License Activation Utility

  • Updated

The License Activation Utility for XCOPY Deployments

InRule supports a License Activation Utility that allows a user to activate and deactivate licenses and/or register the Event Log Source without running the MSI installer.  The Activation Utility is a WPF application with a full Windows UI, but it will run silently if started with command line arguments. The InRule License Activation Utility ships with versions 4.1.3 and later.

After installation of any InRule component, the ActivationUtility.exe file will be available in the <InRule installation directory>\ActivationUtility folder. This folder can be XCOPY deployed to machines that require deployment, license activation and/or Event Log Source registration without running the InRule MSI installer.

A sample screen shot of the utility is below. A given machine only requires activation one time, and then InRule DLLs may be deployed to any location on that machine.

mceclip0.png

Activating a new license

When you receive a license key for an InRule product or feature, you need to activate it before it can be used on the machine. To do this:

  • If your computer is not connected to the internet or otherwise cannot access the InRule license server, check the "I don't have an internet connection" box near the top of the form.
  • In the "Activate Licenses" section, enter your name and organization.
  • Enter your license key in the space provided. You may enter more than one key, one per line.
  • Click Activate.

Reactivating an existing license

If your time-bound license has expired or is about to expire, you can reactivate or refresh it once InRule updates the license server with your new expiration date.

  • If your computer is not connected to the internet or otherwise cannot access the InRule license server, check the "I don't have an internet connection" box near the top of the form.
  • In the "Activated Licenses" section select the affected key(s).
  • Click Reactivate.

Deactivating an existing license

You may also deactivate a license in order to free it up for use on another computer.

  • If your computer is not connected to the internet or otherwise cannot access the InRule license server, check the "I don't have an internet connection" box near the top of the form.
  • In the "Activated Licenses" section select the key(s) you wish to deactivate.
  • Click Deactivate.

Managing the event log

You may install or uninstall the InRule Event Log source. For more information, see Event Log Details.

Note: Unlike the InRule Installer, the Activation Utility does not automatically attempt to create an InRule-specific Event Log Source/section.  In order to perform this recommended function, you will need to run the utility by right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator".  Installation and un-installation of the InRule Event Log Source is then accomplished using the button at the bottom of the Activation utility's GUI.  The action is independent of activating/deactivating licenses but can be performed in the same session.

Command Line interface

In addition to the Windows user interface, the License Activation Utility also supports a command line interface so that it can be invoked from scripts or code. If a given operation is successful, the process will exit a code of zero. If the operation fails, then a non-zero exit code will be returned. During execution, all output is written to the Windows Standard Output Stream as well as a log file.

The following command line arguments are supported:

-u <username> (required)

Sets the name of the user that will be logged with the license activation

-o <organization>

Sets the name of the organization that will be logged with the license activation

-a <license key>

Activates InRule components for a specific license key over an available Internet connection

-d

Deactivates all found InRule components over an available Internet connection

-dl <license key>

Deactivates all found InRule components for a specific license key over an available Internet connection

-cs

Checks the status of InRule components. License status messages are written to the output stream.

-il

Installs InRule Event Log Source

-ul

Uninstalls InRule Event Log Source

-h or -?

Display Help

 

Activation Utility command-line code samples (using C#):

The following code sample demonstrates using the command line to activate a license key.

var exePath = "<some path to ActivationUtility.exe>";
var commandLineArgs = "-u someusername -o someorgname -a xxx-xxx--xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx";
using (var process = new Process())
{
   process.StartInfo.FileName = exePath;
   process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
   process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
   process.StartInfo.Arguments = commandLineArgs;
   process.Start();

  // It is important that the following call is made before the process.WaitForExit.

  // Otherwise a deadlock can occur.
  var commandOut = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
   process.WaitForExit();
  var exitCode = process.ExitCode;
  Console.WriteLine("Installation process exit code: {0}", process.ExitCode);
  Console.WriteLine(commandOut);
   process.Close();
}

The following code sample demonstrates using the command line to install the Event Log Source.

var exePath = "<some path to ActivationUtility.exe>";
var commandLineArgs = "-il";
using (var process = new Process())
{

   process.StartInfo.FileName = exePath;
  process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
   process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
   process.StartInfo.Arguments = commandLineArgs;
   process.Start();

 // It is important that the following call is made before the process.WaitForExit.

 // Otherwise a deadlock can occur.
 var commandOut = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
   process.WaitForExit();
  var exitCode = process.ExitCode;
  Console.WriteLine("Installation process exit code: {0}", process.ExitCode);
  Console.WriteLine(commandOut);
   process.Close();
}

Logging:

The Activation Utility logs to the %temp%\InRule\Logging\InRule.Licensing.Log file.

You can modify the log level and/or how and if this information is logged to the Event Log by modifying the Activation Utility's configuration file, ActivationUtility.exe.config, located in the same directory as the Activation Utility.

See InRule Logging Config File Settings for additional details.

Was this article helpful?

0 out of 0 found this helpful

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.