SmartConnect 20.14.1.25 added a new registration process which requires a connection to the internet. The connection is made using port 80, and is only made one time when the product is registered.

In order to register SmartConnect, the machine where you are entering the registration keys needs access to the internet for approximately 2 minutes. You can do this in one of two ways.

1. If you only have SmartConnect installed on a server that doesn’t have internet access, you will need to enable internet access on that server while you enter your registration keys. The process uses port 80, so there should not be any need to open additional ports. You can disable internet access again once the product says it has successfully registered.
OR
2. If you have SmartConnect installed on a workstation that already has internet access, you can register the product from there. When you enter the registration keys on a SmartConnect client, it will connect to the registration service, verify the keys, and activate the product on the SQL server.