License server issue

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On 12/06/2012 at 05:30, xxxxxxxx wrote:

User Information:
Cinema 4D Version:   13 
Platform:   Windows  ;   
Language(s) :     C++  ;

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Hi,

I have several license server customers, they all pass their multilicense serial number to me and I generate an according license server serial for my plugin (using the C4D SerialHook). It all works fine, my users add the serial and they can run my plugin on their clients. No local serial handling required.

Now I have a customer that states this doesn't work. The correct LS serial of my plugin I generated is accepted in the License server. But he says that when he opens c4d on the client (that he claims is managed by their license server), the serial dialog asks for my plugins serial number.

That doesn't make sense to me. Afai was aware as soon as a client is managed by the respective license server, the SerialHook will receive the multilicense serial digits in SNCheck() (and the GeGetVersionType() server flag is set) right? My assumption is that something is wrong here and the client is not really managed by the LS. Could this be the case? What else could it be?

Quite urgent so any quick help is highly appreciated.

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On 12/06/2012 at 05:47, xxxxxxxx wrote:

More info. The license server correctly shows 26/26 available for my plugin and when the customer starts the client, the availability count is reduced by one. Sounds wrong to me doesn't it? C4D on the client is still asking for a plugin serial during start up and here a quote (WTF) :

die Nummer in der Fehlermeldung landet automatisch in dem (pluginseriennummern) Feld, gleich nach der ersten Fehlermeldung, dass die Lizenz nicht gültig ist.  

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On 12/06/2012 at 06:25, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Just a guess, are you using Read/WritePluginInfo for your serialization? If so please use Read/WriteRegInfo in a license server environment instead.

Also the client does not return VERSIONTYPE_LICENSESERVER in GeGetVersionType() but VERSIONTYPE_STUDIO etc.

cheers,
Matthias

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On 12/06/2012 at 06:35, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Originally posted by xxxxxxxx

Just a guess, are you using Read/WritePluginInfo for your serialization? If so please use Read/WriteRegInfo in a license server environment instead.

Nope, I am not using any of these two. I get the multilicense serial with

GeGetSerialInfo(SERIAL_MULTILICENSE, &si); //In R12+ I of course use SERIALINFO_MULTILICENSE

I am following the process described by Giblet once: https://plugincafe.maxon.net/topic/4411/4045_r11-license-server--snhookclass&KW=SNCheck

Originally posted by xxxxxxxx

Also the client does not return VERSIONTYPE_LICENSESERVER in GeGetVersionType() but VERSIONTYPE_STUDIO etc.

Of course, sorry, my fault. It's of no relation to my problem (I misread the code..that section was for the net server).

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On 12/06/2012 at 07:04, xxxxxxxx wrote:

btw. the license server version is 13.012. Could this make any problems?

As mentioned it works fine for all my other customers.

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On 12/06/2012 at 07:11, xxxxxxxx wrote:

I'm afraid I can't help much. Is it possible for you to check with your customer if SNCheck() on the client's side receives the multi-license serial and the entered plugin serial?

cheers,
Matthias

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On 12/06/2012 at 07:14, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Btw. does this problem show up on one client only in your customers setup?

cheers,
Matthias

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On 12/06/2012 at 08:20, xxxxxxxx wrote:

yes, it shows up on all clients. What I am wondering about is that once the clients serial dialog opens up, the plugin serial field is filled with the full license server serial number. Is that correct? (at least it seems the multilicense serial is passed)

Yeah, I will now go back to the old revision and add a GePrint to see what it does in SNCheck(). Will report back. thx so far

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On 12/06/2012 at 09:22, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Another info from the customer. They use the license server on PC and all clients are MACs. Could this create any problems?

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On 12/06/2012 at 15:59, xxxxxxxx wrote:

PC / Mac shouldn't be an issue (my understanding is that identifying part of the 11 serial digits is no longer used / always set to the same value).

Ask your customer to send you a screen-shot of the "Personalize" dialog when it pops up (the dialog where you enter serial numbers). It will look different IF he is in fact connecting to the License Server than it does in Stand-alone mode (there will be license server info on the left, including lease-times, etc). It may also give you additional info to help track down the problem.

If possible, a screen-shot of the License Server screen, with the (any/all) Serial Packages expanded - this will let you verify that your plugin is registered correctly there (and for the correct version of Cinema 4D, etc).

Cheers.

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On 12/06/2012 at 16:10, xxxxxxxx wrote:

...also, I don't know if I've actually dealt with a R13 version of the License Server itself, but one issue that I get tripped up on from time to time is (snippet from my thread you linked above)...

" 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)."

...my key generator currently (still) always writes out an '11' (for Cinema 4D R11) in the first part of that string - I have to manually change that to a '13' (for example) if the license key is designed to be used by R13 clients.

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On 12/06/2012 at 16:20, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Here's a sample screen-shot of the License Server screen to help:

• check to see if your plugin is listed within the specific Serial Package that he's trying to use.
• check the version number
• check the Licenses count

...if it's not listed within the serial package, make sure that he sent you the correct ("Multi-License...") serial digits that starts with a '2' (see red circled). [NOTE: R13 won't have all those "Mod: xxxx" modules listed, since they are bundled to the app-type now]

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On 12/06/2012 at 17:09, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi Giblet,

first of all thanks for your answers. Screenshots was the first I requested and got from my customer. As I wrote above the license count shows correctly 26/26 licenses, just as his multilicense (though it showed 24/26 but that shouldn't make a difference I assume). The version number is correctly at 13 and is listed in the correct serial package. The multilicense digits are used and yep, also for all my other customers the -0- was never an issue either, no matter if MAC or PC.

It all looks correct in the license server screenshot. Also once he starts C4D on a client, the according availability count is reduced correctly (i.e. my 26/26 become 25/26 and the c4d licenses 24/26 become a 23/26).

Even the stand-alone dialog on the client side, which pops up and shows a "wrong serial number for DPIT", says the connection to the server is established (and it shows the License server plugin serial I generated in the usual plugin serial number field, but only from << to >> of it) . So it all seems to be perfectly fine, still it doesn't work
I never had such an issue before with any LS and I am hoping the console spits out something useful that may get me on the right track (or give any of you a clue what it might be).

Just strangeness...

Anyway, thanks, also Matthias. Much appreciated. I'll report back when I have more insight.

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On 12/06/2012 at 21:30, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Reading your reply makes me wish that all my customers were programers - you covered every issue/question I had with clear answers.

So, hmmm... it sounds like everything is working as expected (except for the part about it ultimately NOT working ). So, like you, I'm puzzled by what's going wrong and/or about that difference in availability counts. I guess maybe there's already one C4D license checked out by someone who is not using the plugin(?).

My only other thought to look into is (what you already have planned as a next step)... to see exactly what's showing up to your SNCheck() routine. As mentioned, I don't think I yet have any experience with an R13 version of the License Server (? dunno what all my customers are using), so maybe something has changed there.

I think the first thing I'd look at is whether that 'extended' license key string is arriving intact ie.:

xxxxxx12345-.....

xxxxxx = 6 chars of your choosing (supposedly ignored by License Server, aside from display)

12345 = last 5 digits of the Serial Package (this seems to be correct, since you say that it's listed within the package on the license server)

- = whatever character you chose to delineate the first part of the string from the actual license key... the thing your SNCheck() code may be searching for.

..... = whatever your license key consists of.

With that in mind, your reply indicates that all of the above is correct (being displayed in the serial number field for your plugin), so I'm as puzzled as you are. Maybe there's some additional (non-printable) characters tacked on the end or something?

Anyway, please report back once you figure it out - thanks :).

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On 12/06/2012 at 21:39, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Oh, one more thought... you may have already suggested this, but you might want to have them re-start the License Server and clients.

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On 14/06/2012 at 11:24, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi,

@Giblet: thanks again. Actually no, I haven't told him to restart, but just did after reading your answer. Anyway, yep, I now got a print from my SNCheck() and...everything is correct (also as an answer to Matthias last question) :

- The multilicense digits and the plugin serial arrive correctly (I ALWAYS tell my customers to enter manually and not via Copy & paste to avoid any hidden characters to be included...he tried both)
- My license server license key is correctly clipped (removing the xxxxxx12345-) remaining the actual serial number to check for..all correct
- What is strange though is that the screenshot shows a | in the middle of the multilicense key (which remains untouched by my code btw.). I have asked the customer if that | is really there or if it is a compression issue of the screenshot image...no answer yet (he must have gone home already).

What the... I also tried other keys (as I have a bundle key, and for each module (Plants/Effex) there is a different serial number possible, so 3 different serials possible depending on which module the user bought) and none of them work.

In 10 years (wow it's actually that long now) I never had a single case where a serial number I generated did not work. I double checked everything. Everything is absolutely super-duper fine and it should work just fine!

Now, the last thing I will do now is to tell him to "unplug" one of the client c4d licenses from the server and try a "normal" single license key (which ultimately is the same without the extra stuff for the license server and 2 other digits) and see if that works.

If it does, there must be something passed by the license server additionally that I cannot track (maybe it is that | character).

Concerning your thoughts about R13 LS being different, I have several LS customers working on R13, no problem for them at least so I safely assume it's not the problem (but maybe it's the LS version itself? I already asked above if 13.012 version may introduce any problems...)

sigh...it's a pita for sure

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On 14/06/2012 at 11:37, xxxxxxxx wrote:

btw. here is the screenshot showing the output (I have blackened the license key for the sake of user's privacy) and the red arrow points at the mysterious | character. This is really just the printing of the si.nr multilicense content. How strange is that? Could this indeed be there?

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On 15/06/2012 at 01:20, xxxxxxxx wrote:

okay, restarting did not help. Also the line character is a cursor ^^

Again Matthias, the license server is on a 32-Bit WinXP pc system and the mac is running 64-Bit iMacs (Lion and Snow Leo). Could this introduce ANY issues?

Also all clients are on at least 13.058 and the LS is on 13.012.

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On 15/06/2012 at 02:39, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Okay, now also got the confirmation that unplugging the client from the LS management does register fine. the serial works in standalone mode. Now I am completely baffled. What the heck could the problem be?
I will go deeper into the serial check and see if something goes wrong there (which must be the case as the multilicense serial is correctly passed, so the only thing that remains is that there is a inconsistency in my code somewhere...)

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On 15/06/2012 at 02:56, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Originally posted by xxxxxxxx

Again Matthias, the license server is on a 32-Bit WinXP pc system and the mac is running 64-Bit iMacs (Lion and Snow Leo). Could this introduce ANY issues?

Okay, I can answer this myself, as one of my other customers has a similar setup and it works for him. So it cannot be that.

Also all clients are on at least 13.058 and the LS is on 13.012.

The customer just told me that the LS has no update so I can assume that all my other R13 LS clients are also running 13.012, so this also cannot be it. Argh, what am I missing? I need vacation.