Licensing

This section explains the role of the Licensing Preference in the native apps.

Because the named user licensing model is implemented, the Licensing Preference accessed by selecting Me > Preferences is not used to select licenses, and is useful mainly for information purposes.

This page discusses:

Licensing Information

Computer ID
Specifies the Computer ID.
Display Type
Informs you whether you are running on a local or remote display.
Declared server
Displays the name of the declared license server.

Licensing Setup

Server Timeout

When a client requests a license from a license server list, the client must wait a certain amount of time for the response from the first license server (the server replies that the license is available or not available) before contacting another server. A slider lets you specify approximately the amount of time (less or more) the client should wait for a response from the license server.

If you have a high-performance network, and servers that are not heavily loaded, we recommend that you reduce the value: this will allow the client to contact other servers more quickly, instead of waiting too long for a response from the first server. If you have a low-performance network, or servers that are heavily loaded, we recommend that you increase the value: this will allow the client to wait long enough for a response over a slow network or from heavily loaded servers.

Frequency (mn)
Allows you to set the heartbeat duration.

In principle, a shareable license granted by a DS License Server to a session is released when the session stops. The license is also automatically released when a session crashes. However, it may occur in the event of certain severe crashes or network problems, that the session cannot instruct the license server to release the license, so the shareable license is not immediately released. To prevent the shareable license from being retained by the license server, there is a specified period of time (referred to as the "heartbeat") after which the license server considers the session to be dead, and releases the shareable license.

This heartbeat is communicated to the license server by the session when the license is first requested. You can set the heartbeat using the Frequency option. The default value is approximately 17 mins. This is the maximum value (represented by the value MAX in the list) and cannot be increased. Decreasing the heartbeat value will decrease the maximum period of time during which a shareable license can be inadvertently retained by the license server. You can set the appropriate value by increments of 1 min. Consequently, the heartbeat can be set to any of the following range of values: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and MAX.

Note: decreasing the heartbeat leads to increased network load and to increased license server workload.

Furthermore, a mechanism exists to allow saves if the license server goes down.

When a license server or the network goes down, a session enters a special mode giving users the opportunity to save their work before exiting. Every heartbeat period, the session checks that the license is still granted to it. It may occur that, for example, the license server or the network are down. In that case, the license check fails.

The session then enters a "countdown" mode. A popup is displayed informing the user that the license check has failed. The user must then save any work in progress. Five checks are performed at one minute intervals. If all checks fail, the session is set to a special mode in which only saving and exiting commands are available.

If the license server administrator inhibits access to a license which is currently being used by an ALLOW or DENY rule, the native app process will enter the above countdown mode at the next heartbeat.

Notes:

  • processes such as batches and macros do not support this mechanism: automatic exit is still performed
  • even if the problem which led to the license check failure is solved, it is impossible to return to the normal mode after the session has been set to the special mode in which only saving and exiting are allowed: no other license request is performed after entering in this mode.
Show info
Check this option if you want feedback when attempting to reserve a license which is not available (reserved by another user), or messages about expired server licenses. The next time you start a session, the software will inform you who is using the license you are trying to use. Uncheck this option if you do not want to display this type of information.
Alert
Use the alert setting if you want to be informed by a message (popup in the interactive app and written in logs for batch app) that an offline license will soon expire.

With regard to setting the license expiry alert, the Alert control is set by default to 7 days, and is enabled by default. This means that if a granted offline license is going to expire within 7 days, a warning popup will be displayed. The popup is displayed as soon as a license is granted.

Note:
  • The maximum value you can set is 30 days.
  • If you do not want to be warned by a popup when acquiring a license, set the value to 0 to disable the alert.
  • Like any other setting attribute, it can be locked.

List of Available Configurations or Apps

This section of the Licensing preference contains all the installed roles. Note that nothing prevents you from installing software for which you do not have the corresponding license, so the list may contain software for which you do not have a license.

If a license is granted to an installed role, then the license server name having granted it is indicated. In failover mode, it displays the failover member name having granted the license.

The granted licenses appear on top of the list.