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Eval license Vs Debug only

Is the debug-only version of CVI limited in some way as compared to a regular version?
 
I am using a debug-only version of CVI 8.5 FDS, yet I seem to be getting "Eval mode" popups signifying that I've exhausted the available time if I leave the app running in the debugger for any length of time.
 
We've used a disconnected license for Measurement Studio 8.1 Enterprise Edition to cover the 8.5 CVI FDS, but my install shows debug-only for the CVI FDS (but a fully activated MS 8.1 EE disconnected license !?)  Shouldn't the MS 8.1 EE license provide a full CVI 8.5 license?
 
Can I install CVI 8.5 Full as an eval copy, then add a MS 8.1 EE license, and wind up with an activated, CVI 8.5 Full installation? 
 
Thanks, the licensing is such a complete freakin' hassle, I spend more time screwing around with licensing issues on the various target systems that I'm developing than I do integrating.   It really makes me want to chuck CVI, it's that frustrating.
 
Menchar
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A follow up. -
 
I am still seeing "Eval Version" popup on a system that I think is fully activated with a good license.
 
This particular system did in fact have an eval version of CVI 8.5 on it, but since then I've reinstalled CVI 8.5 from CD and added a disconnected Measurement Studio 8.1 Enterprise Edition license from our volume server to it.
 
It seems as if the eval mode version has "stuck" somehow, despite our adding a MS 8.1 EE license, which should have activated the CVI 8.5 FDS.
 
In other words, it looks as if an eval version of 8.5 installed using a binary downloaded from the NI site will not "come clean" with a license from a volume license server rather than an activation code from an NI server, despite re-installing from CD-ROM?
 
Maybe the CD rom install didn't over-write the eval version of the RTE?  I should think that the eval popup is coming from the RTE.
 
This particular system does not have LAN access to the volume license server or the Internet.
 
I'va attached a file with screen shots of the license manager.  It looks like there's several licenses floating around on this system, including an eval license, I should be able to remove several of them I would think?
 
Menchar
 
 


Message Edited by menchar on 05-20-2008 07:26 PM
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Hello menchar,

To use a debug-only version of CVI, you would have to have a CVI debug serial number, and activate the Full Development System (Debug Only) option in license mananger.  Because these nodes were still white in the screenshots, it doesn't seem that you had done this yet.  Also, you are correct in assuming that with the Measurement Studio 8.1 disconnected license you should be able to check out CVI 8.5.  I am also curious as to why CVI is not being checked out on your machine, because I was able to replicate you situation as seen in the screenshot below, and could successfully check out CVI 8.5. 



Could you please post a screenshot of the evaluation window that shows when you launch CVI, as shown in the below screenshot?  Also note the portion I have outlined in red, as this is the important information.



Finally, you are correct that you should be able to remove many of those licenses in your licenses folder.  Because the Measurement Studio Enterprise license enables you to use CVI, you do not necessarily need all three of the CVI_FDS licenses, although, as I said before, they caused me no trouble when they were in there.  This would certainly be a good step to try however.  Perhaps the best thing to do would be not to delete the files, but to create a folder in this directory named 'old licenses' or something similar, and place these CVI licenses in there, to see if this makes any difference.  Also, the TmpEthernet licenses that you see are a feature implemented with VLM, so that if your computer becomes disconnected from the network for any reason, you will be able to continue to use your software for up to 14 days.  Thus, if you are only going to be activating locally, and not checking out licenses from a license server these licenses are not necessary either.  Please let me know if you have any further questions.

NickB
National Instruments
Applications Engineering


Message Edited by nickb on 05-21-2008 09:56 AM

Message Edited by nickb on 05-21-2008 09:58 AM
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Hi Nick -
 
Thanks for the response.
 
I did install using a debug-only serial number, that's what's showing when you view the CVI 8.5 FDS debug-only license on the screen shot I provided.    Consequently, I never get the Activation popup you're asking about.  This is what is so confusing - it looks like the debug-only 8.5 CVI FDS install is working properly (no Activate popup) yet I get the eval mode timeout popup whenever I run a CVI app on this system.
 
This system does not have access to the VLM, that's why we're trying to use disconnected licenses. 
 
I'll try temporarily removing some of the apparently superfluous licenses and see if that does the trick.
 
It looks to me as if the CVI IDE thinks it's in an activated mode, but the RTE itself or something flagging the RTE is causing the RTE to operate in eval mode.
 
I'm tempted to go in and rip out the RTE dll's, but if it's a registry setting or some other persistent setting that's forcing eval mode execution, that won't do any good.  In fact, I seem to recall that I've already tried this.
 
When you duplicated the debug-only, disconnected CVI 8.5 FDS install, are you indicating that this is in fact the correct licensing scenario?   It seems as if you were expecting the CVI activation icon to turn green when CVI started up, and queried the VLM.  But it never does, because the system has no VLM access, for security reasons.
 
If it were a fully activated, properly installed disconnected debug - only license, would the activation icon be clear, or green?
 
Thanks again for your help, I'll go try removing some of the licenses.
 
Menchar
 
 
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Hello Menchar,

I certainly don't mean to argue with you, but based on the last screenshot you included, CVI had not been activated under debug mode.  If it had been activated under debug mode, the node next to "Full Development System (Debug Only)" would show up green, as shown below:



The first thing that I would try if I were in your situation is to rebuild the application in question.  Because you do not see the evaluation window I mentioned in my first message, you are successfully checking out the license from the Measurement Studio disconnected license.  However, if the application in question had last been built under evaluation mode, it is still crippled to the ten minute limit the evaluation license imposes.  However, if you were to rebuild the application now that you are successfully launching CVI, the evaluation message should go away.

Finally, just to answer a couple of the other questions you posed.  The nodes in NILM will only turn green when they have been successfully activated through the product activation  wizard, or by importing a disconnected license from VLM.  I certainly think that ripping out the RTE dll's would be a little bit of overkill for this situation, and following some less drastic troubleshooting steps should no doubt be able to resolve this issue.   If rebuilding the dll does not solve this issue, could you please post a screenshot of the timeout popup that you are receiving?  Thanks!

NickB
National Instruments
Applications Engineering


Message Edited by nickb on 05-21-2008 03:14 PM

Message Edited by nickb on 05-21-2008 03:16 PM

Message Edited by nickb on 05-21-2008 03:17 PM
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Nick -

Thanks for the support.

Attached is a doc showing the eval mode timeout popup that occurs on the computer 4PS1.

I have rebuilt the application on 4PS1 several times.  It also uses two CVI-developed DLLs, I've rebuilt these also.  

I've also included in the attached doc a screenshot of the license manager on a different system, 4-PUT-01.  This system appears to licensed in the same way as the computer 4PS1:  however, I never get the eval mode popup on the 4-PUT-01 system.  The 4-PUT-01 system is connected to the LAN and has access to the VLM.  The CVI 8.5 FDS activation icon is not green, it is clear.

I don't believe any of our debug-only CVI FDS licenses show "green" activation icons,whether disconnected or connected. 

I have yet to try removing some of the unneeded licenses on 4PS1 but will do that now ...

 

Menchar

 

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Good morning Menchar,

Just to clarify, in NILM there are two license views.  One of them shows your local licenses, and one of them shows the licenses being hosted on the VLM server.  In the screenshot you sent, you did not expand the VLM tree, so I can't tell what is available to be checked out there, but more likely than not, computer 4-PUT-01 is checking out a license from the server, and is never even looking at the licenses in the local folder.  One other thing to clarify is that the only time local licenses are activated is if they are green.  However, license nodes in the VLM license view tree will always show clear, as permissions are determined on the server.   I will certainly  be interested to hear if removing the unactivated licenses from the local licenses folder (again, just by moving them and not actually deleting them) helps your situation.  If it does not, we can certainly continue to look into this further. 

NickB
National Instruments
Applications Engineering
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I removed all of the licenses from 4PS1 except for the NI-IMAQ / NI-Vision licenses and a license named CVI_FDS_PKG_080500.lic and CVI then ran in eval mode with an Activation popup at the start.
 
So I removed this eval license and used a license named 4PS1_Disconnected_permanent.lic.  CVI 8.5 runs without an activation popup at the start, though it appears to be hesistating at startup as if it is trying to connect to a license server.   It remains to be seen if this license will cause the "Demo mode timeout" popup to appear - I will test for this.
 
For this second case, the license manager shows only a MS 8.1 EE disconnected license, but no explicit cvi license at all.
 
If I have a MS 8.1 EE license installed, do I need an explicit CVI license?
 
I've enclosed screen shiots of everything in the attached file.
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Hello Menchar,

The reason you received the activation popup with the CVI_FDS_PKG_080500 license is because it is not activated, and again you can know this because it is half yellow and half white, not green.  These licenses are installed whenever you install a NI software package, and if you are using VLM, or disconnected licenses, you will not need them.  It is important to retain copies if you ever need them at a later time however.  I would also like to note that in general, it should not matter at all if this license is in the folder, because it will be ignored if a full, non-evaluation version of the software is available for checkout.  In your particular case, there is a possibility that you have a corrupted evaluation license file, although I would be curious to hear what happened if you were to place the CVI_FDS_PKG license back into the licenses folder.  My guess is that when you removed that and rebuilt the entire application under the valid Measurement Studio Enterprise license, whatever was still holding on to the evalution restriction finally let it go.

When you use only the disconnected license, you will not see CVI in the license tree, but only the Mesurement Studio disconnected license.  If you open the actual .lic file for the disconnected license, you will see that the first thing following COMPONENTS=  is CVI_FDS:8.0509.  This means that you can use this license to check out the Full Development version of CVI 8.5. 

The reason that you might experience some lag is because you are currently trying to connect to the VLM server.  I can tell this because at the upper left of your NILM screenshot, you can see the computer es-eng-esnlic1, next to a computer with a red x on the right of it.  This means that NILM tried to connect to the server but was unable to.  In order to tell NILM not to look for this server computer, go to the options menu, select preferences, and then deselect the "Use Network License Server" checkbox.  Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any further questions!

NickB
National Instruments
Applications Engineering
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Nick -
 
I very carefully rebuilt everything, including the application and two DLL's that had been built using CVI on 4PS1.  I had multiple copies of these DLL's on the system, and since Windows uses a non-trivial search algorithm to resolve DLL references, I think the application, though built cleanly itself, was finding and loading a DLL that still had the demo restriction in it. 
 
I've been running the application for a half hour now and no demo timeout popup is coming up.
 
So it looks like we've finally cured this.   I hadn't been dilligent in making sure that all dlls had been rebuilt with a clean CVI IDE.  I finally just searched the system for all occurances, and deleted them all, then rebuilt everything. 
 
Thanks for the tip on how to keep the LM from looking for the VLM, and thanks for hanging in here with me on this problem, it was driving us nuts. 
 
The combination of having used the eval package to install (as opposed to using CD ROM media or downloading from our media server), the fact that this system is disconnected from the VLM, and a change in VLM support personnel in El Segundo resulted in a real mess.
 
Thanks again.
 
Menchar
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