wibu key timeout settings

[schagemann]

g'day all,

we are trying to change the license timeout settings for wibukey clients.

from memory and in a previous wibukey version with ac9 or 10 one could achieve this easily by simply changing the client's wibukey settings to a different connection timeout period (default 10 minutes).

however, if we try to do this in wibukey v5.20.501 and ac11 we get the following message upon saving:

"The settings could not be saved.
Please check if you are allowed to modify
null"

please note: does not work regardless of you are logged in as either administrator or normal user.

all suggestions appreciated.

ds.

[__archiben]

sorry - no help, but i just tried it myself and get the same message. are you using leopard or tiger?

~/archiben

[schagemann]

ben,

at least it is not only us... which it normally is not.

we have tried on both 10.4.11 (tiger) & 10.5.4 (leopard) and each time get the same error message.

ds.

[Anonymous]

Just tried this with no problems. That message is usually permissions related so its odd that you got it logged in as administrator.

It is trying to write to /Library/Preferences/com.wibu.WIBU-KEY.WIBUKEY.ini
If you can't make the changes through WkConfig, you can open the .ini in text edit and make the changes there

[schagemann]

phil,

thanks for your reply - and yes you are right it worked when editing the text file directly.

must be the installer allocating the wrong permissions to the preferences file... have filed a report with wibu, will have to wait and see what they come up with.

will post results once i hear back from wibu.

ds.

[schagemann]

please find below feedback from wibu on this:

1. they tested on pc's and had no problems (following up if they are also testing on macs too);

2. the timeout settings do not influence how often archiad checks for a license;

3. how often archicad checks for a license is hardcoded into its source code... which really makes sense, see below;

i suppose the next question then is for graphisoft:

how often does archicad check for a license?

btw. the original problem that prompted this posting, is that at times staff need to use archicad outside the office network and without access via VPN... e.g. during an offsite client meeting.

now you might say, how about just getting a single license in form of a dongle...

1. that would be too easy
2. it also costs AUD1200.- more than a network license which may get lost or stolen along the way.

anyway, the (arguably naive) original idea was to acquire a licence via VPN , disconnect and use it for as long as the "connection timeout setting" in wibukey was set for... thus tricking archicad into believing that it was still eonnected to the wibukey server. an idea which given the above obviously can not work.

nevertheless i am not giving up just yet: as i think i remember to have heard that e.g. revit allows you to actually sign out a license for on the road usage...

i wonder if that might be a good idea for graphisoft too as i imagine any office with more than say 4 staff runs into that problem every so often? additionally, this would instantly minimise the risk for potentially stolen or lost dongles.

so what do the rest of you think about a license sign out option?

ds.

[Barry Kelly]

schagemann wrote:
btw. the original problem that prompted this posting, is that at times staff need to use archicad outside the office network and without access via VPN... e.g. during an offsite client meeting.

Will your staff be needing to make changes to the model during these offsite meetings?
If yes then you will need a license and that doesn't solve your problem.
If no then then Archicad will simply run in demo mode which will allow you to do anything to the model except for saving.

Wouldn't it be good if it could still save in some sort of encrypted format that could only be opened and converted back on a machine with a license.

I wonder if the demo mode still has auto-save (I bet it is disabled).
If it wasn't you could just deliberately crash archicad (end task), go back to the office and connect to a license and then re-start archicad.
But I bet that won't work.

Barry.

[schagemann]

barry,

are you having the same problem that we have with on the road users?

also here my 10c...

Barry wrote:
Will your staff be needing to make changes to the model during these offsite meetings?
If yes then you will need a license and that doesn't solve your problem. If no then then Archicad will simply run in demo mode which will allow you to do anything to the model except for saving.

that is how we are already doing it, but it sure would be nice to be able to quickly change something and be able to save those changes.

Barry wrote:
Wouldn't it be good if it could still save in some sort of encrypted format that could only be opened and converted back on a machine with a license.

that is a good idea - didn't the educational version once have its own format which you could convert into a commercial format... or something similar?

Barry wrote:
I wonder if the demo mode still has auto-save (I bet it is disabled).
If it wasn't you could just deliberately crash archicad (end task), go back to the office and connect to a license and then re-start archicad.
But I bet that won't work.

i am not sure if i would want to rely on that with a multi million dollar project...

ds.

[Barry Kelly]

schagemann wrote:
barry,

are you having the same problem that we have with on the road users?

Not really.
The type of work we do doesn't really necessitate we go on-site with a laptop.
When ever we do need to go on-site we have single license keys we can use in addition to our main network licenses.

Barry.

[Anonymous]

schagemann wrote:
so what do the rest of you think about a license sign out option?

A licence sign out function would be very beneficial.

We also use VPN for external access but a sign out function would provide alot more flexibility. One for the to do list GS..