Administering BlueZone

Chapter 6

SEAGULL License Manager

Overview

BlueZone emulation clients may be licensed on a concurrent user basis under the control of the SEAGULL License Manager.  The SEAGULL License Manager is a 32-bit Windows application that can reside on any Windows 95, 98, ME, XP, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 system.  This application must be installed somewhere on the network that is accessible by your BlueZone End Users.  The SEAGULL License Manager requires very little processing power to handle thousands of client license requests.  Therefore, it may be installed on a system running the web server, SEAGULL Security Server, or any other Windows PC with excess processing capability.

NOTE  We recommend using a Windows "server" in lieu of a Windows PC whenever possible.

Topic Quick Links:

How License Manager Works

Installing License Manager

Obtaining the License Key

Installing the License Key

Using the License Manager

Configuring BlueZone to Work With the SEAGULL License Manager

Accessing the License Manager through a Firewall or Proxy

Loss of Communication with the SEAGULL License Manager

How License Manager Works

The SEAGULL License Manager is programmed with a License Key which controls the number of purchased Concurrent Users.  The BlueZone emulation clients are enabled for operation only after they have contacted the SEAGULL License Manager, over a TCP/IP connection, and have successfully obtained a license.  Once the license is obtained, the application sends a periodic “heartbeat” to let the SEAGULL License Manager know it is still running.  Applications that miss three consecutive heartbeats have their licenses returned to the available pool.

Illustration 7-1

If you are a Concurrent License Customer, the SEAGULL License Manager is required to monitor concurrent license limits.  The SEAGULL License Manager may be installed on the same system hosting the SEAGULL Security Server.

NOTE  If you are evaluating BlueZone, you do not need to install or configure the SEAGULL License Manager.  When BlueZone is running in the "evaluation mode", it will operate without the SEAGULL License Manager.

Installing License Manager

The SEAGULL License Manager is easy to install and requires very little time or resources.

Procedure

  1. Insert the BlueZone CD-ROM into your CD drive of the workstation or server where you wish to perform the installation.  The BlueZone CD will automatically launch the Welcome to BlueZone "Splash" screen:

Illustration 7-2

  1. With your mouse, click the Server Components link then the SEAGULL License Manager link as shown:

Illustration 7-3

  1. You will be presented with the SEAGULL License Manager Setup dialog as shown:

Illustration 7-4

  1. We recommend keeping the default values. Click the Install button.

  2. Respond to the Seagull Software License Agreement dialog and click the Finish button.

  3. Once the installation is complete, you will receive a message stating that the installation completed successfully.  Click the OK button.

  4. If you have installed the SEAGULL License Manager on a Microsoft server, it is necessary to manually start the SEAGULL License Manager service the first time.  Go to services and locate the SEAGULL License Manager service and start it.  In the future, the SEAGULL License Manager service will automatically start when the server starts.

NOTE  If you have installed the SEAGULL License Manager on a Microsoft PC, then there is no "service" to start.  SEAGULL License Manager will run as a desktop application.  We suggest adding the SEAGULL License Manager to your "Startup" program group so that if the PC is ever rebooted or restated, the SEAGULL License Manager will be automatically started.

  1. To start the SEAGULL License Manager, click the License Manager desktop icon that was created during the installation.  When you start the SEAGULL License Manager for the first time, you will receive the following message:

Illustration 7-5

You must enter a valid SEAGULL License Manager License Key in order for the SEAGULL License Manager to operate.

Obtaining the License Key

When your company or organization placed an order for a BlueZone License, it would have been necessary for you or someone in your organization to provide to Seagull Software Order Administration the IP address of the PC or Server that you intend to use to run the SEAGULL License Manager.  After obtaining the IP address, Seagull Software Order Administration would have generated a License Key and sent it via email it to the person who placed the BlueZone order.

CAUTION!  If you try to install the SEAGULL License Manager on a PC or server with a different IP address other than the one that was perviously given to Seagull Software Order Administration, the SEAGULL License Manager will not operate.

If you have not received a License Key, or if the IP address of the PC or server has changed, you can contact SEAGULL Customer Care to obtain one.

To obtain a License Key, provide the following information:

Installing the License Key

  1. Locate the email that contains your License Key.

  2. Start the License Manager by double clicking the License Manager desktop icon.

  3. On the MenuBar select File:License Info to display the License Information dialog which will be blank.

  4. Use the Windows Copy (CTRL+C) and Paste (CTRL+V) function to copy and paste the License Key from the email into the edit box.

  5. Click OK to exit the dialog and activate the License Key.

  6. The License Manager will

  7. Verify that you have the correct number of concurrent licenses by the checking the Any: 0/XX portion of the License Manager StatusBar, where XX equals the number of concurrent licensees that you have paid for.  If this number is not correct, please contact the Seagull Software Customer Care department.

Using the License Manager

The SEAGULL License Manager requires no additional configuration to operate properly.  Simply double click the License Manager icon to start it.  Once started, the SEAGULL License Manager goes through an initialization process which takes about a minute, listening for existing clients that may still be running since the last server shutdown.  Any clients still running are issued licenses first, then new license requests are processed.  The StatusBar located at the bottom of the management interface indicates the number of concurrent licenses that has been purchased, and how many are still available.  This display is updated automatically as users connect and disconnect.

SEE  SEAGULL License Manager Help for specific configuration information.

The last step in the process of installing and configuring the SEAGULL License Manager, is to configure your BlueZone emulators with the IP Address of the PC or Server that is running the SEAGULL License Manager.

Configuring BlueZone to Work With the SEAGULL License Manager

Once the installation of the SEAGULL License Manager is complete, you will need to configure the IP Address of the SEAGULL License Manager into your BlueZone Emulators.

Follow these steps to activate and configure the SEAGULL License Manager:

  1. Launch the BlueZone emulator that you want to configure to work with the SEAGULL License Manager.

When the emulator launches, you will not be able to obtain a license nor make a host connection. You will be presented with the following message box:

Illustration 7-6

  1. Click the Configure button and add the IP address of the SEAGULL License Manager server to the list as shown here.

Illustration 7-7

  1. Click the OK button.

  2. Click the Retry button on the License Manager Info box.  You should now be able to obtain a license.

  3. On the BlueZone MenuBar, select File:Save.  This will save your configuration.

Repeat this process for each BlueZone emulator that you are using.

NOTE  There is no need to perform this procedure on the BlueZone printer emulators.  Only the BlueZone display emulators require the SEAGULL License Manager IP address.

Accessing the License Manager through a Firewall or Proxy

The SEAGULL License Manager allows the unlimited distribution of BlueZone emulation clients, making it ideal for public Internet use.  Used over the Internet, the SEAGULL License Manager and the BlueZone clients must be able to communicate when firewalls and proxy servers are in place.  This communication takes place over TCP/IP port 8421.  These settings must be configured in the firewalls or proxy server to allow the packets to be exchanged between BlueZone and the SEAGULL License Manager.  If this configuration is not in place, BlueZone clients will get an “unable to license” error.

NOTE  It is possible to change the default port from 8421 to another value.  If using port 8421 is impractical or undesirable, you could change the port to port 80, which is the standard HTTP port.  We have found that using port 80 works well when there are firewalls and proxy servers in the mix.

Loss of Communication with the SEAGULL License Manager

If working BlueZone clients with an existing license lose communication with the SEAGULL License Manager they will continue to operate, uninterrupted, until the communications link is reestablished.

If the loss of communication is due to a server failure, upon restart, the SEAGULL License Manager will wait 3 minutes to reestablish communications with the working clients to reissue those licenses prior to accepting new license requests.

If the server is working and the loss of communication with a client lasts through three client heartbeat cycles (three minutes each), the client license is revoked and added back to the pool of available licenses.