Steps to enter plugin serial into License Server

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On 30/03/2012 at 18:29, xxxxxxxx wrote:

User Information:
Cinema 4D Version:   R11-R13 
Platform:   Windows  ;   Mac OSX  ; 
Language(s) :     C++  ;

---------
Since I don't have a Maxon License Server to test with, could someone provide me steps to entering a plugin serial number (for the server) into the License Server?  Then I could add this to my installation instructions to make life easier for customers.

Thanks!

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On 01/05/2012 at 08:18, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hey Robert,

Here's a copy of my (typical) instructions...

  
-------------- S N I P --------------   
Thanks - Below is your X-seat multi-user license key for Riptide Pro...   
Riptide Pro [11-0-1022532] <<RipProAAAAA-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>>   
...you'll need to make that line above available / accessible to the machine running the License Server software (ie. forward this e-mail there, or save it out to a text file that can be accessed from there).   
  
1. Click the "Add Serials" button at the top of the License Server screen.   
2. Copy/Paste that line into the text-entry/dialog box that opens and click OK.   
3. The plugin license should then show up listed under that Serial Package (with last 5 digits mathing the "AAAAA" digits above) and any machines using that Serial Package should have access to the plugin.   
  
The plugin itself will need to be installed on any machine that needs to use it, but doesn't need to be installed on the License Server machine (unless it's used as one of the clients). You will also need to re-start Cinema 4D on the client machines for the plugin/license to show up.   
-------------- S N I P --------------   

(I replaced some digits above with AAAAA and/or XXXXX's in this example)

Cheers.

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On 01/05/2012 at 09:48, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thanks, Keith! :)

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On 02/05/2012 at 02:10, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Keith,

That's extremely useful, thank you. Especially since I can't find much info from Maxon about how to make a plug licence server friendly.

One question: I take it your plugin parses the line of text pasted into the serials box? That is, there's no standard format documented anywhere?

Thanks,

Steve

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On 02/05/2012 at 05:14, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi Steve,

I actually have a detailed post about this that you might find helpful...

here's the link

...the post was started back in 2009, so I had to do a deep search to find it again. All the info still seems to be valid - but it was written when R11 was released, so be sure to set the appropriate version number for other versions. ie. in my example...

  
Mod: Hair :                           [11-0-1017643]      <<40300012345-AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD>>   
  
...the next part (enclosed in square brackets) is important. The '11' is the C4D version, the '0' is the platform   
(Mac or PC, but generally no longer used - I think this can always be '0') and finally, the PluginID of the plugin   
being registered (ie. you need to insert your plugin's ID here).   

...make sure that the '11' is set to the proper Cinema 4D version.

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On 02/05/2012 at 08:36, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thanks Keith. I remember you did that now, but it was a while ago and it's a pity there's no collection on this site of links to the really useful posts. Things that you can't find anywhere else.

I'll study that in detail, thanks again.

Steve

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On 02/05/2012 at 11:46, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi again Keith,

I've read through that very informative (and very complete) post you made and I think I've got how to implement this in the code.

Just one practical question, if I may (hopefully this isn't anything confidential) do you include handling a licence server in the 'regular' build of your plugins or is the licence server version a separate build? If so, then presumably customers have to contact you directly to request a licence server edition, and negotiate a price depending on the number of seats - is that correct?

Thanks,

Steve

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On 02/05/2012 at 13:16, xxxxxxxx wrote:

I handle both types (License Server and stand-alone) in all of my plugins (erm.. that is, not separate plugins).

I probably need to add some additional verbiage to my web site to help avoid this, but what typically happens is:

1. User purchases plugin - with no mention (and sometimes no knowledge) that they are running on a License Server setup.

2. I thank them for the purchase and send them the generated license key.

3. They write back, informing me that the key is not working.

4. Assuming they entered it correctly, the #1 reason for failure would be that they are using the License Server, so I ask them about that and start (retroactively) negotiating a price for the number of seats that they need.

...of course as part of #4 above, I also explain the situation / limitations (ie. can't sell them a 'single' seat for use within a multi-seat license/environment) and offer to let them cancel the order if this issue is catching them off-guard and/or they need some time to consider it, but I can't recall off-hand a case where they we didn't come to some agreement.

I give them credit for the payment they already sent and often send them a PayPal request/invoice for the balance... or because it's often a business/company purchase, I will sometimes refund the original purchase and send an invoice for the full amount - for their record-keeping purposes.

Once the payment is worked out, I also have to get the "Multi-License" digits from them (instead of the "CINEMA 4D" digits) and then send them the appropriate (License Server style) license key with instructions (see above) on how to enter it into the License Server.

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On 02/05/2012 at 13:33, xxxxxxxx wrote:

...just to clarify a bit more on the first part of your question...

If you look at the 5th post in that thread, where I start listing the example code, what I basically do is:

* Set up a couple strings that I need to validate the license key (the C4D serial number and they license key that I sent them).

* If it's R11 or later, I then check to see if it's being called from a License Server environment...

* If it IS, then I fix up/adjust the 2 strings before moving on.

...basically, after that point in the code, my plugins don't need to know (or care) whether it's License Server or stand-alone (the exception to this statement is that the DEMO mode of my plugins do not work in a License Server environment, so I do check for that just below there in the DEMO parsing code).

In the case of the License Server, the license key is generated based on the 11 digits from the "Multi-License" serial number, which includes the (total) seat-count. My validation process also uses those same 11 digits, so from the plugin's perspective as long as the validation passes, it doesn't matter if it's a single or multi-seat license.

Just note that I left out my validation code (of course), as well as even some of the DEMO parsing code in the example that I posted.

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On 03/05/2012 at 01:04, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thank you very much for this, it's very helpful and makes it clear how to handle this issue. The only thing I'm left thinking is that it's a pity there's no way of telling from a C4D serial that this is a licence server serial. Then you'd avoid the non-working plugin serial problem because you would know that a single serial wouldn't work from the start, before you issued the serial to the user.

I've had several instances of the 'serial not working' email from users but there's always been a reason other than licence server, so I've yet to see this happen. Which is why I'm (perhaps belatedly) trying to make sure that I can handle it correctly when it does :-)

Thanks again,

Steve

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On 03/05/2012 at 06:01, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Yeah, the problem is that they send you the wrong serial digits (the ones from the CINEMA 4D entry (starting with a '1') instead of the Multi-License entry (starting with a '2')), so it looks like any other stand-alone serial digits.

I really should get some better info on my site about multi-user licensing... not everyone would see/read it, but it should still help eliminate some of the problems.

On 05/03/2015 at 07:58, xxxxxxxx wrote:

I don't have a license server to test on so could someone clarify something?

The instructions given to the plugin purchaser are:

Riptide Pro [11-0-1022532] <<RipProAAAAA-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>>
  
...you'll need to make that line above available / accessible to the machine running the License Server software (ie. forward this e-mail there, or save it out to a text file that can be accessed from there).
  

  
1. Click the "Add Serials" button at the top of the License Server screen.
  
2. Copy/Paste that line into the text-entry/dialog box that opens and click OK.
  
3. The plugin license should then show up listed under that Serial Package (with last 5 digits mathing the "AAAAA" digits above) and any machines using that Serial Package should have access to the plugin.
  

  
The plugin itself will need to be installed on any machine that needs to use it, but doesn't need to be installed on the License Server machine (unless it's used as one of the clients).  You will also need to re-start Cinema 4D on the client machines for the plugin/license to show up.

How does the license show up in the client machine?

If I do:

multi = c4d.GeGetSerialInfo(c4d.SERIALINFO_MULTILICENSE)['nr']

do I get back the 11 digit C4D serial number, or am I getting back the 11 digit serial plus the 'XXXX...'
portion of the code:

Riptide Pro [11-0-1022532] <<RipProAAAAA-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>>

pasted into the license server?

On 05/03/2015 at 14:18, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi terrachild,

I think my best answer is to direct you to my other thread where I walk through the process/implementation here: https://plugincafe.maxon.net/topic/4411/4045_r11-license-server--snhookclass.

The short answer is that what would be returned to you - based on my example - is "RipProAAAAA-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" (without the quotes).  Since I use a '-' as a marker, I just search for that and grab everything after that as the plugin's serial number for comparison.  In the code, it's the part that looks like so:

            //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
          // Note that we also need to skip over the extra data added to the front of the  
          // plugin's license key (11 digits/characters and a dash)...  
          //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
          LONG dashPos;  
          if(sn.FindFirst("-", &dashPos,0))  
          {  
              plug_sn = sn.SubStr(dashPos+1, sn.GetLength()-dashPos-1);  
          }

...at that point, the 'plugin_sn' variable contains the plugin's serial number.

On 05/03/2015 at 16:34, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Okay, that makes more sense.
So the server knows which plugin is calling:

multi = c4d.GeGetSerialInfo(c4d.SERIALINFO_MULTILICENSE)['nr']

and only sends back the appropriate code for that plugin?

Ex.

One called RipPro1, and another called RipPro2, each with a different plugin id, will get back different results from that call.?

On 05/03/2015 at 19:29, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Yes, though it has more to do with the unique plugin IDs (that is part of the string that you register the plugin with) than the name - that name part ('RipPro' in this example) is basically ignored by C4D - it's just 6 filler characters before the (important part) 5 digits ('AAAAA' in this example) that match the last 5 digits of the Serial Package that it's being registered to.

Of course in my implementation, all the plugin cares about is the serial text that follows that (after the dash).

EDIT:

Just to clarify, in the string that is used to register the plugin on the License Server:

_<_t_>_

Riptide Pro [11-0- **1022532** ] <<RipProAAAAA-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>>

<_<_t_>_

...the " 1022532" digits are my (Riptide Pro) unique plugin ID - replace that with your own plugin ID.

That other thread that I linked goes over each part of the string and it's importance/usage.

On 05/03/2015 at 21:21, xxxxxxxx wrote:

I read over your other post before asking here, but I needed a little clarification to get my head around the concept.

Thanks.

PS Could you chime in over at this post? 
https://plugincafe.maxon.net/topic/8561/11178_plugin-pricing-for-license-server

On 06/03/2015 at 05:55, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thanks, one last thing: If the user is on a license server and they haven't put my plugin's code into their server, then what do I get back when I call:

multi = c4d.GeGetSerialInfo(c4d.SERIALINFO_MULTILICENSE)['nr']

from my plugin.

An empty string?
Or just the multi-license code for C4D?

On 06/03/2015 at 11:27, xxxxxxxx wrote:

You seem to have a somewhat different implementation than me, because at the point where that question would be relevant in my code, I'd be looking at the 'sn' variable passed into the SNCheck() hook to verify the plugin's license and then validating that (with conditional fall-through coding) - which would either be blank or wrong (if they used a license generated for a stand-alone setup), so I'm not exactly sure how to answer your question, but my guess would be blank, yes.