$LICENSE_OPTIONS

Set one or more license management options, according to your Sentinel license type.

$LICENSE_OPTIONS {=} Option{, Option}n

where Option is one of:

Defaults

Assignment file: application assignment files
Section: [SETTINGS]
Default value: None

Description

Uniface makes use of the Sentinel Rights Management System (RMS) to manage licensing. For more information, see Uniface License Management.

For existing Uniface Enterprise Edition users, it is still possible to use the Uniface Distributed License Manager (DLM) in version 10.3.03. If no Sentinel options are selected, DLM is used by default.

For DLM license configuration, see $LICENSE_OPTIONS (DLM).

Sentinel

The Uniface Community Edition uses the Sentinel Cloud Server for license management. The Uniface Enterprise Edition also supports the Sentinel RMS License Manager (or Server) to enforce and manage licensing in a multi-user environment.

Sentinel relies on the LM_LICENSE_FILE option or environment variables to locate licenses.

License Expiry Notifications

30 days before a license expires, Uniface starts sending warning messages about the upcoming expiration:

  • License for feature FeatureName will expire in nn days.
  • License for feature FeatureName expires today.

By default, these messages are displayed in a dialog box and transcript window (in a desktop application), or in the application's log file.

You can set the length of the notification period for the notification message and the transcript window, or even suppress these messages, using the LM_NOTIFICATION and LM_TRANSCRIPT options. For example:

$LICENSE_OPTIONS=LM_LICENSE_FILE=D:\MyLicenses\myUnifaceLicense.xml, LM_NOTIFICATION=15, LM_TRANSCRIPT=15

If set to 0, no warning messages are sent.

You can customize the messages and the way they are displayed by defining this behavior in the receiveMessage trigger of the application. To instruct Uniface to redirect the notification message to this trigger, set the option LM_NOTIFICATION_POSTMESSAGE. This sends the message as an asynchronous message (postmessage) instead of displaying it in a dialog box.

License Renewal Notifications

By default, 3 days before a Sentinel license lease must be renewed, Uniface starts sending warning messages:

  • Connect to the internet within nn days to renew the lease for license feature FeatureName.
  • Connect to the internet today to renew the lease for license feature FeatureName.

You can set the length of the notification period, using the LM_RENEWAL_NOTIFICATION. If set to 0, no warning messages are sent.

By default, these messages are displayed in a dialog box. You can customize the messages and the way they are displayed by defining this behavior in the receiveMessage trigger of the application. To instruct Uniface to redirect the notification message to this trigger, set the option LM_NOTIFICATION_POSTMESSAGE. This sends the message as an asynchronous message (postmessage) instead of displaying it in a dialog box.

Maintenance Expiry Notifications

A Sentinel license for a Uniface feature may have an maximum release date, which indicates when the maintenance contract expires.

You can turn on warning messages for the maintenance expiry using the LM_MAINTENANCE_NOTIFICATION option. By default, this is turned off.

When turned on, Uniface sends the following messages:

  • The maximum release date for feature X will be reached in nn days. Contact your Uniface sales representative.
  • The maximum release date for feature X has been reached. Contact your Uniface sales representative.

If it is past the maintenance expiry date, Uniface displays the following message:

  • The maximum release date for feature X has been exceeded. Contact your Uniface sales representative.

Note: Uniface continues to work past the maximum release date, but new patches or versions of Uniface cannot be installed.

By default, these messages are displayed in a dialog box and transcript window (in a desktop application), or in the application's log file.

You can set the length of the notification period for the notification message and the transcript window using the LM_MAINTENANCE_NOTIFICATION and LM_TRANSCRIPT options. For example:

$LICENSE_OPTIONS=LM_LICENSE_FILE=D:\MyLicenses\myUnifaceLicense.xml, LM_MAINTENANCE_NOTIFICATION=30, LM_TRANSCRIPT=30

You can customize the messages and the way they are displayed by defining this behavior in the receiveMessage trigger of the application. To instruct Uniface to redirect the notification message to this trigger, set the option LM_NOTIFICATION_POSTMESSAGE, using the $msgdata:UnifaceList property: REASON maintenance or no_more_maintenance. This sends the message as an asynchronous message (postmessage) instead of displaying it in a dialog box.

Options

This option specifies the location of a license.

It is not possible to specify a file or directory if you specify a license server.

LM_LICENSE_FILE ={{LicenseDir} | {CloudConfigFile | LicenseFile} } | {LicenseServers}

  • LicenseDir—directory where the Sentinel cloud configuration file and license are located. For example: C:\MyOwnLicenseDir.
  • LicenseFile —complete path and file name of local license file. For example, C:\MyOwnLicenseDir\lservrc. If this is specified, the cloud configuration file is expected in the location defined by USYSLIC.
  • CloudConfigFile—complete path and file name for the cloud configuration file sntlcloudp_configuration_unifacebv.xml, which is generated by the Uniface License Administration Utility. It can be moved but not renamed. If this is specified, the license file is expected in the location defined by USYSLIC.

    In the Uniface Community Edition, it is pre-set in the assignment file to ensure that the IDE starts the License Administration Utility when there is no license. In the Enterprise Edition, this is not pre-set.

  • LicenseServers —list of license servers in the format Port@Host, separated by semi-colons. All license servers must be using the same port number so only the first server specified can have a port. For example:

    5555@server1;server2;server3

    Sentinel always tries both IPv4 and IPv6 server addresses.

If not specified, the default is the location specified by the USYSLIC path logical, as specified in usys.ini. By default, USYSLIC points to C:\ProgramData\Uniface 10 Edition\License.

When specified, the complete path to the file or license server must be provided, and the locations are case sensitive. If the path to a local license file contains embedded spaces, the path name must be surrounded by quotation marks.

When specifying license files and directories (but not license servers), the Uniface path logical USYSLIC can be used. For example: 

[SETTINGS]
$LICENSE_OPTIONS LM_LICENSE_FILE=USYSLIC:lservrc.xml

For on-premises standalone licenses, you can use this setting to specify the location of the license file. The name of a Sentinel license file is expected to be lservrc. If it has a different name, specify the whole path including the file name itself, not just the directory.

For new installations using cloud-served standalone licenses, the Uniface Router is configured to download the license file from the Sentinel Cloud Server, while the Uniface Server(s) are configured to check out the license as a standalone license file. This improves startup performance in environments with multiple Uniface Servers. You can configure this manually in upgraded versions as follows:

  1. In the urouter.asn file, set:
    $LICENSE_OPTIONS LM_LICENSE_FILE=USYSLIC:
  2. In the Uniface Server assignment file(s), set:
    $LICENSE_OPTIONS LM_LICENSE_FILE=USYSLIC:lservrc

To disable the Uniface Router from downloading the license file in a cloud-served environment, remove $LICENSE_OPTIONS from your Uniface Router assignment file entirely, or set $LM_LICENSE_FILE to point to the lservrc file as follows:

$LICENSE_OPTIONS LM_LICENSE_FILE=USYSLIC:lservrc

For cloud-served licensing, the name of the license file is also expected to be lservrc. If it has a different name, specify the whole path including the file name itself. The directory must be the same directory as one specified by USYSLIC. Otherwise, the license cannot be renewed by the Sentinel Cloud Server.

This option displays a license expiration message in the transcript window (and log file), starting the NumberOfDays before the date the license expires.

LM_TRANSCRIPT=NumberOfDays

NumberOfDays—any value from 0 (license expiration message is never displayed) through to 100.

If omitted or set to a value less than 0, the default value of 30 is used. If set to a value greater than 100, the maximum value of 100 is used. Any other value generates an error message and informs the user that the value will be set to the default.

This option determines the notification period before a Uniface license expires. During this period, Uniface displays a notification message in a dialog box every time the application is started (unless this option is set to 0 or LM_NOTIFY_EXPIRATION=postmessage).

LM_NOTIFICATION=NumberOfDays

NumberOfDays—any value from 0 (license expiration message is never displayed) through to 100. If omitted or set to a value less than 0, the default value of 30 is used. If set to a value greater than 100, the maximum value of 100 is used. Any other value generates an error message and informs the user that the value will be set to the default.

This option determines the notification period before a Uniface license lease needs to be renewed (by connecting to the internet). During this period, Uniface displays a notification message in a dialog box every time the application is started (unless this option is set to 0 or LM_NOTIFICATION_POSTMESSAGE is set).

LM_NOTIFICATION=NumberOfDays

NumberOfDays—any value from 0 (license expiration message is never displayed) through to 30. If omitted or set to a value less than 0, the default value is 3 . If set to a value greater than 100, the maximum value of 100 is used. Any other value generates an error message and informs the user that the value will be set to the default.

This option determines the notification period before a Uniface feature reaches its maintenance expiry date. By default, this option is set to 0, and no warning messages are displayed. If set to a value greater than 0, Uniface displays a notification message in a dialog box every time the application is started (unless LM_NOTIFICATION_POSTMESSAGE is set).

LM_MAINTENANCE_NOTIFICATION=NumberOfDays

NumberOfDays—any value from 0 (the maintenance expiry message is never displayed) through to 100. If omitted or set to a value less than 0, the default value of 0 is used. If set to a value greater than 100, the maximum value of 100 is used. Any other value generates an error message and informs the user that the value will be set to the default.

If specified, this option suppresses the default message and sends an asynchronous message to the Uniface application, enabling it to provide customized handling of the expiration notice.

LM_NOTIFICATION_POSTMESSAGE{=T | true | Y | yes | 1 }

The message that is sent has the following properties:

  • $msgsrc: "UNIFACE"
  • $msgid: "LICENSING"
  • $msgdata:UnifaceList

The UnifaceList contains the following items:

  • LICMGR—license manager used: DLM or Sentinel.
  • FEATURE—license feature abbreviation, for example UDE.
  • REASON—reason for the message: license, lease, version, grace, maintenance, no_more_maintenance, or commuter.
  • DAYSLEFT—the number of days that the feature is still valid (license), the number of days a grace license is defined to be valid (grace), or the number of days the maintenance contract is still valid (maintenance and no_more_maintenance). In the case of no_more_maintenace, this number is negative.
  • HOURSLEFT—number of hours left a grace license is still valid.

Note: In the case of a commuter license, a message is triggered for REASON license and commuter when a commuter license is about to expire. Only one REASON needs to be handled in this case. For example, if you handle REASON license, you do not need to handle REASON commuter.

This option specifies how Uniface tries to check out Sentinel licenses..

LM_LOAD={S | sentinel | snt } | {C} {R} {G}

  • S | sentinel | snt—this is the default and is equivalent to CRG on Windows and Linux and CR on other platforms. Commuter licenses are tried first, then the RMS License Manager is tried. If that fails, on Windows and Linux Grace licenses are tried.
  • C—instructs Uniface to look for a Commuter license.
  • R—instructs Uniface to look for a license from the RMS License Manager(s).
  • G—instructs Uniface to look for a Grace license. Grace licenses are granted automatically, if included in your Entitlement.

If LM_LICENSE_FILE specifies an RMS License Manager, you can specify one or more single letters (C, R, G) to control which type of license is tried and the order in which Uniface attempts to check out a license.

For example, you may wish to disable Commuter and/or Grace licenses if you are sure you will not be needing these license types. This can improve startup performance by eliminating unnecessary checks. To do so, set LM_LOAD=R. This instructs Uniface to only check out a license from the RMS License Manager.

Only disable Grace when the application is running on the same machine as the RMS License Manager. This is to ensure that no network issues will cause the RMS License Manager to become unavailable.

Note: Grace licenses are only supported on Windows and Linux.

If you specify Sentinel or SNT, that must be the only option. When using single letters, you can specify more than one. This disables certain license types, for example CR to disable Grace licenses, or RG to disable Commuter Licenses.