Network Licensing

Network licensing allows the licence administrator to maintain a central store of licences that can be used by users on the network concurrently up to a defined limit.

In previous versions of SIS the physical dongle controlled the number of licences available.

From SIS 7.1 onwards, a Network Licence Server is used to manage and control access to the licences. This software can be installed on any suitable server or PC. You will need a licence file and a hardware lock (usually a dongle) to install and run the Network Licence Server, which is licenced in the same way as a standalone desktop product.

For network licensing, the licence file supplied by Cadcorp needs to be added to the licence service using WLMADMIN, see Adding Licences to a Network Server.

Network Licensing now primarily uses a dongle as the hardware lock. This must be present on the standalone machine for the licence to run. There are circumstances under which the user will be issued with a licence file that is not locked to a dongle:

• A time limited licence. This will run for a defined number of days from installation. It has an overall expiry date after which it will not run at all. This type of licence is usually issued for evaluations.

• A dongle free licence. The licence file is locked to a feature of the hardware. Both the licence file and defined hardware must be present on the machine; if one is not present, the licence will not run. This means that a dongle free licence will only run on the machine for which it has been created. If the hardware feature to which the licence file is locked is removed or altered, the licence file will not work. Currently the locking criteria are the MAC address AND the IP address, both these MUST be static for a network dongle free licence installation.

Installation of the Network Licence Server

1. Select a suitable machine. This should be accessible to all machines which require network licensing.
   
   
2. If you are using a dongle then install the latest Sentinel SuperPro drivers, otherwise continue to step 4. These drivers can be found on the SIS installation DVD:
   
   Sentinel Drivers\Sentinel System Driver\Sentinel Protection Installer or they can be downloaded from:
   
   https://sentinel.gemalto.com/support-downloads/sentinel-drivers/
   
   Select the latest version of the ‘Sentinel Protection Installer’.
   
   
3. The installation of the SuperPro drivers will have created a folder called:
   
   C:\Program Files (x86)\SafeNet Sentinel.
   
   
4. Browse on the installation DVD to:
   
   \Licensing\Cadcorp Tools\Network Licence Server
   
   and copy this entire folder to:
   
   C:\Program Files(x86)\SafeNet Sentinel\Network Licence Server.
   
   
5. Open this folder and locate the loadls.exe. Double click on this.
   
   
6. Use the Add button on the form that appears to initiate the service.
   
   
7. As the service is started, you should check that any anti-virus software or firewalls are not preventing the service from broadcasting. The Network Licence Server is now running, but will not be broadcasting any licences.
   
   
8. Use WLMADMIN to add the licences to licence service, see Adding Licences to a Network Server.
   

Installation of the Network Clients

Clients that wish to use the Network Licence Server will need to use the Network Installation option to install the correct version of SIS. In this installation, you will need to specify:

Server name (or IP address) – Enter the machine name or IP address of the server on which the network licence is installed.

Server port – Enter the port number on which this client will communicate with the network licence server. The default port number is 5093.

Important Note: The Gemalto Tools are hardcoded to port 5093. If this port is changed you will not be able to use the Gemalto Tools.

Server timeout (in seconds) – Enter the required time-out interval for all direct application/licence server communication. The default time-out value is 30 seconds.

Setting these options during the Network Installation will configure the shortcut for starting the SIS product. The shortcut can also be set manually. An example is shown below where Map Modeller will use the Network Licence Server installed on the server with an IP Address of 10.0.0.240:

"C:\Program Files\Cadcorp SIS\Cadcorp.SIS.Loader.exe" Cadcorp.SIS.exe --Product:MapModeller --SentinelRMSServerList:10.0.0.240

The machine name or IP Address can be used, as shown below:

"C:\Program Files\Cadcorp SIS\Cadcorp.SIS.Loader.exe" Cadcorp.SIS.exe --Product:MapModeller --SentinelRMSServerList:licenceserver3

There are a number of enhancements to the management of network licences made in recent versions of SIS. These include:

Commuter Licensing

This is also known as ‘checking out’ a licence and allows the user to commute a licence for a defined period of time. This makes the licensing for the chosen machine standalone, whilst reducing the licence count on the network licence server by one. The licence will automatically expire on the standalone machine and become available again on the network licence server after the defined expiry time. Cadcorp recommend the licence is checked back in before the expiry time. If the checked out licence does expire remove it from the standalone machine, see the Remove expired commuted licence option on the Cadcorp SIS Licence Administrator 8.0-Utilities tab.

Reservation Groups

The use of reservation licences allows licences to be assigned on the network server to specific groups. So from a corporate ‘pool’ of 20 licences, 5 could be assigned to a Planning group, 10 could be assigned to an Infrastructure group and 5 for general use. The total number of licences assigned to groups cannot be greater than the total licence pool”. WLMADMIN will not keep track of the number of licences being reserved, if the number is exceeded, reservation groups lower down the order will never get licences. For example if there are 10 licences, Group1 has 6, Group2 has 4 and Group3 has 2, then Group3 will never get a licence, even if Groups 1 and 2 are not fully used.

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