About activation rule sets
Each product can be assigned a set of rules for when users activate entitlements for that product. The rules control the information users can enter and the format required for that information. They also control how products are activated together.
The activation rule sets include rules for:
- The activation method. Activation may use a standard process to assign activated items to a machine, occur automatically, or be used to generate a registration certificate.
- How to determine the quantity to activate. For some products, users may be forced to activate the entire available quantity or a specific fixed quantity. For other products, they may be able to specify any available quantity.
- Whether to include the Register and Confirm pages in the activation process.
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For regular activation:
- The locking IDs required for activation.
- Specifying the deployment (standalone or network) and the platform on which the entitlements are installed.
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Survey questions users must answer when they activate the entitlement. For example, for some hardware products, the publisher might use a survey question to obtain the number of ports. Or a publisher may want to find out if the customer has used their products in the past.
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Sending and displaying the keys. For example, you never want to display a binary key, which would appear as a long paragraph of nonsense text.
Each rule set can be assigned to multiple products. For example, you might set up one rule set for each product family, or one rule set for hardware products and another for software products. Or you might create a separate rule set to handle evaluation entitlements.
The settings you use primarily are based on:
- The locking technology you are using
- The information you want to collect from users
- How you want products grouped during activation
Any changes to a rule set affect all of the products that use the rule set.
Adding or editing a rule set
Activation rule sets are managed from the Filter Activation Rule Sets page. To display the page:
- On the Administration menu, click Products.
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On the Product Configuration menu, click Activation rule sets. The Filter Activation Rule Sets page displays the current list of rule sets.
- To narrow the list of rule sets in order to locate the one you want, specify filter criteria, then click Filter Rule Sets. See Conducting searches for more information about searches.
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To add a new activation rule set, click Create new rule set. To edit a rule set, click the Edit link for that rule set.
The Activation Rule Set Maintenance page displays.
Providing an ID and name for the rule set
In the Rule Set Identification section:
| Pub ID | In the Pub ID field, type the publisher’s identifier for the rule set. |
| Activation rule set name | In the Activation rule set name field, type the name of the activation rule set. |
| Activation rule set description | In the Activation rule set description field, type a more detailed description of the activation rule set. |
Selecting the activation method
From the Activation method dropdown, select the method used to activate entitlements for products that use this activation rule set. The available options are:
| Regular activation |
Entitlements are activated from the Poetic UI or from a The activation is to a machine, and users provide activation information such as locking IDs. Regular activation results in a machine certificate. |
| Activate automatically to a new hidden machine for the transaction |
When a new entitlement is assigned to an end customer, it is activated automatically to a new machine created by Poetic. Poetic creates one machine per entitlement creation transaction. For example, for a The machine status is hidden – only users with the security |
| Activate automatically to a new active machine for the transaction |
When an entitlement is assigned to an end customer, the entire quantity is activated automatically to a new machine created by Poetic. Poetic creates one machine per entitlement creation transaction. For example, for a |
| Activate automatically to a hidden machine for the activation rule set |
When a new entitlement is assigned to an end customer, it is activated automatically to a hidden machine for the activation rule set. Poetic first looks for an existing hidden machine with products installed that use the activation rule set. If it finds a machine with a number of activated items less than the value of the Registry If there is no applicable existing hidden machine, Poetic creates a new machine. Only users with the security |
| Activate automatically to an active machine for the activation rule set |
When an entitlement is assigned to an end customer, the entire quantity is activated automatically to a machine for the activation rule set. Poetic first looks for an existing active machine for the selected company that has products installed that use the same activation rule set. If it finds a machine with a number of activated items that is less than the value of the Registry If there is no applicable existing machine, Poetic creates a new machine. |
| Registration activation/Install key |
Registration activation is used for products that only need to be registered to a user. A key may be generated, but there is no additional technical or locking information. Registration activation can occur from the UI or a Registration activation generates a registration certificate. Poetic generates a separate registration certificate for each activation rule set associated with the activation process. When you select this option, Poetic displays the Prompt for activation details check box. If this check box is checked, then the activation process includes the Activate page, and you can prompt the user to provide locking IDs, survey question answers, and other activation parameters. If the check box is not checked, then the Activate page does not display. There is no additional technical or locking information. |
When you select an automatic activation option, Poetic hides most of the remaining fields on the page. For automatic ac
tivation:
- Poetic activates the entire entitlement quantity.
- If Poetic needs to create a new machine, it generates the machine name using the machine name generation plugin.
- Poetic sets the registered user to be the registered owner on the entitlement.
- There is no technical information (locking IDs, survey questions, etc.).
When you select registration activation without activation details, if you choose not to prompt the user for activation details. Poetic hides most of the remaining fields on the page. For registration activation without activation details:
- Poetic can activate either the entire quantity or a fixed quantity.
- Poetic creates a new registration certificate for each activation rule set associated with the activation. Poetic uses the machine name generation plugin to assign a name to the certificate.
For registration activation with activation details, Poetic creates the registration certificates in the same way. However, you can configure additional activation details.
Setting the quantity rules
The Quantity dropdown displays if you selected regular or registration activation as the activation method. For automatic activation, Poetic always activates the entire available quantity.
From the Quantity dropdown
- To prompt users to specify the quantity to activate, select Ask for quantity. You can only select this option for regular activation.
- To always activate a fixed quantity, select Activate fixed quantity. In the Fixed quantity field, enter the quantity. Setting a fixed quantity in the activation rule set is most appropriate for evaluation entitlements. Otherwise, it’s generally better to use the product components to specify fixed numbers.
- To always activate the entire available quantity, select Activate full quantity.
Indicating whether to display the Register and Confirm pages during the activation process
About showing and hiding the Register and Confirm pages
For regular and registration activation, you can configure whether to include the Register and Confirm pages in the activation process.
Showing/hiding the Register page
The Register page is used to prompt the user to select a group and registered user for the activated items. If the Register page is skipped:
- The registered user for the activation is the registered owner on the entitlement, or the primary contact if the entitlement is unassigned.
- The activated items keep the same group from the entitlements. For unassigned entitlements, either the default group (if groups are used) or the first available group is used.
From the Register page dropdown:
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To include the page in the process, select Show page
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To skip the page, select Hide page
This setting only applies if the Register page is included in the specific activation process. Whether to include the Register page for each type of activation process determined by the Registry DISPLAY_ACTIVATION_REGISTRATION_IN_PROCESS.
This setting is ignored for users who have the security Register page, even if the rule set is configured to not display it.
Showing/hiding the Confirm page
The Confirm page allows users to provide notes for the activation, and also allows users to configure whether to send the certificates for the activation. If the Confirm page is skipped:
- There are no notes for the activation transaction
- The certificate is sent as an email with any key files attached as individual files.
- The certificate is sent only to the registered user based on the value of the Automatically send notifications on key modification check box
From the Confirm page dropdown:
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To include the page in the process, select Show page
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To skip the page, select Hide page
Setting the rules for providing activation details (regular activation only)
Setting the machine name rules
| Machine name |
From the Machine name dropdown, select the option for providing a machine name. To require that the user to provide a machine name, and not allow a generated name from Poetic, select Required. To require a machine name, but allow the user to get a generated name from Poetic, select Required, but allow suggestion. To pre-populate the machine name for a new machine with a generated name from Poetic, select Automatically create. To allow the user to select a factory activated machine during activation, select Auto searching factory activated machine. |
| Can activate on machine with existing licenses | To allow entitlements to be activated on a machine that already has activated items for the same product line, check the Can activate on machine with existing licenses check box. |
Setting up the list of locking IDs
Each rule set can be set up with a set of locking IDs to prompt for during activation. The locking ID list can include both primary servers and backup servers.
For each locking ID:
- Click the Find link to search for and select the label to use for the locking ID. The list of labels is kept in the
HOST_ID_TERMlist.
- From the Validation Type dropdown, select the method to use to validate that the locking ID provided is in the correct format. For example, if the locking ID needs to be an IP address, select IP Address from the dropdown. The validation type list is kept in the
HOST_ID_TYPElist.
To not validate the locking ID, select None.
- From the Usage Type dropdown, select how the locking ID is used. If you want users to be able to always change the locking ID during any subsequent activation process, then select Editable as the usage type.
Otherwise, if the locking ID is the main application server, select Application Server. These locking IDs can only be changed during key regeneration, and only if the user has the security CAN_CHANGE_LOCKING_ID_ON_REGEN.
If it is a redundant server, select Redundant License Server These locking IDs can only be changed during key regeneration, and only if the user has the security CAN_CHANGE_REDUNDANT_LOCKING_ID_ON_REGEN.
If you want to require that the locking ID is linked to a target tag, and validate the target tag against the locking ID during activation, then select Target Tag � Required to enter and validate.
If you want to link the locking ID to a target tag, and automatically populate the target tag value into the locking ID as a read-only value, then select Target Tag � Auto populated.
If you want the locking ID to be exclusive for a group of products, then select Part of exclusive ID group. You must configure at least two locking IDs with the exclusive locking ID usage type. If you select this option, then during activa
tion, on the Activation details page, the configured exclusive locking IDs display in a dropdown, along with a text field for entering the locking ID value. The exclusive locking IDs displayed in the dropdown are not controlled by display sequence, so they will be the last items in the dropdown.When activating products on a machine, the machine can have only one exclusive locking ID. In other words, exclusive locking ID usage means mutually exclusive usage.
- In the Display Seq column, type the display sequence for the locking ID. The display sequence controls the order in which the locking IDs display on the activation details page.
- To make the locking ID required, check the Required check box.
Entering a validation pattern with the Regular Expression validation type
The validation type option Regular Expression allows you to specify a validation pattern for the locking ID. For example, a validation pattern for 12 HEX digists is “1$”.
Enter the validation pattern in the Validation Expression column. During activation, Poetic validates the locking ID against the pattern specified.
The Validation Expression column is only enabled if you select the Regular Expression validation type. If you change the validation type to another option, the previously entered validation pattern still displays.
Setting the uniqueness requirement for locking IDs
When editing the list values for the Custom 2 field is used to determine the uniqueness requirements for each type of locking ID. The available uniqueness values are:
| NONE | Indicates that the locking ID can be used with any machine for any company multiple times. |
| COMPANY | Indicates that the locking ID must be unique within a company. However, it can be used by different companies. For example, the locking ID 123.456.789 can only be used by one machine owned by Superco. However, it could also be used by one machine belonging to MyNet, Inc. |
| INSTANCE | Indicates that the locking ID must be unique within the entire instance. No two machines from any company can have the same locking ID. |
If a uniqueness value is not specified for a HOST_ID_TERM list value, then the uniqueness defaults to INSTANCE.
Setting the field size and maximum length for locking IDs
The Custom 3 field for HOST_ID_TERM list values is used to determine:
- The size of the field to display when prompting for the locking ID
- The maximum length of the locking ID
The format of the setting is fieldSize_:_maximumLength, where:
| fieldSize |
The size of the field to display. The allowed values are:
The value can also be a specific number. It is recommended to not use numbers larger than around 80 characters. |
| maximumLength |
The maximum length allowed for the locking ID. The absolute maximum length is 255, which represents the maximum length of the machine name. |
For example:
| SMALL:10 | Displays a small field; allows a maximum of 10 characters for the locking ID |
| MEDIUM:50 | Displays a medium field; allows a maximum of 50 characters for the locking ID |
| LONG:200 | Displays a long field; allows a maximum of 200 characters for the locking ID. |
| 80:80 | Displays a field 80 characters long; allows a maximum of 80 characters for the locking ID. |
If a value is not specified, or an invalid value is specified, the default is MEDIUM:50.
Setting the rules for deployment, platform, and expiration date
| Expiration date |
To prompt users for an expiration date when they activate, check the Ask for check box. The expiration date is only prompted for during regular activation. Users cannot change the expiration date when rehosting or regenerating keys. Click the Find link next to the Term for field to search for and select the word or phrase to use in place of “expire date” on the activation pages. The available terms are created and localized using the Clear to clear the field. |
| Deployment |
To prompt users to specify whether the entitlement is being installed in a standalone or network configuration, check the Ask for check box. Click the Find link next to the Term for field to search for and select the word or phrase to use in place of “deployment” on the activation pages. The available terms are created and localized using the Clear to clear the field. |
| Platform |
To prompt users to select the platform, check the Ask for check box. If the entitlement is only available on a single platform, then you do not need to prompt users for it. If this box is checked, the dropdown contains the platforms checked under Platforms allowed. Click the Find link next to the Term for field to search for and select the word or phrase to use in place of “platform” on the activation pages. The available terms are created and localized using the Clear to clear the field. Under Platforms allowed, check the check box next to each platform users can select. |
Setting rules for key generation and certificate management
Key generation rules
| Can activate remotely | To allow an external system to generate a key using the Poetic Can activate remotely check box. |
| Key generator is incremental; keep old keys (additive) |
If the key generator supports incremental keys, check the Key generator is incremental; keep old keys (additive) check box. You cannot check this check box if Can activate on host with existing licenses is not checked. Adding incremental keys first requires that users are able to activate additional entitlements on a machine. |
| Cross product line validation is required |
For each activation, Poetic sends a separate key generation request for each activation group. An activation group represents a unique combination of activation rule set, locking technology, and (depending on configuration) product line. If this check box is checked, then key generation requests for this activation rule set contain a If this check box is unchecked, then This check box is unchecked by default. |
| Automatically send notifications on key modification |
To This allows companies to monitor the movement of activated items and to ensure they are following the rules of their license agreements. |
| Key sending method |
From the Key sending method dropdown, select the method to use to include keys when sending an individual activation certificate using the Activation Certificate notification. Note that this setting does not apply when sending multiple certificates simultaneously using the Batch Activation Certificate notification. In that case, keys are always sent as attachments. The options are to:
If a key is a separate binary key file, it will never display in the email. There is also a 200-character limit for displaying keys in the email. If a key contains more than 200 characters, it will be replaced by a note that the key is too large to display. When sending a certificate manually by clicking the Email link on the View Certificate page, if the user checks the Zip all keys check box, it overrides any setting to send the keys in the body of the email. The keys are attached in a single.zip file. |
Certificate management rules
| Certificate view display |
From the Certificate view display dropdown, select whether to display non-binary keys when users view certificates. Whether to display non-binary keys depends on your security procedures. The text of a binary key is never displayed. |
| Certificate print display |
From the Certificate print display dropdown, select whether to display keys when users print certificates. Whether to print the keys depends on your security procedures. Binary key files will never display in the printed certificate. There is also a 200-character limit for displaying keys in the printed certificate. If a key contains more than 200 characters, it will be replaced by a note that the key is too large to display. |
Selecting survey questions for activation (regular activation only)
The Activation Survey Questions section allows you to select the survey questions you would like asked during a regular activation process. Batch activation processes do not support survey questions. These are in addition to the activation survey questions assigned to the entitlement product.
The available questions are based on the settings from the survey question maintenance function. See Adding and editing survey questions.
Note that if any of the dropdown survey questions you selected are configured to display other questions when the user selects an answer, then you must add those child questions to the list.
Even though it is in the list of survey questions, a child question is displayed only if the user selects the associated answer for the parent question. If you do not include the child question, then it will not be displayed when the user selects the answer from the parent question.
To search for and select a survey question, click Find. To clear a line, click Clear.
For each survey question:
| Ask on Activation/Upgrade | To ask the survey question when users activate an entitlement or perform upgrade activation, check the Ask on Activation/Upgrade check box. |
| Ask on Renewal | To ask the survey question when users activate a renewal entitlement, check the Ask on Renewal check box. |
| Ask on Rehost/Regen Keys | To ask the survey question when users rehost activated items or regenerate keys, check the Ask on Rehost/Regen Keys check box. |
| Ask on Return | To ask the survey question when users return activated items, check the Ask on Return check box. |
| Show Previous Answers | If the question has been asked before, then to show the previous answer, check the Show Previous Answers check box. |
| Regenerate Upon Changes | To regenerate any keys that used this question if the answer changes from the previous answer, check the Regenerate when Answer Changes check box. |
| Display Row |
You can organize the survey questions into columns and rows. This may be especially important if the survey questions are used to obtain technical information about an installation. In the Display Row column, type the row number of the row in which to display the survey question. For example, if the question must display on the second row of questions, type 2 in the column. |
| Display Sequence |
In the Display Sequence column, type the order in which to display the survey question within its row. For example, to display the question in the third position on the second row, type 2 in the Display Row column, and 3 in the Display Sequence column. |
Providing helper text for locking ID and survey questions
When users enter locking IDs or answer survey questions during the activation process, it may be important that the information be in the correct format.
To help users to provide the correct format or value, you can provide helper text to display next to the locking ID or survey question field.
To do this, you add resource tags to your customized and localized versions of ApplicationResources.properties.
The tag name for locking ID helper text is:
sample.lockingID._lockingIDTermCode_
Where lockingIDTermCode is the list value code from the HOSTID_TERM list.
For example:
sample.lockingID.SERVER=(ex. 11-22-33-44-22)
The tag name for survey question helper text is:
sample.survey. surveyQuestionPubID
Where surveyQuestionPubID is the survey question ID.
For example:
sample.survey.PRODUCTSERIAL=(Found on the label)
Viewing transactions
The Transactions tab lists details on changes that occurred to an activation rule set.
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