Activating Floating User Licenses

Applies to LoadComplete 4.97, last modified on May 20, 2019

If you use a Floating User license, you activate your license on one computer - a License Manager PC. It will control LoadComplete instances running on workstations in your network.

This topic describes how to activate a license on the License Manager PC and how to connect your LoadComplete workstation to it:

Before You Start

After you activate your license on your License Manager PC, it will become bound to that computer. To move your license to another computer, you will have to go through the license deactivation procedure. At that, you may need to contact the SmartBear Sales Team.

To save time in the future, we recommend that you choose your License Manager PC and plan the license activation carefully to avoid unnecessary moves of the license.

1. Select a License Manager PC

  • Your License Manager PC must be a physical computer. Do not activate licenses on virtual or cloud computers.

  • It must always be available to workstations where LoadComplete instances will run. That is why we recommend that you activate Floating User licenses on a server computer.

  • It must have a working network connection. LoadComplete instances running in your network must be able to connect to the License Manager PC.

  • The License Manager PC must allow traffic via TCP and UDP protocols and port 1947. It will use the protocols and the port to exchange data with LoadComplete instances. Make sure that firewalls and proxies running in your network do not block these protocols and ports.

  • We recommend that your computer has an Internet connection. It will use the connection for license activation. After activating the license, it will no longer need the connection.

    It must have access to the SmartBear web server (URLs https://ls1.smartbear.com and http://ls2.smartbear.com, port 443). Make sure the proxies and firewalls working in your network allow the activation requests.

    If your License Manager PC does not have an Internet connection, you will need an intermediate computer that has an Internet connection and that you will use to exchange data with the SmartBear web server. The intermediate computer must have access to the SmartBear web server (URLs https://ls1.smartbear.com and http://ls2.smartbear.com, port 443).

2. Install the Standalone License Manager Utility on the License Manager PC

After selecting a License Manager PC that matches all the needed requirements, install the stand-alone License Manager utility on it. You can get the utility installation modules from the SmartBear web site:

http://downloads.smartbear.com/SmartBearLicenseManager.exe

The utility does not have any special requirements for RAM and hard-disk space. The utility is small and lightweight, and you can install and run it on any (even “weak”) computer.

3. Activate the License on the License Manager PC

If you have an Internet connection on the computer where you activate your license, it will exchange the activation data with the SmartBear web server automatically. Otherwise, you will need an intermediate computer with a working Internet connection that you will use to exchange data between your computer and the SmartBear web server manually:

If you already have an active LoadComplete Floating User license on your License Manager PC and activate another license key on this PC, the key will replace the existing one. If you already have an active Node-Locked license, you will not be able to activate another license key on this PC until you deactivate the existing one. For more information on this, see Using Multiple Licenses on One License Manager PC.

Automatic Activation

  1. Launch the License Management wizard. To do this:

    • If you use the License Manager utility, click the operating system’s Start button (or Windows button). Then select All Programs | SmartBear | License Manager | Activate or Deactivate License from the subsequent menu (All Programs | SmartBear | License Manager | Activate Product Key if you have a LoadComplete version earlier than 3.0).

    -- or --

    • If you have a LoadComplete instance on your computer, launch it. LoadComplete will search for an available license on your computer and in the network.

      If an active license is not found, LoadComplete will display a message box informing you about the problem. To open the License Management wizard, click Activate in this message box.

      If you have an active LoadComplete license, LoadComplete will start. To run the License Management wizard and activate another license, choose Help | Activate or Deactivate License from LoadComplete’s main menu (Help | Activate License if you use a LoadComplete version earlier than 3.0).

  2. On the first page of the wizard, select Activate a new license on this computer.

    If you have a LoadComplete version earlier than 3.0, select Automatic activation on the first page of the wizard.

    If your computer has an Internet connection and has access to the SmartBear licensing web sites (https://ls1.smartbear.com or https://ls2.smartbear.com, port 443), the wizard will choose automatic activation.

  3. On the next page of the wizard, specify the information needed for activation: the user name, company name, email and license key.

    You can find the license key on the LoadComplete 4 page of the My SmartBear section of our web site (https://my.smartbear.com) or in the e-mail message that we sent you after you had requested the license.

    As for other activation data, you can either enter your user name, company name and e-mail, or enter those of the license holder. We recommend that you enter your data.

    After you have specified the activation data, click Next to continue.

  4. On the next page of the wizard, you can specify proxy authentication settings. Quite often, computers in offices connect to the Internet through a proxy server, not directly. Depending on the proxy type, it may ask you to specify the user name and password needed for connecting. Most proxies do not require authentication, so, most likely, you will not need to enter anything. If you are not aware of your proxy type or user name and password, ask your system administrator.

    After you have specified your proxy type and credentials, click Activate. The wizard will activate your license.

  5. If the activation succeeds, you will see the final page of the wizard informing your that the activation is over. You can then close the License Management wizard.

    If the activation fails, the wizard will display an error message explaining the problem.

Manual Activation

Manual activation involves data exchange between the License Manager PC and the SmartBear licensing web sites. For detailed information on activation steps, see Manual Activation Procedure.

After Activation

After the activation is over, you can check whether the license has been activated successfully:

4. Connect LoadComplete Instances to the License Manager PC

After you activate the license, it will become available for LoadComplete workstations in your network:

  1. If LoadComplete is still not installed on your workstation, install it. See Installing LoadComplete.

  2. Launch LoadComplete on the workstation. LoadComplete will search for an activated license first locally and then in the network.

  3. When it will find a suitable activated license, it will start.

If LoadComplete fails to find a suitable license, it will show an error message. To check whether the needed license is activated and available on your LoadComplete workstations:

  1. On your LoadComplete workstation, navigate to the following URL —

    http://localhost:1947/_int_/products.html

  2. Find your Floating User license on the list:

    Licenses available on LoadComplete workstations

    Click the image to enlarge it.

If the license is not on the list, probably, your LoadComplete workstations cannot access the License Manager PC. To learn how to fix this, see Fixing Typical Issues With Floating User Licenses.

Troubleshooting

If you have encountered any issues during the license activation, you can try to fix them manually using instructions from the following topic —

Fixing Typical Issues With Floating User Licenses

To resolve licensing problems, you can use the Licensing Troubleshooter on our web site:

Licensing Troubleshooter

The troubleshooter will also help you collect information and submit a request to the SmartBear Support Team.

See Also

Activating Licenses
Manual Activation Procedure
Using Multiple Licenses on One License Manager PC
Deactivating and Moving LoadComplete Licenses

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