The IssueNet platform provides a flexible and easily managed license enforcement mechanism that includes evaluation, site, concurrent, and named user license models for all products and solutions. All IssueNet client applications will validate their license by communicating with the IssueNet License Service that is part of the platform installation process. This means that the IssueNet License Service must be configured and the licenses activated before users can begin to access IssueNet solutions.

In this article we will discuss;

• Administrating the License Service
• Activating Licenses Online
• Activating Licenses from Isolated Networks
• Moving the IssueNet License Service
• Troubleshooting

Note: The administrator user will ignore the IssueNet License Service when logging on to the IssueNet Administrator and the IssueNet Client. You may use the administrator to work with the product until the IssueNet License Service is completely configured for your environment. The IssueNet Architect will enforce licensing on all users.

The IssueNet License Service is a web service installed as part of the platform. The web service must be administrated to allow client applications to validate license allocation. If you experience difficulty activating licenses or acquiring a valid license for a client application, make sure the IssueNet License Service has privileges to run as a web service and access to licensing information in the license subdirectoy of the web service site.

The IssueNet Administrator is used to add, remove, and allocate licenses as well as set the URL client that applications will use to communicate with the IssueNet License Service. To administrate the IssueNet License Service, logon to the IssueNet Administrator and select the Tools | Licensing... menu option.

The License Server URL entered in the License Administration dialog will be used by the client applications during the logon process to validate their licensing. The License Server URL is resolved from the client application perspective which means it should be a URL the client application can access. If the client application is using a web service connection, then the URL should be an address that the web service can access. Click the Change button and enter a URL that can be addressed from the type of connections the client application will be using.

Note: If the IssueNet License Service is not properly configured either because of security considerations or because IIS is not configured to run web services you may receive a handled exception dialog from the IssueNet License Service.

The IssueNet Administrator is used to activate licenses online. Logon to the IssueNet Administrator from a machine that has access to the internet. To activate a license select the Tools | Licensing... menu option then click the Add... button. Fill out the License Activation form including your serial number. Click the Activate button to submit your information to the Elsinore activation server which will automatically allocate a license and required proxies which will then be downloaded to the correct location on your IssueNet License Service. You will receive a confirmation dialog upon success.

Many networks have limited or no access to the Internet for security reasons. If you are unable to activate licenses online you may use the License Activation utility installed in the Program Files\Elsinore Technologies\IssueNet\Assemblies directory. This utility generates the required information that Elsinore needs to send you correct license files, proxies, and activation codes to enable licenses in your environment.

Activated licenses are bound to the computer where the IssueNet License Service is installed. The technology used to enforce the licensing mechanism binds the license using values from the IssueNet License Service computer. If you make significant changes to the computer such as upgrading to a completely different operating system, you will need to contact Elsinore to reallocate the licenses. Normal operating system updates have no adverse effects.

When IssueNet licenses are activated they are bound to the machine the IssueNet License Service is running on. If you need to replace the computer the IssueNet licenses were activated on or wish to move the IssueNet License Service for administrative purposes you will need to reactivate the licenses on the new computer. Contact Elsinore support to have the licenses reset for activation.

Note: Once activated, you should never need to delete the activated licenses located in the licenses subdirectory of the IssueNet License Service. Application upgrades or reinstallation will not impact activated licenses.

There are several aspects to the IssueNet License Service which may need to be administrated for the License Service to operate successfully. If client applications are unable to acquire a license, follow these steps to determine the point of failure.

Note: The client applications will display details of license failure in the output view. Select the View | Output menu option before log on to see license validation results.

1. Determine if the IssueNet License Service is running on a computer that allows web services.
   1. Open a web browser and navigate to the License Server URL.
   2. If the web server is able to run web services the browser will display the interfaces offered by the IssueNet License Service.
   3. If you recieve any other result than the interface options, open Internet Information Services through the Computer Management Console and check the security and web site settings.
2. Determine if the IssueNet License Service is running under ASP.NET 2.0.
   1. Open Internet Information Services through the Computer Management Console.
   2. Select the MMFLicenseService web site.
   3. Select the Actions | Properties menu option.
   4. Select the ASP.NET tab.
   5. Set the ASP.NET Version to at least ASP.NET 2.0.
3. Determine if the IssueNet License Service web services security is set to allow access to the user security context for the IssueNet connection used.
   1. Open the IssueNet Web Configuration Utility on the MMFLicenseService site.
   2. Select the MMFLicenseService site.
   3. Set the authenticating user to be a known user account with sufficient privileges to read the licenses subdirectory.

License Activation for Isolated Networks
Web Service Security Configuration
IssueNet Connection Types