Licensing
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      How to Manage your Stratodesk Licensing

      Here are some leading practices around Stratodesk licensing, including faq's, trial licenses, and changing the ip address of NoTouch Center

      Stratodesk has made licensing NoTouch easy and painless. You do not have to enter incredibly long serial numbers, fight with expiring licenses and so on. This article describes the technical aspects of licensing. It does not deal with pricing and order processing - please contact our sales for more information about see here how to buy Our process is a bit different than with other vendors, but it is simpler and easier for customers. In 99% of cases, all licensing is done via NoTouch Center. You do not have to do anything on the endpoints; NoTouch Center will "activate" them, i.e. make sure the "I am a demo" message goes away.

      When ordering licenses, you will receive a license bundle that is identified by a transfer code. Transfer codes are short and unique to that specific order and serve as a "pickup code", it is not comparable to typical license serial numbers as it identifies the whole bundle that was ordered. Receiving such a code means you officially own the license.

      The transfer code can be used to generate the license file: In fact, when receiving your transfer code, there is also a link pointing to a web form requesting the NoTouch Center IP address (can be changed later, #IP address change), name, and email address. By IP address we mean the NoTouch Center host's IP address on the local network. After typing in that data, another email is sent with a download link; the file behind that link is a personal license file of type .jar. It is very small, typically 1KB. This file can be applied to NoTouch Center ("Service Center" / "Licenses") to activate NoTouch Center, which in turn will activate the endpoints.

      Note: We have spent a lot of engineering work to make our license emails spam filter-proof. Please check your spam folder if you do not get our emails. It may also help to add license@stratodesk.com to your contacts.

      Contents

      Process overview from customer perspective

      1. After you have bought your licenses, you will receive an email with a link and a transfer code to redeem your licenses. ThisReedem_Stratodesk_NoTouch_License email may be sent from Stratodesk or a solution provider partner. Think of it as a pickup number for this bundle, not as a serial number as other vendors do.
      2. If you visit this link with your transfer code, the system will know about this order and how many licenses are included - and the system will ask you also for the IP address of NoTouch Center, your organization name and your email address. Double-check the email address, as this is where the final license file will be sent to. Notes:
        • In most cases you will already have NoTouch Center, our management tool, installed; either by using our Virtual Appliance or as a standalone installation. In any case, you will need to type in the (internal) IP address of the machine NoTouch Center is installed on. You need to type that IP address into the form. Do not type in a client's IP address - this field is exclusively for the IP address of NoTouch Center.
        • If you do not have NoTouch Center already installed, or do not know the final IP address, then do not yet activate your license. Don't worry, it won't expire so soon: Stratodesk keeps unactivated transfer codes active for one year!
      3. Within a few seconds you will get an email with a link pointing to a file. This is the final license file, named TRANSFERCODE.jar (TRANSFERCODE being your actual transfercode in all-uppercase). If you click on it, the download will be finished momentarily, it is so small, you might not even notice that your browser has downloaded something. So please check your download folder if you think nothing happens - your file will probably be here already.
      4. Apply the license file
        1. Log in to NoTouch Center
        2. Go to "Resources" (in earlier versions it had been called "Service Center"),
        3. click on "Licenses",
        4. upload the .jar file there;
        5. please restart NoTouch Center afterwards.

      License component information

      Only if you wonder what these LMD/MCLI and "Endpoint" and "Management licenses" terms mean - there are usually two different licenses in one:

      • LMD designates the endpoint license, the one to activate the client. It can be assigned to clients and even revoked. If the LMD license is missing, the client(s) will be in demo mode and show messages.
      • MCLI licenses make NoTouch Center actually manage endpoints. Basically this controls the counter of how many devices NoTouch Center will be allowed to manage. If you are lacking MCLI licenses, NoTouch Center will simply refuse management operations on new devices, such as adding to a group or so.

      Now you might ask, don't I always need both - why distinguish? You are right, both the OS and the management application must be licensed in any case. However, there are cases when the operating system is already licensed, such as when you are buying certain Thin Clients from a Stratodesk OEM partner; in that case customers do not need to buy the full NoTouch suite, they would only have to add management to an existing Stratodesk-based OS, i.e. only buy MCLI licenses. In fact, they might even not use management and thus be happy Stratodesk users, but never have been in direct contact with us. Note: The ClearCube C3Pi come with management included - no extra purchase necessary!

      License overview

      In NoTouch Center you can always inspect the license status - how many licenses you have and how many are used:

      1. Log in to NoTouch Center
      2. Go to "Resources"
      3. Click on "Licenses"

      Licenses

      While "Installed", "Used", and "Available" numbers are self-explanatory, the "Type" column "Assignable" shows if individual licenses can be assigned to specific devices or groups or if they represent merely a counter. For example, licenses of type "LMD" are endpoint licenses and can be assigned to specific endpoints, whereas in contrast "MCLI" just represents the number of how many devices can be managed by this instance.

      Assigning licenses

      By default, endpoint licenses will be assigned to any members of the default group or any new group created and all of its subgroups. You have full control though: You can set for each client and each group if it should get certain licenses or not:

      1. Click on the group or client you want to modify
      2. Click on the "Licenses" tab

      Here you can add licenses or delete licenses. Group settings will be inherited by subgroups. Group licenses will be given to machines on adding them to group, and to existing group members.

      Assign_License

      Note: Typically Thin Client OEM software images may never accept nor need endpoint licenses. That means you can easily mix Stratodesk OEM partner Thin Client devices and repurposed PCs/repurposed Thin Clients in one installation and in one group and do not need to worry about wasting licenses on machines that are already licensed.

      IP address change

      If you change the IP address of NoTouch Center, you need a new license file. No problem, please just contact our support so that we can issue a new file for you. When writing to our tech support, please include the following:

      • Old IP address
      • New IP address
      • Screenshot of the #License overview and/or a list of used transfer codes
      • Customer name if not obvious
      • Return email address if different from the one you're writing (e.g. if you are a reseller and contacting us on behalf of an end customer)
      • A scan of the completed License Reallocation Request Form

      Note: A new license bundle with a new transfer code will be created during this process for all of your existing licenses. So no matter how many bundles were used in your existing installation, it will be one big bundle with one transfer code after the transition.

      Please do not use old and new instance at the same time. After a certain grace period this may invalidate both your old and new licenses.

      Important: The new instance of NoTouch must make itself known to all your endpoints! Clients will have the old IP address/URL stored and will try to announce to the old NoTouch Center instance unless you explicitly tell them to go to the new instance! The easiest way is to search for client devices from the new instance. (This is actually why we recommend to not change IP address unless really necessary).

      Please read on here if you are changing the IP address: IP address change

      Demo/free trial license

      NoTouch Center by default includes a five-client trial license; this is built-in and doesn't have to be added or activated. There are no feature restrictions but is limited to 90 days, and cannot manage more than five endpoints. As part of this trial license, it can "activate" three endpoints, so that they do not show the "I am a demo" message any more, that pops up from time to time. That means, with the free trial you can manage five machines, and two of them can be made work without the demo message, the other three will see the unobtrusive and undisturbing trial message from time to time.

      Note: Thin Client devices that come with a NoTouch version preinstalled may not need to be activated at all, so you won't see the demo message there anyway.

      By downloading our software you accept the Trial License Agreement.

      FAQs

      My client is still showing the demo message

      Clients will pick up their license at next announce, the basic communication step between client and NoTouch Center, and stop displaying the demo message. So it may be that your client did not announce yet; you can force it to do that by using the announce action, or you can simply reboot it.

      If the message still persists, check if

      • the #License overview page ("Service Center"->"License") in NoTouch Center and see if your licenses are shown
      • you have enough licenses of type "Endpoint/LMD", please see the #License overview
      • "LMD" licenses are assigned to the group the client is in, or to the client. Please see #Assigning licenses
      • NoTouch Center and the endpoint(s) are communicating properly. Please see Announce

      NoTouch Center says it has a license problem

      According to the detailed error message you can find out what kind of license problem it is:

      • Did you change the IP address of NoTouch Center, or the machine it is running on? This can be solved, there is an easy process regarding IP address change.
      • Do you have more clients to activate and manage than you have licenses? Please place an order with us - call our sales team!

      How can I change my IP address?

      There is an easy process regarding IP address change.

      Can I migrate a licensed installation somewhere else?

      Yes, of course. For example, you may want to

      By using the "Migration Export" feature, existing license files are part of the migration export zip file and don't require any special treatment if the IP address stays the same. In many cases regarding migration however, the new system will have a different IP address than the original one - there is an easy process regarding IP address change.

      I have lost my license (.jar) file. What now?

      No problem - please visit the link again, if you still have the email. If not, go to the Stratodesk redeem page [1] and type in transfer code and your data again. The email address must be the same address as you had used before. So if you use multiple email aliases, make sure you use the correct one.

      Note: Whatever IP address you type in, the system will always issue a jar file based on the original IP address. If you need to change your IP address, please see the appropriate section in this article.

      What are these other license classes like VPN, PT etc.?

      Stratodesk software can manage and license third-party-applications that are inside the NoTouch images. So for example a vendor of VPN clients might hand over a licensed binary to Stratodesk, and request Stratodesk to ensure that only a certain number of copies can be used. That is how many of these license classes came up.

      I have lost my transfer code. What now?

      You will find your transfer code(s) in these locations:

      • The original email you got, stating that you now own licenses
      • In the license overview in the rightmost column
      • The filename of your license files contains the transfer code

      If you have lost your transfer code, your email, and your license files (or never actually activated your license), please contact your reseller or Stratodesk with information about your order, such as order date and your own P/O number so that we can find the order for you.

      What if my company was acquired or renamed?

      Provided your new company is legal successor, which is usually the case in renaming a company or a company acquisition, you do not have to change anything. If you are concerned about the "old" organization name, that is a cosmetic issue that could be solved by reissuing the license file as described in the section about #IP address change.

      How can I buy licenses?

      Please have a look at http://www.stratodesk.com/how-to-buy

      Can I sell or lend my licenses to someone else?

      If you are not an authorized reseller, in general the answer is no, simply because when activated, your license is already issued to you and your specific NoTouch Center instance with your IP address. The legal side of this question is dependent on your jurisdiction. If your whole company is sold however, then you will continue to use the instance as it is, which is no problem, please see #What if my company was acquired or renamed?

      Can I return licenses?

      In general the answer is no, simply because when activated, your license is already issued to you and your specific NoTouch Center instance with your IP address and when activated, licenses are non-refundable. The legal side of this question is dependent on your jurisdiction. Please contact our sales team for more information.

      How do I Redeem my License?

      You can redeem your license Redeem License

      Licensing multiple instances of NoTouch Center

      As described in this article, typically an order leads to one bundle identified by one transfer code, which will finally become a license file for exactly one known NoTouch Center installation; and these bundles can not be split. If you need to license multiple NoTouch Center installations, for example if you are a reseller serving multiple customers, or a customer using multiple NTC installations, please make sure you split your order into multiple positions or even place multiple orders so that the license bundles can be created according to your needs. Do not just order the overall total number!

      Serial number based activation

      If for some reason you can not use or do not want to use NoTouch Center for managing licenses, you can request to get license serial numbers when placing your order. In that case you will get a list of serial numbers/codes instead of the transfer code. One serial number will activate one device, license numbers have to be typed in locally.Activation

      This process is very different from the NoTouch Center based license management, so all of the other information in this article does not apply. When using serial number based activation, these things apply:

      • One number per client, has to be typed in locally
      • Management/NoTouch Center licenses can not be activated with this process
      • IP addresses do not matter
      • No license jar files are involved

      If you want to use NoTouch Center later, you can still get a license .jar file for your NoTouch Center installation, allowing you to manage these devices. In that case the .jar file will of course only contain MCLI licenses, because the LMD licenses are those that were issued as serial numbers (see #License component information).

      Reseller-specific information

      A reseller placing an order on behalf of an end customer will also get an email with a transfer code, as soon as the order is processed by Stratodesk. Resellers should then forward this email to their customer allowing them to get the activated license, or they can activate the license on their behalf. Optionally, a reseller can provide the end customer email address to Stratodesk, then our order processing system will send the license email directly, saving work and time.

      If you order for multiple customers as one, please indicate the different amounts of licenses need per customer (either by order positions, or separate purchase orders), according to #Licensing multiple instances of NoTouch Center. Do not just send us an order with the total sums! You won't be able to split the license bundles once issued.

      Scope and involved third parties

      NoTouch Desktop is a combination product that is made of NoTouch Center, a management application, NoTouch Receiver, an endpoint operating system, and the Stratodesk Virtual Appliance. Products from various third parties are included, so diverse as for example the Linux kernel, which is based on the GNU General Public License (GPL), or binary proprietary components like the Citrix Receiver or the VMware Horizon View client. Please do not try to extract proprietary code from NoTouch, no matter if it is Stratodesk code (such as the configuration application, the modules that communicate with NoTouch Center, etc), Citrix software, VMware software or owned by any other 3rd party. This can lead to civil damage claims and criminal prosecution.

      The license that is granted to you by Stratodesk aims to protect the Intellectual Property of Stratodesk, which includes (but is not restricted to) software, documentation and artwork. It can not and does not restrict your freedoms that the open source world and especially the GPL gives you. For example you are entitled to all source code of the Linux kernel and other GPL components, and you have unlimited redistribution rights for these open-source components. We will of course share all GPL source code with you and support you in open-source related matters. Please contact Stratodesk for more information.

      More information

      For any other question, please contact Stratodesk - we are happy to help!