License Details Window

Concept

The license details window displays the full configuration of a particular license. For a general description of what a license is, see the Licenses Window Documentation.

The License Details window contains a Name field, where you can change the name of an existing license, and seven panes containing further configuration options. The default view shows only the Limits and Programs panes.

Limits Pane

This is one of the two most important panes in the License Details window, and therefore is shown by default. It lets you configure the basic options for the license, which include type, limit, and group restrictions.

At the top of the Limits pane, there are two buttons. The Current User List button shows a list of users who currently have the license checked out. The Computer List button shows a list of computers which have at some point checked out the license (roughly speaking). Items can be manually added or deleted from the list, so it may not correspond exactly to which computers have used the license. Computers are also automatically added to this list when they use the license, unless the license type is Computer Limit (Node Locked License), in which case you can configure whether or not they are automatically added - see below.

On the left side of the pane are four radio buttons which correspond to the four different license types. Only one can be selected for a particular license.

• Unlimited (Site License) - licenses of this type can be used by anyone, and have no limit. That is to say, a request for an unlimited license is never denied for any reason. Controlling a program with this type of license is almost equivalent to simply logging the program, with a couple of small differences.
  • A program controlled by an unlimited license may be configured so that it cannot run when the KeyServer cannot be found, whereas logged programs can always run.
• Computer Limit (Node Locked License) - licenses of this type are only allowed to be used on a specified list of computers, regardless of how many are actually in use at any given time. When this license type is selected:
  • the Computer List button at the top of the pane will show which computers are allowed to use the license. This list can be configured manually or automatically.
  • a text field appears to the right of the license type, labeled Computer Limit. This text field lets you configure the license limit: e.g. the maximum size of the Computer List.
  • below the text field, there is a check box labeled Auto-add up to limit. If this checkbox is not checked, then individual computers must be manually added to the Computer List before they will be able to use a license. With Auto-add checked, new computers requesting the license will be automatically added to the Computer List until the list has reached the specified License Limit. Once the License Limit has been reached, the only way to enable usage on new computers is to make more room on the list: either manually remove old items from the Computer List or increase the License Limit.
  • the Group field (below the checkbox) allows you to specify a group restriction. If filled in, only members of the specified group will be able to use the license. The group membership requirement is in addition to the Computer List requirement. Caution: if the Computer List includes a node that cannot possibly satisfy the group requirement, then the license locked to this node will subtract from the license limit with no possibility of actually being used! - before specifying a group restriction remove any existing members of the Computer List that don't qualify as group members. With a group specified and the Auto-add feature checked, new computers will only be added to the Computer List after they have passed the group membership requirement.
• Concurrent Use Limit (Floating License) - licenses of this type have a restriction on how many can be used at any given time (concurrently). If the limit is 5, then only 5 copies of the license can be used at once, even though 20 distinct computers may have used the license at some point in the past. When this license type is selected:
  • a text field appears to the right of the license type, labeled User Limit. This text field lets you configure the concurrent use license limit.
  • the Group field below the checkbox allows you to specify a group restriction. When the license is requested, the computer/user must be a member of the group in order to use the license. This is useful, for example, if a license should only be used in a particular lab.
• Custom Limits & Restrictions - licenses of this type allow you to define multiple pools, as well as schedules. When this license type is selected, the Limits pane becomes taller, to reveal an extra section.
  • The first item is a drop down menu labeled Group Restrictions for: - the default value is Unscheduled Times, meaning that the restrictions displayed will apply any time that there is not a schedule defined. By default, there are no schedules, so Unscheduled Times is equivalent to all the time. The pools shown below the drop down reflect pools configured for the selected schedule. For more information, see the schedules documentation.
  • Below the drop down menu is the list of pools. Pools essentially divide a single license into multiple parts. Each pool can have a group restriction, a concurrent use limit, and can have two options set (see below). Right-click in the white space of the list box (below unrestricted) in order to create additional pools.
  • Selecting a pool lets you edit the options for the pool, to the right of the pools list.
  • The Group field lets you type in a group restriction, or you can drag a group object onto the group icon next to the field.
  • The Limit field is where you specify the Limit for the pool. You can type a number, or select None or Unlimited from the drop down to the right of the field.
  • The Timeout field lets you set a timeout for license usage. If you set a value here the timeout counter starts when the license is granted and the license is reclaimed when the timeout is reached. If you want the license to be automatically checked out again in cases where no one is queued for a license when the timeout is reached, set the auto-extend checkbox (in the Options pane). This timer sets a limit on the total usage time, as opposed to the settings in the Idle pane, which let you configure a timer that limits the time a license can be idle (all controlled programs are put in the background) before being reclaimed.
  • Can be used on the Network and Can be used as Portable key are the only two ways a license can be used - so at least one of them should be checked for each license pool. When there is just one license pool (by default: Unrestricted), the "Can be used as Portable key" checkbox will be dimmed and simply reflect the setting from the Portable pane (see below): a non-zero value in Time limit for portable keys will enable portable use, a zero or "never" value will disable portable use. When you are configuring a custom license with multiple pools and the Time limit in the Portable pane is non-zero, then portability can be selectively applied to just some of the pools by clicking the Can be used as Portable key checkbox on or off.
  • Note that a custom license must be used if ANY of the advanced options are needed, but it is not necessary to use them all at once.
  • Example 1: you may want to make a license only available in Lab A during the week, but available to anyone on the weekend.
  • Example 2: you may want to make a license portable, without imposing any group restriction.
  • Example 3: you may want to set a timeout for a license, without imposing any group restriction.
  • Example 4: you may want to divide up a license so that 10 copies can be used in Lab A and 10 copies can be used in Lab B.

Programs Pane

This pane contains a list of programs controlled by this license. The Name, Identifier, and Version of each program is displayed. You can double-click on any of these items to see the full program details for an item. Programs can be dragged into this list in order to bring them under control of the license.

• To easily aggregate several programs under the control of a single "suite" license, drag them all from the Programs window into the Programs pane for a single license. Drag a program out of this pane and drop onto the Ignore or Log icon on the left of the Programs window in order to remove control (or use right-click).
• With multiple License Details windows open you can also drag items from one programs pane to another. This will configure multiple licenses controlling the same application. This must be done with a careful understanding of the exact order in which a program chooses a license from among multiple possibilities. Typically there is just one license listed for each program in the License pane of its Program Details window, but when there is more than one, you can adjust the ordering to achieve the precise behavior intended.

Notes Pane

This pane contains a single item, which is a free-form text field. You can use it for any information you want. It can be seen here in the KeyConfigure interface, and can also be used in custom reports.

Portable Pane

Controls the maximum checkout time limit for a Portable key, and the portable limits/options. The default value for the checkout time limit is "never". You must explicitly configure a time limit for each new license in order to activate the Portable feature.

By default, newly created licenses enable usage for any computer with a network connection. Without a network connection, the default behavior for unkeyed controlled programs is to allow offline launches and then report usage at the next connection. Keyed programs, however, cannot launch offline without obtaining a key so a user must explicitly run KeyCheckout before leaving the network in order to "checkout a key" for a specified period of offline usage time.

The option to "key" a controlled program adds a level of security and piracy prevention to the license control. When portability is enabled for a keyed program, the strength of this security is weakened more or less depending on the options checked in the Portable pane. The default, "Use strong calculation of current time", is intended to prevent a user from extending the checkout time by changing their system clock. The other options are designed to make it more or less difficult to duplicate a checked out key onto a second computer.

Idle Pane

Allows you to set idle time (background warning) settings for programs controlled by this license. Setting a nonzero value here sets a silent counter that starts on a computer using the license when all programs associated with that license are in the background. If the time limit is reached in this state the user is warned or licenses are reclaimed as you specify here. Note that after the license is reclaimed the user is reminded a few times before the programs are shut down (though the license is available to others as of the timer expiration), so if you have set warn 3x then quit the user can effectively see what appears to be more than three warnings.

Options Pane

General non-usage-limit settings for programs controlled by this license.

• Auto-extend allows the Timeout clock to be silently reset to zero when the limit is reached but no one is queued for this license.
• Detachable allows any programs associated with this license to continue running when the connection to the KeyServer is lost and no shadow is available. Note that this applies only to licenses currently in use on a computer when the outage occurs. This checkbox has no effect on license requests initiated when no session is in place.
• Exact Match Only permits license use only against the KeyServer on which a license was created.
• Force Password requires re-entry of a user password at license grant; that is, when you use an authentication method that requires a password, just being a KeyServer client is not enough; a valid password must be entered each time this license is granted.
• Over-limit allows for greater-then-limit use for CUL or Custom licenses. This lets you track over-count use without inconveniencing users.
• Queue & Notify allows you to turn queueing for a particular CUL or custom license on or off. That is, if this checkbox is checked, over-count requests are given the option to wait in a queue until a license is available. Uncheck this box if you want users to be denied without an offer to queue.
• Local/Remote Settings let you specify if programs associated with a given license can be run locally, from a server, or both; also whether users launching from a server are prompted to consider installing a local copy of the associated programs.
• Expiration Date: Enable this checkbox and use your system's date format to specify an expiration date for this license. Subsequent to the specified date, new requests for this license will be denied – but any program currently using the license at the expiration time will be allowed to continue until it quits. Note: if this license is enabled for Portable Use (in the Portable Pane), then the KeyCheckout program will not allow a checkout time beyond the expiration date regardless of what maximal checkout time period is specified. Of course changes made to the expiration date will have no effect on portable keys previously checked out, just like there is no effect on programs currently running.

Information

This pane shows the times at which the license was Created , last Modified, and the version of KeyConfigure which was used to create the license. These values cannot be directly changed.

Custom Message Pane

This pane allows you to configure a custom message to be displayed on client computers when the license is used. You can choose to display the message On Launch of a licensed program, and/or when a license request is put On Queue (e.g. there is no license available for the launched program). In addition, you can check the One-Time checkbox (in combination with On Launch) if you only want the custom message to be shown the first time a particular computer uses the license. You cannot set a License message On Deny - but you can set a Deny message for each program controlled by the license. See Program Details for similar documentation describing custom messages attached to program launches (as opposed to License usage). Note: when there is an On Launch message defined both in Licenses Details and also in the Program Details (for a program controlled by that license), only the License message will be displayed.

The following macros may be placed in the custom message, and KeyAccess will replace them with the appropriate values:

^a

name of the currently running program

^d

date on active KeyServer

^D

date on local (KeyAccess) computer

^f

"KeyAccess" (name of client software at start up time)

^n

network name of active KeyServer

^t

time on active KeyServer, shown in local (KeyAccess) time zone

^T

time on local (KeyAccess) computer

^u

name of user

^w

name of program user is waiting for, if any

^^

single caret ("^")

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