Once you have successfully setup the Square One Network Licence Manager and the Licence Service and activated your purchased licences on your network, you need to ensure your client workstations know how to contact your server to successfully request a licence. This is done by placing a copy of the same licence file as used by the Licence Service in the installation directory of the software on the client workstation.

This can be done in either of two ways:

1. Using the Activation Wizard
   This is the simplest way with the wizard stepping you through the process. Once complete, the wizard automatically creates the licence file in the right location and requests a licence from the local service. The rest of this topic explains this process in detail.
2. Manually Copying the Licence File
   This means copying the licence file from the directory you installed the Licence Service (step 3 of setup the Square One Network Licence Manager and the Licence Service) and pasting it into the installation directory of the software on the client. If the software is installed locally on the client workstation, this directory is usually C:\Program Files\Square One. If it is installed on a shared disk or on an application server, you will need to find the exact UNC path and copy it there. Once the file is copied to the right location, restart the client software and it should automatically connect to the licence service and obtain a licence.

Step-By-Step Guide

Please read through the numbered steps below to familiarise yourself with the process of connecting a workstation to a local network licence service using the Activation Wizard.

1. Starting the Activation Wizard

To begin activation, go to Help » Activate Software... menu item from within the main menu of the software you want to activate, or choose Activate Software link from the About dialog. This will display the following wizard:

Using the Activation Wizard to connect to a local network licence server

As shown in the above image, select the Connect to local network for activation option and click Next ».

2. Entering the Server's IP Address

The next stage is to enter the private IP address of your network licence service so that the Activation Wizard can communicate with it and validate the licence. This IP address must be the same as the IP address provided in step 6 of Activating your purchased licences on your network.

Entering your network licence service IP address

To help you get this information correct, as you type, the colour of the data entry box will change to indicate if the number is valid or invalid. If you hover your mouse cursor over the cross or tick immediately to the left of this box, a tool-tip explaining any problems will be displayed. The images below show how this looks as you type (left) and when you have entered a valid address.

An invalid address as you type.

A valid address when complete.

Alternatively, if you know the local area network name of your network licence server, you can use the Search button to find out its IP address. Enter the server name in the dialog box that appears and click OK. If the search is successful, you can click Ok in the results dialog to automatically enter the IP address. If more than one address is displayed, use the normal Windows text copy/paste functions to copy the right address and paste it into the text box.

Searching for the IP address of a known computer.

Once the address is found, it can be automatically entered by clicking OK.

3. Checking Access to the Server

Once you have entered your servers private IP address, you can use the Check Access to Service button. This will contact the Licence Service and request the status of network licences for the software you are trying to activate. At the same time, the service will check your IP address to ensure that it is within the valid range specified for your local area network. If it is successful, the following information will be displayed in the DIAGNOSTICS section immediately beneath.

A successful connection to the local network licence service.

If the IP address is incorrect, or the service is not yet up and running, the following information will be displayed. You may need to wait for up to a minute for this information to be displayed if the IP address does not match any computers on your network -- depending on the network request time-out settings on your computer.

This message indicates that either the IP address does not match a computer on your local area network or that the computer is not running the licence service and therefore does not know how to reply.

Alternatively, if a licence service is running on the contacted computer, but you have not yet activated any network licences for the software you are using, the following message will appear.

This message indicates thet the licence service is running but it does not yet have any network licences for the software you are trying to activate.

4. Collecting a licence file from your server

Once you have checked your access and received all four green ticks, you can click Next » to generate the workstation's licence file.

You have to have obtained all four green ticks in order to proceeed to the next page.

Important Note: If you already have a licence file on your computer for the software you are activating, the following prompt will be displayed. If you overwrite a valid desktop licence file with a network licence, you will lose the desktop licence until you re-activate it on this same computer. If you do not want to loose your desktop licence, you will need to transfer it first.

If a licence file already exists for this software, you will be prompted to overwrite it. Be careful to transfer any desktop licences first that you do not want to lose.

If the process is successful, you should see the Software Activation Successful page. This indicates that the licence file has been successfully generated and you are now ready to use it for the first time.

This page indicates that your new licence file has been generated and you are ready to use if for the first time.

Click the Finish button to close the Activation Wizard and request a licence from your server.

5. Requesting a licence from your server

The licence file that has been collected from your server now allows the software to know where your server is, contact it and request a licence. There are a number of reasons why a request for a licence from a client workstation may be refused:

• Not enough licence available in the pool of network licences
• Network outages or bad network connection with the server
• The server has crashed or is rebooting itself
• The server details have changed

If any of these things happen then an error message will be displayed on the client workstation and the software will only be able to be used in evaluation mode. To determine the exact details that cause an error a review of the log file generated by the Licence Service is recommended -- in the Network Licence Manager, Admin Menu » View Licence Service Log.

If there are no network licences currently available, you will see this message.