[jssmith]

Somebody isn't keeping an eye on the calendar... licenses need to be tracked and renewed, just like domain registrations and SSL certificates, otherwise things break.

Unfortunately, I've seen this before, more than once. I've come to believe that a high-availability product should keep the places where human error can creep in to an absolute minimum. That means no artificial breaking points.

Ask vendors whether their products are susceptible to this failure mode and factor the answer into your purchasing decisions. Also recognize that if they want to they can give you a perpetual license file even if business terms mandate renewal.