Forest Pack Licensing Guide

Forest Pack Licensing Guide

Overview

Software License Management is available in two models, Stand-alone and Floating/Network licenses. Under a stand-alone license, any given product is constrained to a certain host. A license is needed for each computer that the software will be installed on. In floating license mode, a pool of licenses is available on the server, for use in any computer on the network. You only need to have licenses for the maximum number of simultaneous users expected, not for each computer where the software will be installed.

Depending on the size of your business and expected use of the software, one of the two models is usually preferred. In small sites with few computers, the Stand-alone licenses is fast and easy to deploy, the licensing process is part of the software installation, leaving the software ready to use in one step. For larger sites, the floating network licensing is preferred because it provides more flexible use of licenses, you only pay for simultaneous users and not for nodes, while the centralized management tool simplifies control of all your licenses.

Stand-alone License

The Stand-alone license ties a single software application to a single computer. This method of licensing requires a machine's unique identifier (SID) to be incorporated in the license activation process. After buying the product, an generic license code is sent to you, the license is installed and activated. In the activation process the license is linked to the computer and can be used only for that computer.

Floating Network Licenses

Network licenses (also known as floating licenses) allow multiple users to share a limited pool of licenses in a local network. After installing the License Server on a server machine, the server will handle requests for licenses from the users computers. If you have a team of 20 people and 10 licenses for a product, the entire team will share access to the 10 licenses, while no more than 10 people can use the software at the same time.

While Stand-alone licenses use a license file installed and activated for each computer, and can be used only in that machine, the network licenses are installed and activated only one time in a server. When a license request arrives, the server determines whether the proper license for a requested product is available. If an appropriate license is present and not in use, the server will allow access to the software.

As the licenses are stored on a server, you cannot use the software if you are not connected to the network. Although the server software does not require a powerful system, it is mandatory that the computer hosting the license server be running and available while there are computers using the licensed software.

License Activation

When you acquire a license from Itoo Software, a generic license code is sent to you. Before using the software, this license must be linked to your hardware, this process is called activation. You can activate the license during the software installation (only for Stand-alone mode), or from the License Manager once the software is installed.

During the activation of a license, you can choose two different methods, Automatic or Manual. With Automatic activation you must be connected to the Internet, the software will connect with our activation server through a secure connection, and the activation codes will be sent and installed automatically. No personal information is sent during the process.

If you experience difficulties with on-line activation, or the computer where you are using the license does not have Internet access, you can use Manual activation instead. In this case, the software gives to you the necessary codes and a link to our secure activation page. In this web page, you enter the codes and the activation key is generated. Write or print out this code, and provide it when the Activation Wizard runs, then the license will be activated and ready to use.

For security reasons, our activation server allows you to activate a license only a certain number of times (5 by default). If you exhaust the maximum number of activations, please send us an email at activate@itoosoft.com, we will increment the activation counter associated with your license. In the authorization process, the server informs you of the number of activations remaining.

In either case, if you have trouble during the activation, please contact us at activate@itoosoft.com.

Network rendering licenses

Our commercial plugins require a license for each computer, to open or edit the scenes, but NOT for network rendering nodes. The installation for slave nodes is much simpler, and does not requiring licenses or activations.