Glossary of Licensing Terms
Environment variable defining a list of license servers to search. Items in the list are separated by a colons (:) and will be searched in the order listed. You can use the word no-net to refer to stand-alone licenses on your own PC. As an example, the setting
no-net : serverA
will cause KBC software to search for stand-alone licenses first, followed by licenses on serverA.
Warning: LSHOST is used by any software package that uses the Safe-Net Sentinel RMS license system. It may lead to confusion, if you allow this setting to be shared.
Environment variable defining the single license server you want to use. This setting overrides any LSHOST setting and will prevent packages from searching for licenses on the local subnet.
Warning: LSFORCEHOST is used by any software package that uses the Safe-Net Sentinel RMS license system. Using the setting may cause other packages to stop working, if they share the same Licence Manager.
A file defining license servers for use with KBC software. The file can contain comments starting with the # character and should finish with a single line listing license servers, using the same conventions as LSHOST. Its use takes precedence over any LSHOST or LSFORCEHOST setting on your PC and will avoid interference with software from other vendors.
The file is recognised by all SIM Suite versions from 3.1 upwards and by all recent versions of KBC Energy software.
A license that can be checked out to a "client" PC (normally a laptop), for use while that PC is disconnected from the network, such as during travel.
A server on the network running a special License Manager software for administering license check-out and check-in requests from user PCs. KBC uses the Sentinel RMS License Manager software from Safe-Net Inc.
A hardware device - also known as a "dongle" - that plugs into a USB port of a server or PC, to authenticate license requests. Each key is unique and will have its own set of linked licenses. Note that it is not a memory device, like a USB "stick" or "flash drive".
Parallel port devices are also available, but are rarely used nowadays.
A colloquial term for a hardware security key.
A mechanism for securing licenses to an encrypted physical characteristic of the host PC and/or to a hardware key ("dongle"), so that a license can be authenticated. The locking information is generated using the WDISKID tool from KBC.
The term used for changes to the system clock that could be an attempt to avoid an expiry date in the license. Clock tampering will cause license requests to fail and has to be cleared by requesting a special license from KBC.