AGS ltd. - Product Registration and Activation Guide

Product Registration and Activation Guide

This guide introduces the process of registering and managing license activation for the Release 6/7/8 of Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ products. The first-time users only need to complete the registration process and will have 30 days to activate the products, after which time the non-activated premium features of Server Studio™ and the Sentinel™ server in its entirety will no longer function.

Registration

Product Activation

Software License Agreement

Please choose the registration process instructions for the AGS product you plan to use.

Server Studio™ — Release 6/7/8

Overview

The registration process is prompted when you first use the software and takes just a few seconds to complete. The first-time users must complete the registration process to obtain their personal User Certificate. Those users who have previously registered and received their personal User Certificate may be required to update it.

Server Studio™ family of products are client-side software applications that permit sharing a single installation among multiple users. Server Studio™ employs User Profiles to securely store each user's personal information such as: login credentials to access one or multiple data servers, security settings, user preferences, system configuration, etc. To secure this information, a User Profile is strongly encrypted with a personalized User Certificate which acts as a “master key”. A single User Certificate may be used to encrypt multiple User Profiles, however each User Profile can have only one User Certificate associated with it.

In this guide, the home directory where you chose to install AGS software is referred to as “AGS_Home”. You need to become familiar with the locations where the User Profiles, User Certificates and registration request files are stored. Figure 1 identifies the locations for each file type.

“AGS_Home/userdata/certificates/” subdirectory contains the User Certificate files which carry the extension “.cert”.
“AGS_Home/userdata/profiles/” subdirectory contains the User Profiles files which carry the extension “.ssc”.
“AGS_Home/userdata/ssr/” subdirectory contains the registration request files which carry the extension “.ssr”.

Figure 1 — Directory structure of AGS software installation

Select the registration option you plan to use for detailed instructions:

First-Time Registration

1. Obtaining Your User Certificate

When Server Studio™ is started, you are presented with the User Profile Loader, which prompts for selection of the User Profile to load and the password of its associated User Certificate.

Figure 2 — User Profile Loader

Press the New... button to invoke Create New Profile dialog box.

Figure 3 — Create New Profile Dialog Box

For now, ignore the “File Path” and “File Name” settings for the User Profile. Press the Request User Certificate button to invoke the Registration Wizard which will assist you in obtaining from AGS' Software Asset Management System ("SAMS") your personal User Certificate. Press the Next >> button on the Registration Wizard's Welcome screen.

Figure 4 — New User Certificate Request

Select “Request your New User Certificate” option and then press the Next >> button. Follow the Registration Wizard's prompts on the next three screens and fill in your personal registration information.

Figure 5 — New User Certificate Password Selection

After you've filled in your personal registration information, the Registration Wizard prompts you to choose and confirm the Password for your new User Certificate. This password is known only to you.

The password you choose for your User Certificate is never transmitted to SAMS. It is strongly recommended that you write down your password and store it in a secure location. If you loose the password to your User Certificate, there is no way to recover it and you will not be able to gain access to the User Profiles associated with your User Certificate.

Press the Next >> button to submit the new User Certificate request to AGS' SAMS server. The Registration Wizard will proceed to process your request by one of the two available methods: via Internet or by e-mail.

Figure 6 — Registration Submission

Internet — If you do have a direct Internet connection, the Registration Wizard will process your registration request online and deliver your User Certificate immediately. Observe SAMS Status Messages for additional information or instructions.

The Registration Wizard communicates with the SAMS server at the following address: http://serverstudio.com:80 (port 80). If you are behind a firewall, you may want to ask your network or system administrator to enable direct connections to this address.

e-Mail — If you do not have a direct Internet connection, or are behind a firewall, the Registration Wizard generates a request file with the extension “.ssr” (typically, your workstation host OS login name: i.e. "username.ssr") in the "AGS_Home/userdata/ssr/" subdirectory (see Figure 1). Send this file as an e-mail attachment to the SAMS automated processing facility at the following address: register@serverstudio.com.

Press the Close button to exit the Registration Wizard. Within a few minutes, the SAMS will e-mail your User Certificate to the address you provided during the registration process. After you receive the e-mail message containing your new User Certificate, copy the attached file with the ".cert" extension to the "AGS_Home/userdata/certificates/" subdirectory (see Figure 1). You are now ready to create your first User Profile.

2. Creating User Profile

Restart Server Studio™ application. You are presented with the User Profile Loader (see Figure 2). Press the New... button to invoke Create New Profile dialog box.

Figure 8 — Create New Profile Dialog Box

The "File Path" setting defaults to the "AGS_Home/userdata/profiles/" subdirectory. If you wish to store your User Profile in a different location (on a network drive for example), press the Browse button to select the desired location. The "File Name" setting for the User Profile defaults to your workstation host OS login name (i.e. "username.ssc"). You may choose any name for your User Profile, however, the file extension ".ssc" must remain.

To associate your personal User Certificate with the new User Profile you are creating, press the Browse button in the "User Profile Security" subgroup to select your User Certificate (the file with the ".cert" extension) that you've previously copied to the "AGS_Home/userdata/certificates/" subdirectory (see Figure 1). Enter the password you chose for your User Certificate during the registration process. Press the OK button to exit Create New Profile dialog box to return to the User Profile Loader.

Once you are back at the User Profile Loader, press the OK button to load the new User Profile you've just created. Server Studio™ is now ready to use.

Re-using Prior Registration

If you've registered previously and received your personal User Certificate, and have existing User Profile(s) associated with it, you will need to identify the locations where Server Studio™ can find these files.

Copy your User Certificate (a file with the extension ".cert") to the "AGS_Home/userdata/certificates/" subdirectory (see Figure 1). This is the required location for User Certificates.
Copy your User Profile(s) (files with the extension ".ssc") to the "AGS_Home/userdata/profiles/" subdirectory (see Figure 1). This is the recommended location for all User Profiles.

The "AGS_Home/userdata/profiles/" subdirectory is the default location for User Profiles. If you chose to store your User Profiles in a different location (on a network drive for example), they can remain there — there is no need to copy or move them to the default location. You will however need to know the exact file path to that alternate location where your User Profiles are stored.

When Server Studio™ is started, you are presented with the User Profile Loader, which prompts for selection of the User Profile to load and the password of its associated User Certificate.

Figure 9 — User Profile Loader

Press the browse ... button to select the specific User Profile to load. If you chose to store your User Profiles in the location different from the default subdirectory "AGS_Home/userdata/profiles/" (on a network drive for example), navigate to that location and select the desired User Profile. Enter the password for the User Certificate associated with the User Profile you are loading. Press the OK button. Server Studio™ is now ready to use.

Please note that you may be asked to update your User Certificate if the host computer where Server Studio™ is installed has been reconfigured, or if you've initially registered your User Certificate on a different host computer and copied it to the current installation.

Sentinel™ — Release 6/7/8

Currently, there are no requirements to register Sentinel™ application server during the initial 30 days after the product is installed.

Overview

AGS products include activation technology that helps prevent unauthorized copying of the software. Product activation is an interactive representation of the license agreement between AGS and its valued customers. The entire activation process is designed to have a minimal impact on licensed users.

Here is a step-by-step tour of the license management process for AGS products which takes only a few short steps to complete. It is recommended that you become familiar with the license authentication procedure before continuing with the specific instructions on how to manage activation of the particular AGS product you plan to use:

License Authentication
Managing Server Studio™ Activation
Managing Sentinel™ Activation

License Authentication

Users installing an AGS product that requires activation enter their license key, which is then authenticated with AGS' Software Asset Management System (“SAMS”) to verify that the license key is legitimate and has not been activated on more systems than permitted by the AGS software license agreement. The entire process is handled by the Configuration and Activation Manager in conjunction with the Registration Wizard, either via direct Internet connection or by e-mail. The following, briefly describes the differences between the two license management methods:

Internet — If you do have a direct Internet connection, your license management request is immediately processed online and your personal User Certificate is updated in place. For backup purposes, SAMS will also e-mail a copy of your updated User Certificate to the address you provided during your initial registration.

AGS products communicate with the SAMS server at the following address: http://serverstudio.com:80 (port 80). If your computer hosting AGS' product installation is behind a firewall, you may want to ask your network or system administrator to enable direct connections to this address.

e-Mail — If you do not have a direct Internet connection, the Registration Wizard generates a license management request file with the extension “.ssr” (typically, your workstation host OS login name: i.e. "username.ssr") in the "AGS_Home/userdata/ssr/" subdirectory (see Figure 10). You must send this file as an e-mail attachment to SAMS' automated processing facility at the following address: register@serverstudio.com.

Figure 10 — Directory structure of AGS software installation

SAMS will e-mail your updated personal User Certificate to the address you provided during your initial registration. Copy the file with the ".cert" extension attached to the SAMS the e-mail message to the "AGS_Home/userdata/certificates/" subdirectory (see Figure 10).

Managing Server Studio™ Activation

Server Studio™ family of products are client-side software applications that are node-locked to the host computer on which they are installed and are licensed on the “authorized user” basis. Your individual license, authorizing the use of Server Studio's premium features on a given host computer, is maintained in your personal User Certificate. You can work from the computer hosting Server Studio™ simultaneously with an unlimited number of data server instances. While multiple users can share the same Server Studio™ installation, each user must be licensed independently of other users. Select the license management option you plan to use:

Activating Your License

Start Server Studio™, then select Help → Server Studio Activation option from the main menu to invoke Configuration and Activation Manager.

Figure 11 — Configuration and Activation Manager

The Activation tab is the central place where you can see at a glance the current state of the Server Studio™ activation and manage your license. To activate your Server Studio™ license, enter the License Key into the correspondingly named input field on the Activation tab and then press the Activate button. Next, press the Apply button.

Please note that beginning with the Release 6/7/8, the product's license activation structure has changed from a set of multiple license keys to a single one. Do not attempt to enter directly in the Activation tab any license key from the prior releases of the product — they will not function. The following examples demonstrate the differences between the current and the previous license key formats:

Current — XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX
Previous — XXXXX-XXXXXX-XXX

The activation process varies slightly, depending on whether you are activating a brand new license, or an upgrade license from a previous release of the product. Your License Key contains encoded information to determine automatically:

Which Premium Edition of Server Studio™ is being activated
Does the license include an annual product Maintenance Contract
Is the license brand new, or an upgrade from a previous release

New License: If the License Key you've entered is for a brand new license, the activation process will continue directly to the authentication step in the process.
Upgrade License: If the License Key you've entered is for an upgrade license from a previous release of the product, the activation process will prompt you to enter one of the keys form your previous Server Studio™ installation license keys set.

Figure 12 — Entering Upgrade License Key

The Activation Manager will pre-populate the “Previous License Key” field, if it finds a qualified set of license keys from a prior Server Studio™ installation in the User Certificate used by you to login into the program. You can also direct the Activation Manager to read the information required for the upgrade from a User Certificate stored in another location by pressing the Get Previous License Key from User Certificate button.
Authentication: Once your License Key is entered, the Activation Manager generates a request for SAMS to authenticate it and to update your User Certificate with the new license, if authentication completes successfully. The Registration Wizard is then invoked to process your license activation request by one of the two available methods: via direct Internet connection or by e-mail.

Restart Server Studio™ for the newly activated license to take effect.

De-activating and Transferring Your License

If you are planning to change the configuration of the computer hosting your licensed Server Studio™ installation, or to move it to another computer, you must first deactivate the current installation to preserve your license. Once the process of license deactivation is complete, the premium features of Server Studio™ will no longer be accessible to you, unless subsequently you reactivate your license on the same, or another host computer.

To deactivate your current license, start Server Studio™, then select from the main menu the Help → Server Studio Activation option to invoke Configuration and Activation Manager. Your License Key is displayed in the correspondingly named field on the Activation tab.

Figure 14 — Configuration and Activation Manager

Press the Deactivate button. A dialog box will come up, displaying your current License Key and the corresponding De-Activation Code. It is highly recommended that you save this information for your future reference by pressing the Save License Information to File button.

Figure 15 — Deactivation Dialog Box

Press the OK button to close the Deactivation dialog box and return to the Configuration and Activation Manager. Next, press the Apply button. The Registration Wizard is then invoked to process your license deactivation request by one of the two available methods: via direct Internet connection or by e-mail.

Figure 16 — SAMS Activation Request Submission

Internet — If you do have a direct Internet connection, your license management request is immediately processed online and your personal User Certificate is updated in place. Observe SAMS Status Messages for additional information or instructions. Press the Close button to exit the Registration Wizard.
e-Mail — If you do not have a direct Internet connection, press the Close button to exit the Registration Wizard, then follow the license management by e-mail procedure described above.

Press the OK button to exit the Configuration and Activation Manager. Next, exit the Server Studio™ program. Your license is now deactivated and my be subsequently reused to activate the premium features of Server Studio™ on the same, or another host computer.

Managing Sentinel™ Activation

Sentinel™ application server is licensed based of the number of “concurrent connections” to individual data server instances. For example, a single Sentinel™ server installation licensed for 3 concurrent connections can simultaneously service: (i) one data server that runs a point-of-sale and a human resources database instances; in addition to (ii) an inventory management database instance running on a different data server. Each concurrent data server instance connection requires its own license key.

Please note: To perform Sentinel™ application server license management operations, a properly licensed Enterprise or Suite Edition of Server Studio™ is required.

An unlimited number of Server Studio™ clients can work concurrently with each Sentinel™ application server and, in turn, each Server Studio™ client can service an unlimited number of Sentinel™ servers. Figure 17 illustrates this type of “many-to-many” deployment scenario.

Figure 17 — Deployment Scenario Diagram

Select the license management option you plan to use:

Activating Your License

De-activating and Transferring Your License

Error processing SSI file

Product Registration and Activation Guide

Overview

First-Time Registration

Re-using Prior Registration

Overview

Activating Your License

De-activating and Transferring Your License

Activating Your License

De-activating and Transferring Your License

Important