Per Tracker Licensing

Owned by Charlotte Dakin-Norris
Last updated: Nov 29, 2022
5 min read

Introduction

This page covers Per Tracker Licensing which is the original method for licensing trackers hosted on a Track Engine or On-Board a radar. There are three options: Dongle, File and Database. Each option ties the licence to the hardware so reduces flexibility and makes automatic failover configuration more complex. For systems that require automatic failover or those that rely heavily on On-Board trackers (as used in the CTS-350X and HDR-100 models) we would recommend using centralised licencing instead.

Contents

Dongle Licence

For this option, a physical USB dongle holds a Tracker Licence and needs to be plugged into the Track Engine computer.

  • The physical USB dongle acts as the licence file and can only be used for Local trackers, not On-Board.

  • Due to the complexity of using USB devices on virtual machines, the dongle is best suited for physical systems only.

  • It enables easy licencing of trackers on different systems and can provide support for cold failover

  • The dongle licence will define a number of trackers that can run concurrently on the physical server.

  • It is a legacy method for licensing trackers running locally on Track Engines. We now recommend using centralised licencing for both Local and On-Board tracking.

  • This option is still useful for our partners and demo systems where a variety of hardware is used for short periods.

  • Does not support automatic software failover but can be used for cold standby setups where the dongle is manually transferred between hardware systems.

File Licence

A licence file is used in place of the dongle and is locked to the MAC address of the host system; therefore, it cannot be transferred between physical servers, virtual machines or radar.

  • The licence file is used for Local trackers and must be saved on the Track Engine host.

  • Files can be used for On-Board trackers however this is no longer recommended. Database or centralised licencing are the recommended options for On-Board tracker licences.

  • The MAC address must be from the Track Engine NIC (Network Interface Controller). If the PC has more than one adapter, then the chosen NIC should be the adapter used for radar comms.

  • The licence file will define a number of trackers that can run concurrently on that physical server. The licence should support the same number of radar being managed by the Track Engine host.

  • It’s a legacy method for licensing trackers to run on Track Engine host. We now recommend using centralised licencing for both Local and On-Board tracking.

  • Does not support automatic software failover.

Installation of the Licence File

To install this licence:

  1. Copy the licence file to C:\ of the track engine server(s).

  2. Rename the file to cp-spx.lic.

Database Licence

This option utilises a licence file but makes deployment easier by storing the file in the Witness configuration database. The software will apply the licence automatically and therefore it does not need to be installed onto any other devices or servers. You require one licence file per tracker/radar.

  • The database option can be used for Local and On-Board trackers.

  • The uploaded licence file is locked to the supplied MAC address and therefore cannot be transferred between physical servers, virtual, machines or radar.

  • One licence file is required is per radar and due to the dependency on the MAC address, this licence will only work with either On-Board or Local tracker - not both.

  • The MAC address supplied will either be from the Track Engine host NIC (Local) or from the Radar Triton Module NIC (On-Board). The Triton MAC is reported as the On-Board MAC Address in the radar configuration report.

  • The licence file is uploaded and stored in the database per radar.

  • Supports automatic software failover.

Note that you should keep the licence files after uploading them to the database, so that in the unlikely event that the database configuration is lost or deliberately reset, the licences can be restored. Licence files are stored in all database backups and are automatically restored when a configuration is restored from a backup.

Installation of the Database Licence

This is uploaded to the radar via the ClearWay™ User Interface:

  1. To install the licence, select the radar and click Settings:

     

  2. Then click Edit:

     

  3. Then select Actions:

     

  4. This will then allow you to select Licence Tracker:

     

     

  5. Explorer will open allowing you to select the licence file.

Requesting a Licence

In order to create the per Track Engine Witness™ Licence, Navtech must know the MAC address of each Track Engine.

In order to create the per On-Board Tracker Witness™ Licence, Navtech must know the MAC address of each On-Board Module.

A MAC address (or physical address) is a unique identifier that is allocated to all network adapters inside a connected device. Everything that can connect to an Ethernet network has a MAC address, this includes PCs, servers, tablets and mobile phones. On Windows you can easily find your MAC address by looking at the properties of your active network connection.

When requesting a licence from Navtech you will need to provide us with the following information so we can provide the correct tracker licensing components:

  1. How many active radar are required.

  2. The MAC / physical address of each Track Engine Server hardware.

Adding Additional Radar

If you need to expand the site by adding more active radar, then the software will require an updated tracker licence for each new radar.

If using a redundant setup, you will need to replace every track engine licence with a new one which contains the new licence count and this count must include the spare capacity required when one Track Engine fails-over to another,

Replacing Existing Radar

When replacing radar which are using an On-Board tracker you will also need to replace the licence. This applies to legacy file licences which have been uploaded to the radar and database licences. To avoid having to change licences when swapping a radar we recommend using Central Licencing. Local trackers which are licenced on the Track Engines do not have to be changed when the radar is replaced.

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