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Installation and configuration of the licensing agent

Thomas Schempp
  • Updated

Note: Instead of the license agent, we recommend Active Directory licensing or Entra ID licensing

 

Preparatory steps

General

  1. Make sure you have your license key to hand.
  2. Make sure you have your axes4 ID to hand if you already have one. Alternatively, create an axes4 ID.
  3. Clarify what name you want to give the team license account – this will usually be the name of your organization.
  4. Make sure that you have the domain user names of all users and/or the domains to which you want to assign licenses.

In regard to the server

  1. Make a note of the host name of the server on which the licensing agent is to be installed.
  2. Decide whether you want to use the standard port 29374 or an individual port. The port is already enabled in the Windows firewall during installation.
  3. If necessary: Configure additional firewalls in your network so that the clients can access the licensing agent.
  4. If not already present: Create a TLS certificate for your server.
  5. Make sure you have your license key to hand.

License management: Create or select a team license account

  1. Log in to the license management with your axes4 ID.
    Screen view: axes4 Login

    You will automatically be taken to license management:
    Screenshot: License management with the overview view of licenses in the personal account

  2. Click the button next to the personal license account:
    Screenshot: License management with the overview view of licenses with highlighted account drop-down menu

    The accounts menu opens:
    Screenshot: License management with the overview view of the licenses with the account menu expanded

  3. Click on the + Create license account button. The Create license account dialog box opens:
    Screenshot: 'Open license account' dialog box with input field for entering the name of the license account

  4. Enter a name of your choice for the new team license account (=team account) in the License account name field and confirm by clicking Create license account. You will be taken back to the main page of the license management and are immediately in your new team account:
    Screenshot: License management with newly created team account and still empty overview view of licenses

Installing the licensing agent

  1. Download the licensing agent.
  2. Install the licensing agent on your own server.
  3. Enter the host name (or IP address) and the port during the installation process.

Activate the licensing agent

  1. Open the licensing agent at the configured address in the browser: https://<hostname>:<port>/admin
  2. Log in to the licensing agent as administrator of the team license account with your axes4 ID.
  3. Activate the licensing agent using the corresponding button.
  4. Specify the name of the licensing agent. We recommend the word “Agent” as part of the name.

License management: Adding a license to the team license account

  1. Log in to axes4 license management.
  2. Access the team account created above.
  3. Make sure that you are really in the correct team license account (and not in your personal license account).

  4. Click Add license
    Screenshot: License management with newly created team account and still empty overview view of the licenses. A license can be added to the account via the 'Add license' button.
  5. In the Add license dialog box, enter your license key in the input field and click Confirm.
    Screenshot: 'Add license' dialog box with input field for entering the license key.

  6. In the next dialog box, you will be asked to confirm your entry, as you can only enter the license key once. Click Confirm:
    Screenshot: 'Add license' dialog box with feedback that the license key has been found. The 'Confirm' button can be used to complete the addition.

  7. Your license will now appear in the license overview:
    Screenshot: License management with an overview of all licenses.

Assigning the license(s) to the licensing agent

  1. Open the detail view of the added license by clicking on the corresponding link. The card with the license information opens:
    Screenshot: License management with the detailed view of a license.

  2. In the Mapping card, switch to edit mode by clicking the pencil button at the top right:
    Screenshot of the license administration: This view shows the 'Mapping' card which allows to add user to alicense.

  3. If you click the Add user button, the Add a user to this license dialog box opens:
    Screenshot of the license administration. This view shows the dialog box 'Add user' to this license. It contains the 'E-Mail' input field and the 'Cancel' button as well as the 'Add user' button.

  4. Start typing the name of the agent in the E-mail field and then select it from the list.
  5. Click Add user.
  6. Click Save.

Licensing agent: Assigning licenses to users

  • Open the licensing agent in the browser: https://<hostname>:<port>/admin
  • Select Licenses in the main menu.
  • Assign the desired applications from the purchased licenses to domains or domain users. The Assignments card can be edited using the pencil icon at the top right.

Configuring the TLS/SSL-certificate

A self-signed certificate is created when the agent is installed. For productive operation, we recommend creating your own certificate that is considered trustworthy by the clients.

Note: A self-signed certificate is not automatically considered trustworthy by the clients. This means that communication from the manager to the agent does not work at first. If you want to use the self-signed certificate, you will find instructions here on how to make it trustworthy for the clients.

In the appsettings.json file of the licensing server, you can configure your own certificate via the Windows Certificate Store or as a PFX file:

Configuration for the Windows Certificate Store

"Kestrel": {
  "EndPoints": {
    "Https": {
      "Url": "https://*:@@PORT@@",
      "Certificate": {
        "Subject": "<subject>",   // Required; example: "ad.axes4.com"
        "Store": "My | TrustedPublisher | <etc.>",   // Required
        "Location": "<CurrentUser | LocalMachine>",   // Optional, defaults isLocalMachine
        "AllowInvalid": "true | false"   // Optional, defaults is false
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration for a PFX file

"Kestrel": {
  "EndPoints": {
    "Https": {
      "Url": "https://*:29374",
      "Certificate": {
        "Path": "<path to .pfx file>",
        "Password": "<certificate password>"
      }
    }
  }
}

The change takes effect as soon as the agent service is restarted.

Installing the axes4 products on the client

You can download our products here: axesWord | axesSlide | axesPDF

All necessary components are installed with the respective setup. This includes the axes4 license manager and all required .NET components.

With our setups, so-called silent installations are also possible.

Note: The axes4 License Manager is not a service, but an application that runs in the background in the user context. By default, the axes4 License Manager is installed accordingly and stored for autostart. You should take this into account when making adjustments to the setup.

Adjustment of the registry value for the license manager

In order for the client to find the agent, you must specify in the registry where the licensing agent can be found.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\axes4\Licensing\Manager
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\axes4\Licensing\Manager
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\axes4\Licensing\Manager
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\axes4\Licensing\Manager
  • Create a String Value with the name ActiveConnections and the value agent.
    Create a String Value with the name AgentBaseUri and the address of the licensing agent in your network.

Network communication

Configure firewall(s) for the licensing agent

  • Inbound (communication of the clients to the licensing agent): https TCP port 29374 (default port).
    The licensing agent does not receive any communication initiated from outside your network. It only receives responses to requests that it has made itself. Our recommendation is therefore to completely block any type of externally initiated communication.
  • Outbound (communication from the licensing agent to the axes4 licensing servers): TCP port 443.

Communication channels

  • Requests to the axes4 license server always go from the local licensing agent to the address: https://api.axes4.com
  • Authorization requests always go to the same address: https://auth.axes4.com
  • The following URI must be open so that the licensing administrator can log on to the licensing agent: https://id.axes4.com
  • The axes4 software (client) does not necessarily have to establish a connection to the Internet. All external communication can take place via the licensing agent.

Configuring the proxy for the licensing agent

The following proxy settings can be configured in the appsettings.json file of the licensing server:

"proxy": {
    "policy": "wininet | winhttp | noproxy | custom",
    "address": "https://<host>:<port>,   [only for custom proxy]
    "credentials": {
        "policy": "none | default | custom",
        "username": "<username>",  [only for custom credentials]
        "password": "<password>",  [only for custom credentials]
        "domain": "<domain>"       [only for custom credentials]
  }

The change takes effect as soon as the agent service is restarted.

Optional features of the licensing agent

The following optional features can be configured in the appsettings.json file of the licensing server.

ActivatedUserMapping

The agent records which users have a valid product activation and displays this in the agent. This data is not transmitted to the axes4 server.

"Features": {
    "EnableActivatedUserMapping": true|false,    // default is true
    ...
  },

LogPII (personal identifying information)

The agent's local log file logs when a user requests a license from the agent.

Possible values included are: User name, domain name, device name.
This information is local to the agent and is not transmitted to axes4.

If the feature is deactivated, the values in the local log file are replaced with *.

"Features": {
    ...
    "EnableLogPII": true|false    // default is true
  },

The change takes effect as soon as the agent service is restarted.

Log files

The log for the axes4 licensing agent can be found at

C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\axes4\Licensing Agent

The log level can be configured in the appsettings.json file of the licensing server (from version 1.3):

"Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Trace | Debug | Information | Warning | Error | Critical | None",
      "Microsoft": "Trace | Debug | Information | Warning | Error | Critical | None",
      "Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime": "Trace | Debug | Information | Warning | Error | Critical | None",
      "System.Net.Http": "Trace | Debug | Information | Warning | Error | Critical | None"
    }
  }

The log for the axes4 license manager can be found at

%appdata%\axes4\Licensing\manager.log

The log level of the license manager cannot be configured.