 license key is also required. Please contact sales to request new licenses.

For all other products in the Enterprise suite, you can continue to use your license v7 in a v8 installation, just be sure to have the appropriate package installed. To make it easier to find which server package to install, you can download it from your Customer Area (https://www.nomachine.com/customer-details) where only that server type matching your license is listed.

Some related articles:

How to upgrade from Enterprise Terminal Server v7 with failover cluster to Enterprise Terminal Server Cluster v8
https://kb.nomachine.com/AR11T01180

How to migrate NoMachine 7 configurations to a new machine
https://kb.nomachine.com/AR02T01153