studio that owns a number of floating network licenses , stored on a license server . The studio ’ s architects have to work in the studio , from home , and on building sites , but they need full access to their software . VPN connections might not always be possible when they are in their home office or out and about in the field .
The solution is to borrow licenses from the license server and transfer them into a local CmContainer on the architect ’ s computer . The license is flagged as active on the server , and over-use is prevented . Architects can then work offline on their computers even with an unstable or without any VPN connection at all .
Server
Software
This approach represents a type of local caching of licenses . As developer , you decide whether this feature is allowed and for how long the user can borrow the licenses . You can integrate the borrow feature intelligently in your software to keep it as transparent as possible as a background process . Your users can also return licenses early when they do not need them anymore .
The checkout system Everybody has been there : You wait in queue at the supermarket , and then there is a problem with the checkout system . The queue gets longer and longer , and people are getting more and more impatient . A high availability strategy is the ace in the hole for such situations .
The solution uses two license servers . The first contains all licenses as floating network licenses . The second contains the same licenses , but with a unit counter . The software checks whether the first server is available and uses the licenses from there . If all licenses are in use , an error is returned , because all licensed checkout systems are already active . The backup server comes into play only if the first server is not available . The software counts down the unit counter with minute-by-minute precision , allowing you to check the usage of your backup server and identify any potential misuse . This solution is called hot standby . The first server can also be combined with local caching .
Main Server
Hot Standby
Checkout System
The holiday season In the run-up to the holidays , many supermarkets would love to have more checkouts open that they might have licenses for . It is the busiest period of the year by far . The supermarket would be ready to pay for these additional licenses , as long as it means fewer people having to queue at the checkout .
The solution is not unlike a hot-standby option , and it is called overflow licensing . Again , a second license with a unit counter is used . By contrast to the standby approach , this license is also used when all other licenses are in use . This gives the operator additional licenses to buffer any peaks in demand . Their use is recorded to the minute to ensure precise and accurate billing . Combined with a hotstandby solution , the entire setup needs four categories : Normal licenses , overflow licenses , backup licenses , and overflow backup licenses .
Local Server
Software
License Central
The carmaker With factories spreading around the globe , licenses should be available 24 / 7 . There are several ways of doing so : One strategy would be to distribute the licenses across local license servers , which keep the licenses directly available at each site . With CodeMeter License Central , you can allow the user to move licenses dynamically from one server to the next . Any licenses that are not currently needed can be shifted back into the cloud and activated at some other factory that needs them – and all of this without any manual support efforts .
An alternative strategy would be to install a centralized license server , which can be coupled with local caching and a hot-standby solution . A third option would use three license servers and a manual mechanism in the software that only starts up if two of the three servers are available and the required licenses are not used elsewhere . This Triple Mode Redundancy ( TMR ) solution lets you choose which rules you want to enforce . As a minimum , two servers have to be available and the active licenses have to be consistent . As a solution , it is ideally suited to permanent licenses .
Server 1
Server 2
Software
Server 3
TMR
Software about to retire All software has its unique lifecycle , and every software will get to a point after which you would not sell or support it anymore . However , legal requirements might force you to provide your clients with licenses even after that point . This will not only mean the added effort of a highly manual process . Keeping an outdated licensing system running might also incur extra maintenance and licensing fees . Faced with these costs , many companies prefer to switch their older software to an unprotected version . But even this can mean high costs for implementation and testing . Not so with CodeMeter : A Protection Only License can be created at any point with an unbound general license . This creates a freely installable version of the software without any additional work . And even better : You get to keep your protections against reverse engineering .
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