Issue A Distributor License

Licenses for use with Distributor are created using the Software Potential service in the same manner as any other license. When issuing a Distributor license:

• The Distributor option must be selected in the Environment and Locking section.
• In the Usage section, the Max Concurrent Instances value must be set to the maximum number of concurrent application instances that can run under the license i.e. a value of 5 set here will allow five people to use your application at once within the Distributor system.

You can optionally elect to:

• Issue a Seat based Distributor license (default is Machine based)
• Issue a Named User Distributor license.

See Getting Started With Distributor Licensing for more details on the various Distributor license settings 

Concurrent Feature Limit

For each feature in a Distributor license there is an option to set a Concurrent Usage to restrict the maximum number of concurrent application instances that can access a Feature in the license. For example you might want to allow 3 concurrent instances of your application to run, but only wish to allow one of these concurrent instances to access an advanced feature "Feature A"; this can be achieved by setting the Max Concurrent Instances limit on the license to 3 and the Concurrent Usage on "Feature A" to 1.

If no Concurrent Usage value is set for a Feature then the Max Concurrent Instances value set on the license also limits the number of user that can access the feature.

Issuing a Distributor License

Distributor licenses can be created either:

• Manually from a SKU via the Issue → From SKU page (see Issuing License from a SKU)
• Manually on an ad-hoc basis via the Issue → Custom page or
• Programmatically via the CreateLicense method of the web service API (see Getting Started with Distributor for more details).

Issuing a Custom Distributor License Manually

To issue a custom Distributor license manually via the Software Potential portal:

1. Select Issue on main navigation, then the Custom option.
   
   
2. Select the Product to be licensed from the drop down list.
   
   
   
   
3. Add one ore more Features if required from the list of Available Features.
   
   
   
   
4. Optionally, for each feature added, set a limit on the number of users that can concurrently access the feature by editing the feature and setting a Concurrent Usage Limit.
   
   

   The Concurrent Usage limit set on the Feature cannot exceed the Max Concurrent Instances limit set on the license in a later step.  The latter controls the maximum number of application instances supported by the license.

   If no Concurrent Usage value is set for a Feature then the Max Concurrent Instances value set on the license limits the number of user that can access the feature.

5. In the Environment and Locking section, open the Distributed option and select either Seat Based or Machine Based as appropriate.
   
   
   
   
6. For a Named User license set the Named User checkbox and set an appropriate Lock Days value Please see Getting Started With Named User Licenses for more information on Named User Distributor licenses.
   
   
7. In the Usage Settings section set the Max Concurrent Instances value to the number of concurrent instances of your application allowed e.g. a value of 2 here will allow two people to use your application simultaneously.
   
   
   
   

   You should not issue a Distributor license with an Unlimited value set for the Max Concurrent Instances. This setting would allow an unlimited number of concurrent instances of your application to run.

8. Click Issue License button to issue the license. This will generate an Activation Key that your customer will need to subsequently activate the license in Distributor.