Chapter 4

Licensing

---

Licensing Overview

Start the Setup program—see Starting the Setup Programs.
Choose Licensing. The SPM licensing files are copied to the location you specify. See Setting Up the License Server.
After you have set up your license server, you must generate, request, and install your license keys. This is done through the Softimage Licensing Tools (Lictools) program—see Requesting and Installing New License Keys.
Once the keys are installed, you must start the SPM license server—see License Administration.

Setting Up the License Server

SOFTIMAGE|XSI uses the Software Protection Manager (SPM) to protect and license its software components.

An SPM license server is defined as a computer that has the SPM daemon running on it and grants available licenses upon request. On Windows and Linux systems, this computer also requires a hardware key (dongle) and a TCP/IP connection.

An SPM client is a machine running XSI and protected with the SPM system. SPM clients contact the SPM server and ask for licenses to run XSI. An SPM client may be the same computer as the one defined as the SPM server (in the case of a standalone installation) or a computer connected to the server on the same network communicating through a port.

Installing SPM Components

Start the Setup program and choose Licensing.
Follow the instructions on the screen to install the SPM license components on the machine you designate as the license server.
Before the licensing files are installed, the Setup program checks for the TCP/IP networking protocol (Windows and Linux only).

You can install XSI before installing TCP/IP, but you will not be able to start the server until you install TCP/IP and your license key information has been entered and validated. For more information, see Installing TCP/IP.

Choosing the Port for the Dongle (Windows and Linux Only)

During the installation, you are asked on which port you have installed your dongle.
You can change the port information after the installation by editing the spm-config file.
On Windows: Choose Start > Programs > Softimage Products > Softimage Licensing > Edit spm-config. Or modify the spm-config file directly in \winnt\system32\spm\.
On Linux: You can modify the spm-config file in /var/Spm/.

Requesting and Installing New License Keys

To run XSI, you must have valid license keys. A license is a unit of authentication that enables certain features of the XSI software. License keys are machine-readable representations of at least one license. Keys are stored in a key database which is read by the SPM daemon (license server). On Windows and Linux systems, you must also have a dongle connected to your serial port.

With XSI, you do not edit an existing license. You will have to generate a new license request and receive new license keys every time you install a new version of XSI.

Softimage Licensing Tools (LicTools)

The Softimage Licensing Tools program lets you generate, request, install, and manage your license keys.

To launch the Lictools program

Windows: From the Start menu, choose Programs > Softimage Products > Softimage Licensing > Lictools or type the following in a command prompt window:

c:\Softimage\spm\bin\lictools.exe

Linux: Type the following in a shell:

/usr/Softimage/Spm/bin/lictools

IRIX (for root only): From the Toolchest, choose Softimage Products > Licensing > Lictools or type the following in a shell:

/usr/Softimage/Spm/bin/lictools

Generating and Receiving License Key Information

New license keys are needed to run each new version of XSI. Even if you are an existing Softimage product user, you must complete the License Request form.

To generate and send a license request

In the Lictools window, click the Generate Request button. This generates the request code and displays it in Generate request code dialog box.
Click Save As to save the code to a request file (*.req).

Type the .req extension at the end of the file name in the text to make sure that it is saved properly.

Open the request file in a text editor and copy and paste the information to the License Request Form found at http://www.softimage.com/licensing/. You can also access this form by clicking the button at the top of the Lictools program window.

Below is a sample of the contents of a license request file that should be copied and pasted into the license request form on softimage.com:

# SPM request code: # Lines starting with ‘#’ are comment lines and may be ommitted # All remaining lines are required and must be sent # Please specify in your mail/FAX how many licenses you need *0.9b SOFTIMAGE 1 >dongle_host -00380510-SI0 SISPM-3 #14341 SPS393H0 ZLZH3E5H MALXF3U4 P0SCVAWJ 43ZFVHE9 9YMJMH58 1PUDCPTL ZKJMD3KR V4RF815X Z1USLXMR 0L0Y37TR 00NGAXH6 WH2EXVLJ T9SWGE03 ZPX0

Your request is sent to Softimage and a license keys file (*.keys) will be e-mailed to you.

Installing License Key Information

You must enter the license key information that you received by e-mail. Remember that you have to start the license server after entering the keys.

In the Lictools program window, click the Install Keys button.

A browser opens in which you can select your license keys file (*.keys) and installs the keys in the key database.

Click List keys to view the contents of the keys database.

List Keys also provides you with the beginning (beg_date) and end date (end_date) of your license keys.

License Administration

The Softimage Licensing Tools (lictools) program also lets you perform several license maintenance tasks, such as:

Start and stop your SPM license server.
View the licensing log that was created during setup.
View the Server log.
Verify the status of local and non-local servers.

Starting and Stopping the SPM Server

Once the license keys are installed, you must start the SPM license server. To start or stop the SPM server, you can do any of the following:

From the Softimage License Tools program window, click the Start Server or Stop Server button.
Choose Control Panel > Services > SPM License Server (Windows)
Type /etc/init.d/sispm {start|stop} in a command prompt or shell.

Verifying Server Status

In the Lictools program window, click the Verify Status button to open the Licensing Diagnostics dialog box. You can monitor and check the status of any SPM license server on the network (Spmstat), as well as see the active key databases and currently used licenses. You can also monitor the status of the local server (Check Local Server).

License Troubleshooting

Setup Log File

The Setup log lets you view information about events that occurred during licensing setup. The Setup log file is called license.log and can be viewed by clicking the Setup Log button in the Lictools program window. You can also open this file in a text editor. The license.log file is saved in the /softimage/spm/setup directory.

The following items are registered in the licensing log:

Administrative/super user privileges verification
Hardware key and SPM ID verification (Windows and Linux only)
TCP/IP validation (Windows and linux only)
Verification and backup of existing SPM license server services
Verification of SPM service installation

Server Log File

The SPM Server log is an activity log file maintained for each SPM server that provides information about licenses granted and returned and it also contains warnings about license irregularities.

The log file is called spm.log and can be viewed by clicking the Server Log button in the Lictools program window. The spm.log file is located in \winnt\system32\spm\ (on Windows systems) and in /var/spm/ (on IRIX and Linux).

You can often detect errors by looking at this file. Errors are usually self-explanatory, such as invalid host name, Host ID, etc.

The SPM server will stop if there is no space to write to the smp.log file. In the case of certain Linux installations, the SPM server may stop if the spm.log file becomes larger than 2 GB.

Common Licensing Problems

The following can cause licensing problems:

The hardware key is not installed.
You don’t have a serial port for the dongle. In this case, purchase a USB-serial adapter.
An error in the license file. This can be either a typographical error or a mailer/editor line wrap error.

The contents of the request file that you created and the license keys file that you received from Softimage must not be modified or they will not work correctly.

The license key file does not match the hardware key installed. You may have installed the wrong license key file for the installed dongle.
You are not logged on as administrator (or super user) while installing and configuring your license server.
Make sure that the SPM_HOST variable points to an SPM license server, for example:

SPM_HOST=spmserver1

SPM is very time-sensitive. Before installing SPM, make sure that the correct date and time is set on all your computers (clients and servers).

If the system time does not match the timestamp stored in the dongle, you will be prompted to update the dongle’s timestamp:

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: YOU RISK LOSING YOUR LICENSES IF YOUR SYSTEM TIME IS WRONG. The system time (Wed Jan 16 2009 11:12:49 Eastern Standard Time) Is far ahead of the timestamp in the dongle. If you ignore this message box, SPM service will stop in 180 seconds. Yes to grant permission to irrevocably adjust time in dongle. WARNING! This might terminate your license(s) And/or expire the dongle if system time is wrong No to stop the SPM service Cancel to continue the SPM service after having corrected the system time. Do you really want to irrevocably adjust time in dongle ?

If your system time is correct, answer yes to update the dongle’s timestamp and continue with the licensing procedure.

DO NOT answer Yes if your system time is set to the future. If you answer Yes in such a case, your dongle will need to be reinitialized.

Common Error Messages, Possible Causes, and Solutions

Saving an Empty File

Error Message

**********    Installing license keys    **********
********    Creating new KeyDataBase       ********
SPM_WARNING (C:\WINNT2K\System32\spm\spm_key.exe): 
validation-code version 0.0 is from an old SPM-version.
SPM_FATAL ERROR (C:\WINNT2K\System32\spm\spm_key.exe) 
: (pid=1584) unrecoverable application error.  

Possible Causes and Solutions

An error occurred when copying and pasting from the license keys file. Make sure that the keys are entered correctly.
The hard disk was full. Free some space on the disk and try again.

Cannot Connect to the COM Port

Error Message

********    Generating key request code    ********
SPM_FATAL ERROR (C:\WINNT2K\System32\spm\spm_key.exe) 
: can't access dongle at COM2:. Access denied.
Possible Causes and Solutions 

 
The dongle may be on a different port. Edit the spm-config file to specify the correct port.
 
A previous installation of a Wacom tablet may be blocking access to the port. Disable the Wacom tablet service.

Cannot Open Port

Error Message

********    Generating key request code    ********
SPM_FATAL ERROR (C:\WINNT2K\System32\spm\spm_key.exe): 
   can't open port COM1: for dongle type "SI0".
   The system cannot find the file specified. 

Possible Causes and Solutions

Your computer doesn’t have a serial port. Purchase a USB-serial adapter.
Your serial port has been disabled in the BIOS. Run your BIOS configuration utility and enable your serial ports.

Keylevel Already Used Up

Error Message

**********    Installing license keys    **********
SPM_FATAL ERROR (C:\WINNT2K\System32\spm\spm_key.exe) 
: keylevel already used up; No keys installed. 

Possible Causes

The license is already installed.
You are trying to install an old license.

Cannot Find Token

Error Message

License check for feature 'XSIWindows' was denied.
SPM Error: Can't connect to any SPM license server. 

Possible Causes and Solutions

Your license server is down. Make sure that it is running.
You license server cannot be located. Make sure that the SPM_HOST variable is set correctly.
All your licenses are taken. You are trying to run more seats of XSI over your network than your license covers.

Other Problems

Performance drops when connected to the network as an administrator, while accessing a local SPM server

You may experience a performance drop in XSI on startup, scene loading and rendering from a render region, if your machine is connected to the network and you are logged on as administrator local to your machine, while accessing a local SPM server.

Solution

Do not logon as administrator; logon as a valid user to your network domain.

---