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Softkey Rehosting and Detachment

 

Contact Us: fredsupport@photonengr.com

 

 

 

Description


In the same way that a physical dongle resides on a single computer at any given time, Sentinel softkeys are also associated with a specific "host" computer.  Like their dongle counterparts, softkeys are offered as single-user licenses and network enabled licenses, each with their specific capabilities.  This help topic describes the following Sentinel softkey management procedures:

 

Moving (rehosting)

The process of re-assigning a softkey from one computer to another.  This is equivalent to moving a physical dongle between computers, whether it is a single-user license or a network license.

License detachment

For network enabled softkeys, individual seats can be detached and temporarily assigned to a designated recipient computer.  This allows the recipient computer to execute FRED with a temporary, local license without requiring a networked connection to the license server.

Detached license cancellation

The process of returning a detached license to the license server before the detached license expiration date.

 

 

 

 

Moving (rehosting) a Softkey


Sentinel softkeys can be moved between computers using the "rehosting" procedures described below.  In this context, the "host" computer is the one on which the softkey is currently installed and the "recipient" computer is the one receiving the softkey.

 

A rehostable softkey is indicated by the  icon displayed in the Sentinel Keys page of the ACC on the host computer.  It is important to note that moving a softkey will interrupt any FRED sessions currently connected to the softkey - you can use the ACC to check whether the softkey being moved has any active FRED sessions.

 

The general flow of moving a softkey from a host computer to the recipient computer is the following:

1.Generate a computer ID file on the recipient computer (.id file)

2.On the host computer, use the recipient ID file to generate a "host-to-host" file (.h2h file, this removes the softkey from the host)

3.On the recipient computer, apply the host-to-host file (this re-instantiates the softkey on the recipient)

 

Two procedures for softkey rehosting are provided below, one procedure that uses the FRED interface on both the recipient and host computers, and a second procedure using the Sentinel ACC interface on the recipient computer.  The end result of the license rehosting will be the same regardless of the procedure used.

 

IMPORTANT: We do not recommend rehosting a network softkey that has detached licenses.  Cancel the license detachments, or wait until all detached licenses have expired and are returned to the host, before proceeding with the softkey rehosting.

 

Rehosting a softkey using FRED:

 

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer

1.

Start FRED.  It does not need to be configured to access the Sentinel softkey being moved.

2.

If the License Search Strategy dialog does not automatically open, Navigate to Help > License Search Strategy.  Press the "Sentinel Dialog" button.

3.

Select the "Recipient information for detach or rehost (.id)" option in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  Use the "..." button in the "Create recipient information file (.id)" row to designate a custom output file name and location.  If left unmodified, FRED will write the output .id file to the Desktop.

4.

Press the "Do Action" button in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  Check that the Action Status portion of the dialog reports a successful generation of the file.  Make the .id file accessible to the license manager of the host computer for the next steps.

The following steps are performed on the host computer

5.

Start FRED. 

6.

If the License Search Strategy dialog does not automatically open, Navigate to Help > License Search Strategy.  Press the "Sentinel Dialog" button.

 

Ensure that the FRED session is NOT connected to the softkey being rehosted, which would cause the rehosting procedure to fail.  If necessary, change the FRED License Search Strategy configuration to make sure that the FRED session does not connect to the softkey being rehosted.  This can be accomplished by configuring the FRED License Search Strategy as shown below:

 

7.

Select the "Rehost softkey (.h2h)" option in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog. 

8.

Use the "..." button in the "Create rehost file (.h2h)" row to designate a custom output file name and location for the host-to-host file.  If left unmodified, FRED will write the output .h2h file to the Desktop.

9.

Use the "..." button in the "Select recipient information file (.id)" row to browse to the recipient ID file generated from step 4 above.

10.

Use the "Key identifier" listbox to select the softkey intended to be moved from the host.

11.

Press the "Do Action" button in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  A message will be presented indicating that proceeding with the current action will interrupt any FRED instances connected to the softkey being moved.  Press OK to continue.  Check that the Action Status portion of the dialog reports a successful generation of the file.

 

Make the the output .h2h file accessible to the license manager of the recipient computer for the next steps.

12.

Though not required, you may check the Sentinel Keys page of the ACC on the host computer to confirm that the softkey is no longer present on the host computer.

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer

13.

In a FRED session, navigate to Help > License Search Strategy.  Press the "Sentinel Dialog" button.

14.

Select the "Apply update (.v2c .h2h .r2h or .h2r)" option in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  Use the "..." button in the "Select update (.v2c .h2h .r2h or .h2r)" row to open a file browser dialog allowing selection of the .h2h file generated in step 11 above.  Note that in the file browser dialog there is a file extension filter on the bottom right of the dialog (default is "Update Files *.v2c") that can be changed to allow visibility of the desired file types.

15.

Press the "Do Action" button in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  A message will be presented indicating that proceeding with the current action will interrupt any FRED instances connected to the softkey being moved.  Press OK to continue.  If the rehosting operation is successful, a message box will be presented indicating so.

16.

Open a web browser and navigate to the Sentinel Admin Control Center (ACC) at http://localhost:1947.  Click on the Sentinel Keys link in the Options list on the left hand side of the webpage.  Check to see that the rehosted license appears in the key list.

 

 

Rehosting a softkey using the Sentinel Admin Control Center (ACC):

Due to limitations in the ACC capability (as of ACC version 7.103), rehosting a Sentinel softkey cannot be performed through the use of the ACC by itself.  Specifically, generating the host-to-host file on the host computer requires the use of FRED as described below.

 

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer using the ACC

1.

In a web browser, navigate to http://localhost:1947 to access the Sentinel Admin Control Center running on the recipient computer.

2.

Click on the Diagnostics link of the Options menu on the left hand side of the ACC.

3.

Press the "Create ID File" button on the far right hand side of the second row in the Diagnostics page.  An *.id file will be saved by the web browser subject to your web browsers file download settings.  Make the .id file accessible to the license manager of the host computer for the next steps.

The following steps are performed on the host computer using FRED

4.

Start FRED.

5.

If the License Search Strategy dialog does not automatically open, Navigate to Help > License Search Strategy.  Press the "Sentinel Dialog" button.

 

Ensure that the FRED session is NOT connected to the softkey being rehosted, which would cause the rehosting procedure to fail.  If necessary, change the FRED License Search Strategy configuration to make sure that the FRED session does not connect to the softkey being rehosted.  This can be accomplished by configuring the FRED License Search Strategy as shown below:

 

6.

Select the "Rehost softkey (.h2h)" option in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog. 

7.

Use the "..." button in the "Create rehost file (.h2h)" row to designate an output file name and location for the host-to-host file.  If left unmodified, FRED will write the output .h2h file to the Desktop.

8.

Use the "..." button in the "Select recipient information file (.id)" row to browse to the recipient ID file generated from step 3 above.

9.

Use the "Key identifier" listbox to select the softkey intended to be moved from the host.

10.

Press the "Do Action" button in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  A message will be presented indicating that proceeding with the current action will interrupt any FRED instances connected to the softkey being moved.  Press OK to continue.  Check that the Action Status portion of the dialog reports a successful generation of the file.

 

Make the .h2h file accessible to the license manager of the recipient computer for the next steps.

11.

Though not required, you may check the Sentinel Keys page of the ACC on the host computer to confirm that the softkey is no longer present on the host computer.

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer using the ACC

12.

In a web browser, navigate to http://localhost:1947 to access the Sentinel Admin Control Center running on the recipient computer.

13.

Click on the Update/Attach link of the Options menu on the left hand side of the ACC.

14.

Press the "Browse" button in the Apply File section of the page and browse to the .h2h file generated from step 10 above.  The web interface will present a message indicating success or failure of the rehosting operation.

15.

Click on the "Sentinel Keys" link of the Options menu on the left hand side of the ACC.  Confirm that the rehosted key is now available in the keys list.

 

 

Detaching a Softkey License


Network enabled Sentinel softkeys allow licenses to be "detached" from host computer and temporarily assigned to a recipient computer for a specified amount of time (customizable).  When assigned to the recipient computer, the detached license becomes a locally hosted softkey on the recipient and the recipient computer can run FRED without requiring a network connection to the license server.  Upon license detachment, the number of available licenses on the network softkey is reduced by one until the detached license is returned to the host.  Detached licenses can be returned to the host computer manually by the recipient or automatically when the license detachment period expires (whichever comes first).

 

A typical usage scenario for license detachment is the following.  A client PC running FRED normally acquires a license from a network enabled Sentinel softkey.  As long as the client PC is on the same network as the license server, the client PC is able to acquire a FRED license as needed (permitting a license is available).  When the client PC is removed from the network (ex. traveling abroad for work), the connection to the license server is lost and therefore the client PC will be unable to execute FRED.  With license detachment capability, a single license from the network softkey can be detached for a period of X days and assigned to the client PC as a local license.  FRED will then be able to execute on the client PC for the period of X days without requiring network connectivity to the license server.

 

In the procedures described below, the "host" computer is the one on which the network softkey is currently installed and the "recipient" computer is the one receiving the detached license.  Multiple procedures for license detachment are provided below using either FRED or the Sentinel Admin Control Center (ACC) to facilitate the detachment.  The end result of the license detachment will be the same regardless of the procedure used.

 

The general flow of detaching a softkey license from a host computer using a file-based (offline) approach is the following:

1.Generate a computer ID file on the recipient computer (.id file)

2.On the host computer, use the recipient ID file to generate a "host-to-recipient" file (.h2r file, this detaches one license from the network softkey on the host)

3.On the recipient computer, apply the host-to-recipient file (this creates a local softkey on the recipient)

 

IMPORTANT: The following procedures assume that the Enable Detachment of Licenses option has been checked in the Configuration: Detachable Licenses page of the ACC.  If this option is not enabled, license detachment will fail.

 

Detaching a softkey using FRED:

 

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer

1.

Start FRED.

2.

If the License Search Strategy dialog does not automatically open, navigate to Help > License Search Strategy.  Press the "Sentinel Dialog" button.

3.

Select the "Recipient information for detach or rehost (.id)" option in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  Use the "..." button in the "Create recipient information file (.id)" row to designate a custom output file name and location.  By default, FRED will write the output .id file to the Desktop.

4.

Press the "Do Action" button in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  Check that the Action Status portion of the dialog reports a successful generation of the file.  Make the .id file accessible to the license manager of the host computer for the next steps.

The following steps are performed on the host computer

5.

Start FRED.

6.

If the License Search Strategy dialog does not automatically open, Navigate to Help > License Search Strategy.  Press the "Sentinel Dialog" button.

 

Ensure that the FRED session is NOT connected to the softkey from which a license is being detached.  This will cause the license detachment procedure to fail.  If necessary, change the FRED License Search Strategy configuration to make sure that the FRED session does not connect to the softkey being rehosted.  This can be accomplished by configuring the FRED License Search Strategy as shown below:

 

7.

Select the "Detach softkey license (.h2r)" option in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.

8.

Use the "..." button in the "Create detach file (.h2r)" row to designate a custom output file name and location for the host-to-recipient file.  If left unmodified, FRED will write the output .h2r file to the Desktop.

9.

Use the "..." button in the "Select recipient information file (.id)" row to browse to the recipient ID file generated from step 4 above.

10.

Use the "Key identifier" listbox to select the softkey from which a license is being detached.

11.

Use the "FRED feature" listbox to select the license type being detached.  Note that if the selected feature type is unavailable on the network softkey, the detachment will fail (ex. don't request an Optimum license detachment from a network softkey whose license type is MPC).

12.

Specify the detachment duration (in days).

 

Note that the duration is subject to a maximum limit imposed by the Sentinel license manager of the host computer.  The maximum duration limit can be customized in the Configuration page of the ACC on the host computer.

13.

Press the "Do Action" button in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  Check that the Action Status portion of the dialog reports a successful generation of the file.

 

Make the .h2r file accessible to the license manager of the recipient computer for the next steps.

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer

14.

In a FRED session, navigate to Help > License Search Strategy.  Press the "Sentinel Dialog" button.

15.

Select the "Apply update (.v2c .h2h .r2h or .h2r)" option in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  Use the "..." button in the "Select update (.v2c .h2h .r2h or .h2r)" row to open a file browser dialog allowing selection of the .h2r file generated in step 13 above.  Note that in the file browser dialog there is a file extension filter on the bottom right of the dialog (default is "Update Files *.v2c") that can be changed to allow visibility of the desired file types.

16.

Press the "Do Action" button in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  A message will be presented indicating that proceeding with the current action will interrupt any FRED instances connected to the softkey being updated (this is a general warning presented anytime an Apply Update procedure is called).  Press OK to continue.

17.

Open a web browser and navigate to the Sentinel Admin Control Center (ACC) at http://localhost:1947.  Click on the Sentinel Keys link in the Options list on the left hand side of the webpage.  Check to see that the detached license appears in the key list (indicated by an  icon ).  Click on the Features button for the listed key to confirm the license's expiration date restriction.

 

 

Detaching a softkey using the Sentinel Admin Control Center (ACC):

 

The procedure for softkey license detachment using the Sentinel ACC on the license host and recipient computers depends on whether the license managers on the two computers are able to communicate with each other on the local network.  If the license managers on the two computers can communicate with each other, then softkey license detachment can be easily performed entirely from within the recipient ACC in an "online" mode.  If the license managers on the two computers cannot communicate with each other, then license detachment will be performed by "offline" transfer of a host-to-recipient (.h2r) file.  The two different procedures are described below and will be referred to as "online mode" and "offline mode".

 

Procedure with license managers in "online" mode:

 

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer

1.

In a web browser, navigate to http://localhost:1947 to access the Sentinel Admin Control Center running on the recipient computer.

2.

Click on the Products link of the Options menu on the left hand side of the ACC.

3.

Products that offer softkey license detachment will be indicated by the  icon displayed in the Vendor column of the product list.  The right hand column of the Product list displays various action buttons that can be performed on each available Product.  Press the Detach action button for the Product from which a softkey is desired to be detached.

4.

In the resulting Detach License page, a summary of the Product being detached is listed at the top, followed by a radio button indicating the detachment method (online or offline).  The detachment period and optional comment are specified at the bottom of the page, with the detachment period subject to the Max. Duration limit given at the top of the page in the Product summary information.

 

Use the Online option for the Detach Method and then specify an expiration date (in the time zone of the recipient license manager).  Press the "Detach & Attach" button at the bottom of the page.  If successful, the page will update to display the detachment status and summary information of the detached license.

 

Note that the expiration date is subject to a maximum duration limit imposed by the license manager.  The maximum duration limit can be customized in the Configuration page of the ACC on the host computer.

5.

Click on the Sentinel Keys link of the Options menu on the left hand side of the ACC.

6.

Check to see that the detached license appears in the key list (indicated by an  icon ).  Click on the Features button for the listed key to confirm the license's expiration date restriction.

 

 

Procedure with license managers in "offline" mode:

 

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer

1.

In a web browser, navigate to http://localhost:1947 to access the Sentinel Admin Control Center running on the recipient computer.

2.

Click on the Diagnostics link of the Options menu on the left hand side of the ACC.

3.

Press the "Create ID File" button on the far right hand side of the second row in the Diagnostics page.  An *.id file will be saved by the web browser subject to your web browsers file download settings.  Make the .id file accessible to the license manager of the host computer for the next steps.

The following steps are performed on the host computer

4.

In a web browser, navigate to the Configuration: Detachable Licenses page of the ACC.  Make sure that the "Enable Detaching of Licenses" option is active.  If not, activate this option and then press the "Submit" button at the bottom of the page.

5.

Click on the Products link of the Options menu on the left hand side of the ACC.

6.

Products that offer softkey license detachment will be indicated by the  icon displayed in the Vendor column of the product list.  The right hand column of the Product list displays various action buttons that can be performed on each available Product.  Press the Detach action button for the Product from which a softkey is desired to be detached.

7.

In the resulting Detach License page, a summary of the Product being detached is listed at the top, followed by a radio button indicating the detachment method (online or offline).  The detachment period and optional comment are specified at the bottom of the page, with the detachment period subject to the Max. Duration limit given at the top of the page in the Product summary information.

 

The Offline option will be toggled already, since the softkey is local to the host computer.  In the Select Recipient Machine list, check to see whether the recipient computer is already listed (the license manager retains the ID information for other license managers contacted on its network, even if currently offline).  If the desired recipient computer is not listed, follow the instructions below, otherwise proceed to the next step.

 

Applying the recipient computer ID file

If the name of the recipient machine was not included in the Select Recipient Machine list, the following actions should be taken to add the recipient machine information using the .id file generated in step 3.

Open the Update/Attach page in the ACC and use the Choose File button to navigate to the recipient machine ID file.

Click Apply File. The recipient machine name is added to the list of available machines in the Offline license detachment list.  Return to step 5.

8.

Specify an expiration date (in the time zone of the host license manager) for the detached license and then press the "Detach & Attach" button at the bottom of the page.  If successful, the page will update to display the detachment status and summary information of the detached license.

 

Note that the expiration date is subject to a maximum duration limit imposed by the license manager.  The maximum duration limit can be customized in the Configuration page of the ACC on the host computer.

9.

Press the Save As button to save the host-to-recipient (.h2r) file.  Make this .h2r file available to the license manager on the recipient computer.

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer

10.

In a web browser, navigate to http://localhost:1947 to access the Sentinel Admin Control Center running on the recipient computer.  Click on the Update/Attach link in the Options section of the ACC on the left hand side of the page.

11.

Press the Choose File button and browse to the .h2r file saved from step 9 previously.

12.

Press the Apply File button.  If the operation is successful, the page will update with a message indicating the result.

13.

Click on the Sentinel Keys link in the Options section of the ACC on the left hand side of the page.  Check to see that the detached license appears in the key list (indicated by an  icon ).  Click on the Features button for the listed key to confirm the license's expiration date restriction.

 

 

Canceling a Softkey License Detachment


A detached license is assigned a duration period (in days), after which the detached license expires and is returned to the host network softkey.  If the full duration of the detachment is not required by the end-user, then the detached license can be "canceled" and returned to the host network softkey before it expires.

 

In the procedures described below, the "host" computer is the one on which the network softkey is currently installed and the "recipient" computer is the one on which the detached license exists.  Multiple procedures for license detachment are provided below using either FRED or the Sentinel Admin Control Center (ACC) to facilitate the cancellation.  The end result of the license detachment will be the same regardless of the procedure used.

 

The general flow of canceling a detached license using a file-based approach (offline) is the following:

1.Generate recipient-to-host cancellation file (.r2h file, this removes the license from the recipient)

2.On the host computer, apply the recipient-to-host cancellation file (this returns the detached license to the network softkey)

 

Detachment cancellation using FRED:

 

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer (with the detached license)

1.

Start FRED.

2.

If the License Search Strategy dialog does not automatically open, Navigate to Help > License Search Strategy.  Press the "Sentinel Dialog" button.

 

Ensure that the FRED session is NOT connected to the softkey that is being canceled.  This will cause the license cancellation procedure to fail.  If necessary, change the FRED License Search Strategy configuration to make sure that the FRED session does not connect to the softkey being canceled.

3.

Select the "Cancel Detach softkey license (.r2h)" option in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.

4.

Use the "..." button in the "Create cancel detach file (.r2h)" row to designate a custom output file name and location for the recipient-to-host file.  If left unmodified, FRED will write the output .r2h file to the Desktop.

5.

Press the "Do Action" button in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.  Check that the Action Status portion of the dialog reports a successful generation of the file.

 

Make the .r2h file available to the license manager of the host computer.

The following steps are performed on the host computer (with the network softkey)

6.

Start FRED.

7.

If the License Search Strategy dialog does not automatically open, Navigate to Help > License Search Strategy.  Press the "Sentinel Dialog" button.

 

Ensure that the FRED session is NOT connected to the network softkey whose license is being returned.  This will cause the license update procedure to fail.  If necessary, change the FRED License Search Strategy configuration to make sure that the FRED session does not connect to the network softkey being updated.  This can be accomplished by configuring the FRED License Search Strategy as shown below:

 

8.

Select the "Apply update (.v2c .h2h .r2h or .h2r)" option in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog.

9.

Use the "..." button in the Select Update File (.v2c .h2h .r2h or .h2r) row of the Parameters section and browse to the .r2h file being applied.  Note that the file browser dialog contains a file extension filter on the bottom right that should be changed to look for the appropriate file extension.

10.

Press the "Do Action" button in the License Registration Actions section of the dialog. A warning message will be presented regarding interruption to the license service for the updated key.  A second message box will be presented if application of the .r2h file is successful.

 

Detachment cancellation using the ACC:

The procedure for canceling a detached license using the Sentinel ACC on the license host and recipient computers depends on whether the license managers on the two computers are able to communicate with each other on the local network (recipient being the computer with the detached license and host being the computer where the network softkey resides).  If the license managers on the two computers can communicate with each other, then cancellation can be easily performed entirely from within the recipient ACC in an "online" mode.  If the license managers on the two computers cannot communicate with each other, then license cancellation will be performed by "offline" transfer of a recipient-to-host (.r2h) file.  The two different procedures are described below and will be referred to as "online mode" and "offline mode".

 

Procedure with license managers in "online" mode:

 

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer

1.

In a web browser, navigate to http://localhost:1947 to access the Sentinel Admin Control Center running on the recipient computer.

2.

Click on the Products link of the Options menu on the left hand side of the ACC.

3.

Products using detached licenses will be indicated by the icon displayed in the Vendor column of the product list.  The right hand column of the Product list displays various action buttons that can be performed on each available Product.  Press the Cancel License action button for the Product whose detached license is being returned.

4.

The resulting page will display a summary of the detached license information.  Press the Cancel button at the bottom of the page to confirm the cancellation of the detached license.

5.

Click on the Sentinel Keys link of the Options menu on the left hand side of the ACC.

6.

Check to see that the detached license appears in the key list (indicated by an  icon ).  Click on the Features button for the listed key to confirm the license's expiration date restriction.

 

Procedure with license managers in "offline" mode:

 

The following steps are performed on the recipient computer (with the detached license)

1.

In a web browser, navigate to http://localhost:1947 to access the Sentinel Admin Control Center running on the recipient computer.

2.

Click on the Products link in the Options section on the left hand side of the ACC.

3.

Products using detached licenses will be indicated by the icon displayed in the Vendor column of the product list.  The right hand column of the Product list displays various action buttons that can be performed on each available Product.  Press the Cancel License action button for the Product whose detached license is being returned.

4.

The resulting page will display a summary of the detached license information.  Press the Cancel button at the bottom of the page to confirm the cancellation of the detached license.

5.

The resulting page should indicate success of the detached license cancellation.  Press the Save As button to save a copy of the .r2h file that should be supplied to the license manager on the host computer.  Note that at this point in the process, the detached license is now removed from the recipient computer.

The following steps are performed on the host computer (with the network softkey)

6.

In a web browser, navigate to http://localhost:1947 to access the Sentinel Admin Control Center running on the host computer.  Click on the Update/Attach link in the Options section of the ACC on the left hand side of the page.

7.

Press the Choose File button and browse to the .r2h file saved from step 5 previously.

8.

Press the Apply File button.  If the operation is successful, the page will update with a message indicating the result.  The detached license has now been returned to the network softkey on the host computer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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