Manual Activation Procedure

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

During automatic activation, the license management modules exchanges data with the SmartBear web server automatically. If you cannot use automatic activation for some reason, you have to send data yourself. This topic describes how you can do this.

In our explanations, we will call the computer, where you are going to activate the license, the License Manager PC as it becomes the License Manager after the activation succeeds.

The entire procedure is very similar for Node-Locked and Floating User licenses. The only difference is that the License Manager PC is the computer where LoadComplete is installed for Node-Locked licenses; and for Floating User licenses, the License Manager PC is the computer where a license is activated. The activation steps do not depend on whether the license is Perpetual or Subscription.

Requirements for Manual Activation

  • Manual activation implies that you manually exchange files between the SmartBear web server and the License Manager PC. To be able to do this, you need to have a computer that has a working Internet connection. You will use this computer as an intermediary between the License Manager PC and the SmartBear web site: you will send files from the License Manager PC to the intermediate computer and then to the SmartBear web site, and will download files from the web site to the intermediate computer and then transfer them to the License Manager PC.

    The intermediate computer must have access to the My SmartBear section of our web site (https://my.smartbear.com). Please make sure that firewalls and proxies working inside your network allow access to this web site.

  • Install LoadComplete (or the standalone License Manager utility) on the License Manager PC. This will install licensing modules are needed to perform the activation. If you are activating a Floating User license, we recommend that you use the License Manager utility. You can get the utility installation modules from the SmartBear web site:

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

Notes:

  • Activate your license on a physical computer. If you need to run load tests in a virtual environment, see Using LoadComplete on Virtual Machines.

  • The computer, on which you are going to activate the license, must not have other license installed. You can activate only one LoadComplete license per License Manager. For more information on this and possible workarounds, see Using Multiple Licenses on One License Manager PC.

  • The Remote Agent utility that is shipped along with LoadComplete does not require activation. You simply install and use it on any number of desired machines.

  • If you activate a Floating User license, make sure that the License Manager PC has a functioning network connection to computers where you will run LoadComplete instances. LoadComplete will check the license on every start and every test run.

Manual Activation Procedure

The manual activation procedure includes the following steps:

1. Start Activation on the License Manager PC

  1. Open the License Management wizard on the License Manager PC:

    • If you are going to activate the license via LoadComplete, launch LoadComplete on the License Manager PC. The LoadComplete licensing subsystem will search for an active license.

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

      If an active license is found, you can run the License Management wizard by selecting Help | Activate or Deactivate License from LoadComplete’s main menu (Help | Activate License if you use a LoadComplete version earlier than 3.0).

    -- or --

    • If you are going to activate the license using the stand-alone License Manager utility, launch it on the License Manager PC. To do this, click the operating system’s Start button (or Windows button). Then select All Programs | SmartBear | License Manager | Activate or Deactivate License from the ensuing menu (All Programs | SmartBear | License Manager | Activate or Deactivate License if you use LoadComplete version prior to version 3.0).

      The utility’s user interface includes the same tabbed pages and controls as LoadComplete’s License Management Wizard does.

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

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

    If you are using a later version, wizard will check if your computer is connected to the Web and if it has access to the SmartBear licensing web sites (https://ls1.smartbear.com or https://ls2.smartbear.com, port 443). If there is no Internet connection or the licensing web sites are not accessible, the wizard will display a notification message and will suggest using offline (manual) activation. Choose using the offline (manual) activation mode.

  4. The wizard will display some information about the manual activation process. Click Next to proceed. The wizard will pass on to the next page where you need to specify the file name.

2. Collect Information About Your License Manager PC

To generate activation data, we need to know certain information on your License Manager PC’s hardware. The wizard collects this information automatically. All you need is to enter the name of the file to which the wizard will save this information. So, in the wizard:

  1. Specify the needed file name (by default, the file’s extension is .c2v).

  2. Click Next to continue. The wizard will save the data to the specified file.

3. Exchange Data With the SmartBear Web Site

Now, you need to pass the file storing the hardware-specific data of your License Manager PC to the SmartBear web site. To do this:

  1. Transfer the .c2v file generated in the previous step to the intermediate computer.

  2. On the intermediate computer, launch any web browser and open the following URL in it (this URL is also mentioned in the License Management wizard running on the License Manager PC):

    https://my.smartbear.com/manual-license-activation/

  3. On the opened web page, specify your license key and the name of your .c2v file. Click Send File. This will upload the file to the SmartBear web site. Note that transferring the file may take some time.

  4. The web site will process the file and generate activation data for your License Manager PC.

    After the web site generates the activation data, it will display a download link for the file that stores this data (this file has the .v2c extension). Download the .v2c file to the intermediate computer.

  5. Transfer the .v2c file with activation data from the intermediate computer to your License Manager PC.

4. Apply the Activation Data

After you have downloaded the activation data file and copied it to your License Manager PC, you can apply the activation data to this PC:

  1. On the License Manager PC, click Next in the License Management wizard. This will display the wizard’s next page with an edit box on it.

  2. Specify the name of the activation data file (.v2c) in the edit box and click Activate. This will save the activation data on the License Manager PC.

5. Finalizing the Activation

If the activation succeeds, the wizard will display a page notifying you that the license has been successfully activated. You can close the wizard then.

In case of an error, the wizard will display a message notifying you about the problems. You will have to solve these problems and try to activate the license again. For information on solutions to problems that may appear, you can use the Troubleshooting and How To sections.

See Also

Activating Licenses
Troubleshooting
How To

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