EASYLABEL4® Multi-User and EASYLABEL 32 Network Installation Instructions
If you purchased the Multi-User license version of EASYLABEL 4, you should have received a CD-ROM, a network Sentinel device, and a 3.5" diskette containing your License Code. It is recommended that you make a copy of this License Code diskette, as this contains the License Code and associated software to enable users to run the EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User software. The license code is installed on the license server computer after the license manager software is loaded and running. This is explained in more detail below.
WARNING In order to use the EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User, the clients MUST be running the Microsoft TCP/IP protocol. DO NOT attempt to install this software if the clients are using the Novell NetWare TCP/IP protocol. All computers used with the EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User (the server and all client machines) must have the Microsoft TCP/IP protocol installed and configured correctly. Microsoft TCP/IP is the protocol used by the license management software to communicate between the client machines and the license server.
The general steps to install the EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User are as follows:
NOTE: All of these software installation steps can be performed by following the appropriate menus from the "autorun" screen that displays when the CD-ROM is inserted. These steps are listed here to give you a more "behind-the-scenes" look at what is involved.
Select a computer that will be the license server. This computer must be running Windows 95b, 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP. In order to serve licenses to other computers on the network, the computer selected as the license server must be running and have the license server application loaded. In general, you should select a computer (perhaps your network server), that remains powered on.
It is HIGHLY recommended that you close all programs and disable any anti-virus software that may be running before proceeding with the installation of the software.
Plug the Multi-User Sentinel device into a parallel port on the selected computer. The Sentinel device and the associated license code define the number of users allowed to run the EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User application.
It is recommended that you install the Sentinel device drivers on the license server. Run SETUP.exe from the SENTINEL folder on the CD-ROM. This step is performed automatically if you use the "autorun" installation screens. The client computers DO NOT need these drivers, this is for the license server only.
Load the license server application on the selected computer. In order to start the license server software, you must re-boot the computer after installation of the license server. For Windows 95b/98/ME, the license server will show up on the task bar as "Sentinel LM". For Windows NT/2000/XP you should see "lservnt" running in the Task Manager display.
Once the license server is running, the license code needs to be added to the license server. Insert the License Code diskette, then run "license.bat". This can be done from Windows Explorer (double click the file name), or from a command prompt by switching to the floppy disk drive and entering "license". This step needs to be done only once. Reboot the LM Server machine.
Once the server is licensed, nothing further needs done with it. The license server software will start up anytime the computer is restarted.
The next step is to install the client version of the EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User software on the selected client computers. This can be installed on as many computers as needed, the license server will make sure that the number of copies running does not exceed the licensed user count. If there are no more licenses available, the user will be notified, and EASYLABEL will not start. For example, if you have a 5 user license, and EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User is installed on 8 computers, only 5 of them can use the application at one time. If a user exits EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User, then the license becomes available to another user.
Additional Notes:
To make sure that each client computer can contact the license server, you may wish to run the LSMON.EXE utility on each client computer. This utility program is on the License Code diskette (you can also find it in the NETUTIL folder of the CD-ROM). This program contacts the license server, displays the machine name of the server, and also displays information about the number of licenses currently in use, and the number of licenses available.
If the license server computer is running Windows 95b/98/ME and a screen saver program is enabled, the screen saver may interfere with the license server program. You can prevent this by modifying the "shortcut" for the license server program. Edit the Target field of the shortcut and add -b to the end of the line (after the ending "). You will have to reboot the server for this to take effect. This causes the license server to run in the background as a service. You will no longer see the license server in the taskbar.
When a user starts the EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User application, the license server will "give" that copy a license to run. When the application exits, it "gives" the license back to the server. In the case where a client computer crashes, or the user powers off the computer without properly shutting down, the license server recognizes this fact and will take back the license (after a timeout period, currently set to 5 minutes).
If for some reason, the server crashes, or the network sentinel device stops working; the client computers will recognize this and issue a warning message. There is a built in protection period (currently set to 48 hours) where the clients will continue to run without contact with the license server. This requires that the client computers not be shut down or powered off during the 48 hour period. The message issued to the users indicates that they should contact their system administrator to correct the problem. If the server is restarted, then clients will continue to run normally. If for some reason, the server cannot be restarted within 48 hours, then the EASYLABEL application issues a warning and then exits (saving any work in progress). Again, once the problem is corrected and the Sentinel License Manager is restarted, all clients will operate normally and no more warnings will be issued.
The license server can be moved to another computer by simply uninstalling it and re-installing on the new computer. To uninstall the license server, select Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs. Select the "SentinelLM Server" and then click the "Add/Remove..." button. To install the license server on the new computer, simply repeat the steps used during the initial installation of the license server software. Remember to move the Sentinel device to the new computer. Be sure to check the EASYLABEL clients for the LSFORCEHOST or LSHOST environmental variable and change it to point to the new License Manager Server.
It is recommended that you DO NOT install the EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User version on a computer that already has the standalone EASYLABEL full version installed. The reason is that both will try to register as ActiveX servers for the EASYLABEL ActiveX objects. This may cause problems with any ActiveX client applications that use the EASYLABEL ActiveX objects. The EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User version can co-exist with the Gold or Silver versions.
In the NETUTIL folder on the CD-ROM are utilities that accompany the license server software. These are provided so that knowledgeable system administrators can use them. The documentation for these utilities is in the NETDOC folder (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format). These utilities are provided "as-is" and without any software support regarding their use.
When EASYLABEL 4 Multi-User is started on a client computer, the software does a "broadcast", looking for the license server. When the server sees the broadcast message, it replies to the client, and license negotiation begins. This process can take anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds, depending on network speed and traffic. This process can be sped up by setting each client computer to look specifically to one computer as the license server. Under Windows 95b/98/ME this is done by adding the following line to the "autoexec.bat" file on each client computer:
set LSFORCEHOST=<hostname>
Where <hostname> is the computer name or IP address of the license server.
To set LSFORCEHOST in Windows NT/2000 or XP, go to Start | Settings | Control Panel | System | Advanced | Environment Variables. Click 'New' in the frame marked 'System Variables' and enter LSFORCEHOST for the 'Variable Name' and either the hostname or the host IP address for 'Variable Value'.
If <hostname> is a computer name, DNS name resolution is performed to get the IP address of the host. In some cases, this may take several minutes if the server is connected to the Internet, as DNS tries to resolve the name using the Internet connection. This scenario can be avoided by using the actual IP address for the <hostname>. For example:
use: LSFORCEHOST=192.168.1.1
instead of: LSFORCEHOST=myserver
Using the IP address instead of a hostname results in an almost instant connection to the license server.