In ColdFusion 8, 10, and 11 it was possible to make a snapshot of a server running ColdFusion Enterprise and restore that snapshot with the license key intact. Just copying the install directory from one server to another caused the second server to use the key from the previous one. We've been managing our backups/restores/VMs/test machines using this method for years.
In CF16, it doesn't work. On AWS, when I create an AMI from a running Enterprise edition then create a new instance from that AMI, the new instance is unlicensed. When I Compare the license file on two servers using the same key, the files are different. This was not the case in previous versions.
At the moment I think the only solutions are to script the whole installer then add our server configuration, or create an AMI from a configured server then write a script which logs in to CFadmin and submits the license key.
Is there a better way?
Based on the investigation task, it seems that Coldfusion Server links itself to the actual machine. You can't just replace the license file with a new different file. So the only way to use a license key (not the file) is to either manually modify the license file to insert the license key or you can automate it during EC2 server bootstrap - either through GAMI Scripts or using Cloudformation Templates.