About License Server

Use the License Server feature to manage multiple licenses and serve them over your network. The licenses are loaded onto a single hardkey, and then that hardkey is connected to a network server running the required license management software.

Note: Legacy licensing options do not coexist with Enterprise License. If you select the AVEVA Enterprise Licensing option during installation, the legacy licensing options (softkey or hardkey) will not function. This legacy License Server will not function either.

What do I need to use the License Server feature?

At this time, the License Server feature only works with USB hardkeys manufactured by Wibu Systems (www.wibu.com). This is because the License Server feature is built on Wibu Systems' CodeMeter software, which provides the necessary hardkey drivers, license management, and client-server communication framework.

To make sure that you have the correct hardkey type and license settings, please contact your software vendor.

CodeMeter Runtime is automatically installed with the full software. Every computer, both client and server, must have it in order to take advantage of the License Server feature. If you want to set up another computer — one on which the full software has not been installed — as your license server, you must manually download and install the full CodeMeter Runtime software.

What designates a computer as a license server is whether the Run Network Server option is selected in the CodeMeter Runtime software settings.

How does the License Server feature work?

First, a computer on the network is set up to be the license server. The computer may or may not also have AVEVA Edge installed and licensed. For example, it is often convenient to have your project development workstation and license server be the same computer — so that you can both send projects to target devices and manage the licenses for those devices — but it is not necessary.

Setting up the license server is simply a matter of making sure the CodeMeter Runtime software is installed, connecting the Wibu-type hardkey that contains the licenses, confirming that the license settings are correct, and then selecting the Run Network Server option in the CodeMeter Runtime software settings. For more information, see Configure CodeMeter Runtime to serve licenses.

Then, on every other computer that will get its license from the license server, the AVEVA Edge Protection Manager is used to enable the License Server feature and then connect to the license server. Doing so overrides the normal hardkey license settings on that computer. For more information, see Configure Protection Manager to get a license.

Note: Only AVEVA Edge project development workstations (Engineering) and project runtime servers (Runtime) need to be licensed. Thin clients do not need to be licensed separately, because a Runtime license includes the number of thin clients that may connect to the project runtime server.

What if the server connection is lost?

If, for any reason, AVEVA Edge loses its connection to the license server, it will continue operating as previously licensed for a grace period of up to 60 minutes.

During this grace period, you can use the function GetLicenseGracePeriod to check the license and take appropriate action. For example, you can configure a Button object with a Command animation to execute the following script:

Dim remainingGracePeriod

remainingGracePeriod = $GetLicenseGracePeriod()

If (remainingGracePeriod = -1) Then

MsgBox "License OK"

Else

MsgBox "Running on Grace Period! [" + remainingGracePeriod + "] minute(s) remaining"

End If

When a user clicks/taps the button during run time, the license is checked and an appropriate message is displayed.

If the grace period expires and AVEVA Edge has not either reestablished its connection to the license server or received another license, the program switches to Demo mode. For more information, see Execution modes.

Please note that when the connection to the license server is reestablished, the grace period does not immediately reset to 60 minutes. AVEVA Edge must remain connected to the license server for at least twice as long as the time during which connection was lost. For example, if the connection was lost for 38 minutes, AVEVA Edge must remain connected for 76 minutes. After that time, the grace period is reset.