<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  Professional > Licensing > Change Licensing Mode (useNetworkLicenses Setting)

The EQuIS.exe.config file is part of the EQuIS installation  (typically located at C:\Program Files\EarthSoft\EQuIS or, for per-user installation, %localappdata%\Programs\EarthSoft\EQuIS). Adding the useNetworkLicenses setting to the EQuIS.exe.config file can change the licensing mode to one of the following:

•True – use network licenses

•False – use local workstation licenses

•Config – use network licenses specified in a connection string

 

Add the useNetworkLicenses setting to the EQuIS.exe.config file as follows. For a connection string, the Config mode also requires a section added.

  </appSettings>

[...]

    <add key="useNetworkLicenses" value="true"/>

  </appSettings>

 

If EQuIS Professional is installed to the Program Files, the user may need Windows administrator permissions to modify EQuIS.exe.config.

 

The following sections describe the licensing modes. For information on usage tracking for each mode, see License Logging.

 

useNetworkLicenses = "True"

 

The network licenses are retrieved directly from the active database (or, if present, their license database). EQuIS uses existing local licenses if the network license is not available.

 

useNetworkLicenses = "False"

 

The licenses will be retrieved directly from the local/workstation licenses, saved in the C:\ProgramData\EarthSoft\EQuIS.exe.config file (a separate file with different contents than the EQuIS.exe.config file in the installation folder). Most non-EDGE EQuIS users will not have local licenses.

 

useNetworkLicenses = "Config"

 

The Config licensing mode requires a connection string to the database containing the licenses, such as in the bolded text of the following example. Underlined text indicates information to replace with specific credentials.

 

  </configSections>

    <connectionStrings>

  <clear/>

 <add name="databaseConnection" connectionString="Data Source=myServer;User ID=LicenseUser;Password=LicensePassword;Database=LicenseDatabase;pooling=true;Connection Timeout=600;" providerName="EarthSoft.Common.Data.SqlConnection" />

    </connectionStrings>

  <startup>

 

The network licenses are retrieved directly from the database specified in the Connection String section of EQuIS.exe.config in the EQuIS installation folder. EQuIS uses existing local licenses if the network license is not available.

 

If the user has permission to modify the EQuIS Professional EQuIS.exe.config file at run time (may require per-user installation or to Run as Administrator), then a connection string within that file will encrypt. An example of an encrypted connection string in the EQuIS.exe.config file follows.

 

    <connectionStrings>

  <clear/>

 <add name="databaseConnection" connectionString="RWN3ZSVZdn17bXBJcm+BhHlNaId6iDdhXVeAfY+Sh1txg5aXnJWZjGaPjJ" providerName="EarthSoft.Common.Data.SqlConnection" />

    </connectionStrings>

 

This encrypted value represents the current license server connection information. End-user workstations can use the encrypted connection string in EQuIS.exe.config, allowing them to consume EQuIS network licenses from the specified database without compromising any SQL credentials.