Activation Pro Overview
Welcome to RLM Activation Pro, the most scalable activation system available for RLM licensees. This manual assumes that you are familiar with RLM, the Reprise License Manager.
About this Manual
This is an introduction to the RLM Activation Pro system. This manual is in a tutorial format, and by following the steps, you will install the RLM Activation Pro system, configure it for fulfilling licenses, and do a test fulfillment.
While RLM Activation Pro supports issuing licenses by ISVs who use ISV-defined hostids, this tutorial will not cover ISV-defined hostids. In order to use these hostids, you will need to consult the RLM Activation Pro Reference manual.
Introduction To RLM Activation Pro
RLM Activation Pro allows you to completely automate the delivery and fulfillment of electronic licenses from your website for your RLM-licensed application. It allows you to deliver a pre-generated activation key to your customer, and when they are ready to use your product, a transaction with the activation server running at your site allows the license to be fulfilled without manual intervention. When using activation, there is no need for you to get your user’s hostid information - this is transmitted to the activation server automatically.
In the case of a node-locked product, a typical scenario would be that your customer runs the product on the desired machine, and if the license had not been fulfilled earlier, the product asks for an activation key. Once the activation key is supplied, the license is retrieved transparently. From this point on, the product runs with its license in place.
Floating licenses would operate in a similar manner, except that the number of floating licenses to be activated is required.
How RLM Activation Pro Works
RLM Activation Pro is driven by two main data items - product definitions and activation keys. The RLM License Center tool (RLC) allows you to define various products to be activated.
Product definitions consist of a product definition name, a product name, version, expiration specification, and node-locked/floating indication. In addition, product definitions can contain additional attributes for the license. All product definition attributes are described in detail in the RLM Activation Pro Reference Manual.
Once a product is defined, activation keys can be created. An activation key specifies the product to be fulfilled, the type of fulfillment, and how many fulfillments are allowed by this activation key. In addition, activation keys allow you to specify additional attributes for the license. If any of the attributes specified in the activation key are the same as attributes specified in the product definition, the activation key version of these attributes will be used. All activation key attributes are described in detail in the RLM Activation Pro Reference Manual.
Once activation is set up, you give your customer an activation key, which they then use to retrieve the license for the particular machine which they are using. This happens via the internet, using the RLM Activation Pro license generator (isvname_mklic) on your website.
The request is made by your customer via either calls you make to the activation request API or the Reprise-supplied activation GUI built into the RLM web server.
RLM Activation Pro Components
RLM Activation Pro consists of 5 components:
Web-based activation admin tool (RLC)
Activation server license generator (isvname_mklic)
Activation database (MySQL)
Activation request API (rlm_act_request())
Activation GUI (built into the RLM web server)