COUNT! v1.0 February 1992 Network Administrators Guide This document is intended for Network Administrators and assumes the audience is familiar with MS Windows v3.0 or above, MS DOS v3.3 or above, and basic network management principals. Table Of Contents Topic Page --------------------- ----- What is COUNT! 1 Using COUNT! 2 Setting up COUNT! on a network 4 Methods of controlling access 4 Registering COUNT! 5 COUNT! v1.0 Network Administrators Guide Page 1 What is COUNT! COUNT! is a MS Windows utility that enables you to abide to "simultaneous use" licenses in a network environment. This type of license allows you to provide applications to a user community without buying a license for each potential user. The result is typically an 80% to 90% reduction in the cost of the application. Simultaneous use licenses: Unlike mainframe programs which base the fee on the number of potential users of a product, personal computer software licenses are often based on the number of people using a program at any point in time. If the network provides a dozen applications to 50 users, it is probable that five to ten licenses for each application will be sufficient to meet the needs of the 50 users without purchasing 50 licenses of each. Most major suppliers of personal computer software base their license on simultaneous use. However, many of these (Microsoft for example) provide no means for maintaining the license. Should you wind up in court, it is up to you to prove that the license wasn't violated! What does COUNT! Do: COUNT! launches programs in an MS windows environment and keeps track of the number of users. It will enable you to enforce simultaneous use licenses. It also provides features to make many programs which function poorly in a network environment behave better. COUNT! enables a user to access an application as easily as if it were installed on his local hard disk. To to this, it will if necessary: Establish a network connection Modify the current DOS directory Check for license availability Execute the program Free the network license Disconnect the network connection COUNT! v1.0 Network Administrators Guide Page 2 Using COUNT! To use COUNT!, you should be familiar with the Windows Program Manager, and the methods to launch applications. There are several ways to launch a windows application. The most typical is for the user to "double click" on an application icon in a Program Manager group. The second is to use the file manager to launch an application with a selected data file. A third is to launch the application using the Program Manager's "Run command". You do not need to support all methods as a network administration manager. All are covered here. COUNT! is a Windows application which launches other applications. The "launched" application is a parameter for COUNT!. For instance, To launch Microsoft's Excel, the program line could be "COUNT! MS_Excel". To launch Aldus' Persuasion, the program line could be "COUNT! Persuasion". COUNT! would then do everything necessary to make appropriate network connections, start the application, and enforce software licenses. This raises two questions. How do you use the COUNT! command line under Windows, and how does COUNT! know how to make network connections, etc., for each application. Using the COUNT! Command Line: All the methods of launching an application with COUNT! require the use of a COUNT! command line. The command line has the form "COUNT! ApplicationName". Count launches the program associated with ApplicationName. Supporting Applications Launched via a Program Manager Application Icon: You will need to modify the vendor supplied installation procedure to modify the icon's "properties" to use COUNT! to launch the program. The application icon program line properties can be changed using the following procedure: In Program Manager, select the program icon by clicking on it once with the mouse. Select File-Properties, from the Program Manager's menu. A "Program Item Properties" dialog box should appear. Change the command line to launch the program through COUNT! ie. "COUNT!.EXE MS_Excel". You should also change the icon to the application's normal icon, which is typically in the main .EXE file of the application. However, the .exe file may not be available to Windows if the network drive is not currently connected. There are utilities available which allow you to extract an icon from an application .exe file. You could then make these icon files available to Windows. COUNT! v1.0 Network Administrators Guide Page 3 Supporting Applications Launched via File Manager: You will need to modify the "[extensions]" section of WIN.INI to associate COUNT! with the extension of data files your program runs. Again, you need to supply a command line such as "XLT=COUNT!.EXE MS_Excel ^.XLT" Supporting Applications Launched via Program Manager's Run Command: The user would have to enter a correct COUNT! command Line in Program Manager's "RUN" dialog box. How COUNT! Launches the Application: The COUNT!.INI file controls what COUNT! does in launching an application. COUNT!.INI consists of a number of applications "Sections" containing keywords describing how to launch the application. Each section begins with the ApplicationName in square brackets. Keywords can be any of the following: *Connect=Network connection command *StartDirectory=Starting directory Execute=Program invocation command *Disconnect=Network disconnection command *CountFile=R/W file which holds the current users/license counts *MaxUsers=Number of users that can use the program simultaneously *UpdateLicense=Number of minutes between updates of the CountFile. The default is 5. A 0 inhibits updates. *Optional commands If a CountFile is used, A DOS environment variable must exist prior to entering Windows which provides a user name. This is accomplished by the DOS SET command as follows: "SET Name=UserName" The UserName must be unique to each network node. The COUNT!.INI file can be created with any file editor such as NotePad. Below is an example COUNT!.INI file [MS Excel] Connect=USE E:\\MyServer\ExcelProgram /R Execute=E:\EXCEL\Excel.EXE Disconnect=USE E: /D [MS Project] Execute=L:\WinProj\Project.EXE StartDirectory=c:\Project CountFile=Q:\Licenses\Licenses.Dat MaxUsers=10 COUNT! v1.0 Network Administrators Guide Page 4 Setting Up COUNT! on a Network COUNT!.EXE and COUNT!.INI need to be placed in a common network directory accessible to all users. Users should be granted READ ONLY access to these files. If a CountFile is used to monitor or meter access (via MaxUsers), a common user READ\WRITE area needs to be made available for this file. COUNT! will create the CountFile as required. Also, as mentioned previously, A DOS environment variable must exist (NAME=UserName) if a CountFile is used. It is suggested that this be created in each nodes AutoExec.Bat or Network Connection.Bat file. Methods of Controlling Access There are two ways to use COUNT! to enforce simultaneous use licenses. One method is to put each application you want to control access to in a unique network service, and place a limit on the number of connections to this service. COUNT! could then connect to the service before starting the program, and disconnect when done. The server would preform the license counting/metering. The above method is the most secure method of controlling access. However, there may be situations in which you cannot or prefer not to create unique network services for each application. You can then use COUNT!'s MaxUsers keyword to control access. When a program is launched, COUNT! first checks the CountFile (if specified) to see if the number of current users is less that the MaxUsers defined in COUNT!.INI for that application. If so, COUNT! adds an Entry to the CountFile similar to the one below: [MS Project] John Doe=09:33:27 02/12/92 The timestamp is updated every 5 minutes unless overridden with the UpdateLicense Keyword. COUNT! v1.0 Network Administrators Guide Page 5 Registering COUNT! COUNT! is copyrighted software and all rights are reserved by the author. You are free to evaluate the product for 30 days to determine its suitability to your needs. Use beyond 30 days requires registration. Anyone with the conscience to use COUNT! will want to register it. A license to COUNT! enables you copy and use the software on a single server for up to 100 Users. The cost of the license is $59. If you would like to register, please fill out the form on the next page. In return, you will be sent a diskette with a registered version of the software. COUNT! v1.0 User Registration Copyright Ed Derzawiec 1992 NAME: ____________________________________ Company: ____________________________________ Street: ____________________________________ Town, State, Zip: ____________________________________ Please register me for (____) copies of COUNT!. Enclosed is $59.00 for each copy (plus 6% Sales tax for Maine residents). Please make checks payable to: Edward Derzawiec 6 Sweet Fern Road Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107 Signature: ____________________________________ In signing this form I agree: 1. Not to make copies of the registered software received for purposes outside of my use on a single network server. 2. Not to modify the software without written consent of the author. I welcome your comments on the merits or limitations of COUNT!, or enhancements you would like to see added. _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ To improve the testing of COUNT!, please answer the following: Please identify your server: Operating System:DOS ____, OS2 ____, VMS ____, UNIX ____ Other _________________ Network OS: Novel ____, Vines ____, PCSA ____, Other _________________ Nodes PC/XT (8086/8088) ____, AT (286) ____, (386/486/SX CPU) ____ Display: Mono, ____, CGA, ____ EGA, ____ VGA, ____ Color ____ _____________________________________________________________________ Do not write below this line: Serial number licensed to above user: ____________