Software protection by online licenses

This documentation applies, if you have purchased the product using the online licensing model. With online licensing ...

• There is no need of a hardware key physically attached to a USB port.
• Every update in the license – for example, if you buy a new app or option – is applied automatically.
• All communication with the Trimble License Server is encrypted with SSL.

Prerequisites

The online license model assumes that each computer to which a license is bound ...

• is continuously connected to the Internet,
• is not blocked by a firewall, allowing outgoing connections to port 80.

Setting up the Trimble Distributed Environment system with online licenses

For activating a license for your Trimble 4D Control Server system, do the following:

1. Make sure you are logged in to the TPP UI with administrator user rights and that all Controllers in a distributed system are up and running.
2. Either select File > System Properties from the main menu or click the toolbar button to open the System Properties dialog.
3. For providing the login credentials, edit the E-mail address and Password fields with the values you have received by e-mail from Trimble.
4. For binding the license to a MAC address of a computer do the following:
   1. Set the focus on the License 1 property and click the browse button. This opens the Online License dialog.
   2. Select the Controller to which the license will be bound. The Select a Controller drop-down field lists all running and connected computers participating in the Trimble Distributed Environment by their host name and MAC address. For each computer only one MAC address can be used.
   3. Select a license pool, then select a license from that pool. Only licenses that are unbound and free for binding appear in the Select a license drop-down field. A list of licensed features appears.
   4. Click Bind License to start the process of binding the license to the Controller's MAC address.
5. If your license pool contains several licenses, repeat step 4 for License 2 and following.
6. Optionally - For setting up alarms on the licensing status do the following:
   1. Make sure an Alarm Manager module is loaded and set up to your needs.
   2. Go to the Alarm Manager Alarm Status module-view and click the button. This adds a new alarm job to list of configured alarm jobs and opens a Properties pane with default alarm job settings.
   3. Set the Set module filter property to Central Controller.
   4. For receiving an alarm if the connection to the Trimble License Server fails (the license-status icon in the status bar will appear on a bright-yellow background , ), select License Server problem as Alarm condition. This is a warning that appears immediately, if the Controller to which a license is bound tries to connect to the License Server and the connection fails (for example, because of Internet connection issues). The license will stay valid, if the Controller is able to re-connect to the License Server within the next 4 days. Considering this fact, it may be a good idea to set the Action delay setting of the job properties to a higher value than the default few seconds.
   5. For receiving an alarm if there is no valid license in the whole system anymore, select License lost as Alarm condition. When this alert appears, all protected functionality is disabled immediately. This situation can happen, for example, if the License Server is not reachable for more than 4 days or if a demo license has expired.
   6. For both alarm types set up the remaining alarm job properties and accept the new job(s) with OK. Click Apply.
7. Optionally - If your license has been extended or reduced for protected functionality:
   • Trimble sends you an e-mail that informs you on the change(s).
   • The change(s) will become active at once.
   • In some cases, it may happen that the Trimble 4D Control Server UI does not reflect the current change(s) at once. Trimble, therefore, recommends you to re-start the Trimble 4D Control Server UI when you have received the information e-mail, if necessary.

How does the online license work?

Every five minutes the Controller to which the license is bound requests the license from the Trimble License Server. If it does not receive the license from the Trimble License Server for four days, the Trimble 4D Control Server system will stop running the licensed features.

What happens if the computer or the network card (MAC address) to which a license is bound must be taken out of the system?

It may happen that you have to replace or take out of the system a computer or a specific network card to which a license is bound. One of following will happen:

• If the computer must be replaced and a redundant computer exists in the system that is configured identically and has assigned the same computer name as the primary one, the license will automatically be bound to the redundant computer.
• If a computer must be replaced and there is no redundant computer, but you have a redundant license bound to a different computer, all features remain functional.
• If a network card fails and a second network card exists at the same computer, the license will automatically be bound to the second network card.
• In other cases, contact the Trimble support (infrastructure_support@trimble.com).