Licensing instructions
After purchasing a subscription you will receive an activation code, either by email or by getting it in your SGO account. This activation code needs to be assigned to a particular system in order to get the license for it.
The easiest way to do this is by using the SGOActivationTool, which is a separate application also installed with the Mistika software and with its own icon on the desktop.
Note: If you can not login to your account, please check that you answered the account confirmation link. This email is sent when creating the account, but it could pass inadvertently, or in rare cases it could be redirected to the spam folder.
These are the typical points to take into account:
- Once you have done a purchase, apart from the initial email you can find your activation codes in your account:
https://www.sgo.es/my-account/activation-codes/
In your account you can see your activation codes and its current status ( you can see which computer is assigned to each code, and you can also deactivate a activation code from one computer in order to activate it in other computer).
After subscription renewals the new activation codes will appear in place of the expired ones (which will not work anymore). If the system have internet connection the new licenses are installed automatically. (Otherwise use the offline method explained below)
- Make sure that you are running the latest version. You can get the software at www.sgo.es/my-account/downloads . Old versions could fail with current licensing procedures.
- If you were given the activation code by a 3rd party (not from the SGO online shop) and you didn't have your own SGO account, then before activating the code you need to create your own account at www.sgo.es. Then approve the confirmation email that you will receive, and login at www.sgo.es at least one time. Then proceed to activate the code as explained above.
- Check that internet connection is working. To assign an activation code you need an internet connection. (once you get the license no internet connection is needed until next renewal).
If you do not have internet connection but you have a license file then please check the next point.
- Activation codes and license keys: An "activation code" is not the same as a "license key". An "activation code" is what you get first, and it is generic: An "activation code" permits to obtain a "license key" for an specific computer (but only one at a time).
Once that the activation code has been assigned to a computer then you will receive a "license key" for that specific computer, which will be installed automatically in the local license file. The license key is not generic and it will only work on that computer.
Meanwhile, the activation code can not be used to get more license keys until it is unassigned from the previous computer (which will invalidate the license key that it had).
Once the activation code has been assigned to one computer the successive license keys corresponding to each subscription period will be obtained automatically, as long as an internet connection is available.
- If you don't have an internet connection then you will need to do the licensing process manually by using the SGOActivationTool->Offline Mode. In there you can get the System Id (LMData) of the system and then use any other system with internet connection to assign the activation code in your web account. In this way you will get a license key in return, which you can bring to the offline system in a pen drive or similar, and then install the license key with the SGOActivationTool->Offline mode.
- If the activation code has been already activated in one system, it needs to be deactivated before using it in other system. This can be done with the SGOActivationTool or directly in your SGO web account ( https://www.sgo.es/my-account/ ). In general we recommend to use the SGOActivationTool as it will install the licenses automatically and it will provide more information and idagnostic tools in case of errors. But you can also use your web account to manage your activation codes, for example when you need to manage the codes for other users in your company and you do not have the SGOActivationTool in your own computer. For more details please read the article about license reallocations)
- If you are using a trial activation code (with limited functionality) and then you purchase a full license, then it is recommended to deactivate the trial code before activating the purchased one. Otherwise Mistika could still run with the trial (limited) one.
Floating licenses
All Mistika licenses are "floating licenses", which means that you can install the Mistika software (or just the license server) and all the licenses in one computer and then use it as a license server for all the other computers.
For doing this, nothing special needs to be configured in the server system, just install the software (make sure it has the latest version or no older than the clients) and activate all the activation codes on it. Regarding the client computers, just type the ip of the license server in the SGOActivationTool ->License Server settings wheel .
Alternatively, you can also tell the client computer where to get the license by creating this environment variable in the operating system of the client computer:
Environment variable: SGO_ELMHOST
Value: The ip address of the license server computer.
If you have more computers than licenses and the license server run out of licenses unexpectedly, then you may want to know which computers are using them to make decisions. You can see which systems are connected to the license server at any particular moment and which products are they using, by using the SGOActivationTool -> Advanced Mode -> LicStats.
For companies having more computers that licenses two different methods are provided. Use whatever suites you better:
- Unmanaged licenses: By using floating licenses and a common license server for everybody, as explained above. This method is recommended for computers connected in a local network.
- Managed licenses: The sgoActivationTool->Advanced mode permits to assign licenses to computers by simply drag & drop product licenses into computers. In this case no license server is shared. This panel will show all the product licenses and all the computers that have previously received a license from your SGO account in the past (so you only need to do the full licensing process one time on each computer). With this method, each client computer is also its own license server (do not select any license server for it) and it does not need to be connected to any network (except when the drag & drop action is done ). This method is recommended for frequent travellers or for moving licenses between the office computer and home.
Troubleshooting license problems
- First thing to try is a system restart. In most cases it will solve the issue.
- Use an internet browser to check that you can login in your web account. If you can't login or if your account has not been activated that will explain the problem. The account is activated the first time you login on it at the www.sgo.es website (and the sgoActivationTool will not accept login until then).
- If you can not login to your SGO account then it probably means that you didn't confirm the account activation link, which is sent by email when creating the account. If you do not find this email in your inbox then check if it went into the spam folder just in case.
- If the SGOActivationTool says that the activation code has been already activated in your system, but Mistika refuses to start with a license error: This can happen if there is an obsolete license in the license file, or if that file is corrupted or uncompleted for some reason. To fix it, just deactivate and reactivate your activation code.
If both the previous procedures failed to solve the license issue we can try a third one, that is to restart the license server itself to force it refresh the license file.
In OSX:
1.- Go to Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor
In windows:
1.- Right-click on the windows menu-bar and in the context menu open the Task Manager
2.- Click on "More detail" if needed, go to the Processes tab and look for the sgoLicenseServer process.
3.- Right click on it and, in the context menu select "End Task"
4.- Try to open Mistika VR (it'll take it a while to start as it is starting the license server and updating the license file).
- An antivirus or a windows Firewall could be blocking the connection between the license server and SGO on line activation services. You many need to deactivate those applications for a while. This is a typical issue on some windows systems, please follow this procedure to fix it:
Open the SGOActivationTool and check the color of the two LED lights in the top left corner. They should be green.
* If the license server light is red, use the Task Manager or Activity Monitor of your Operating System to check if the sgoLicenseServer process is running
If it is running, deactivate your firewall for a minute, and check if that fixes the problem
If it is not running, try to start it manually (as an administrator or root user) and check for errors. The license server is named sgoLicenseServer.exe (Windows) or sgoLicenseServer.bin (Mac and Linux), and by default it is located under this installation folder (the exact name may change between Mistika versions, but differences will be small):
Windows: C:\Program Files\SGO Apps\License Server\bin\
Mac: /Applications/SGO Apps/License Server.app/Contents/MacOS/
Linux: $HOME/SGO Apps/License Server/bin/
Then check if it fixes the problem. Or if it shows an error dialog that is not evident to solve then please contact support.
* If the sgoLicenseServer is not even in that directory then it could mean that an antivirus software has blocked the installation. Please deactivate the antivirus and reinstall the software, then reactivate the antivirus when the license is working
* Note for system administrators: For mroe control here is the port information, if you want to configure your own firewall custom rules:
If the license is on the same user's computer, communication between Mistika and the license server is internal through TCP port 1116.
In the case of using a license server from another machine on the network, communication is also through port 1116 TCP to the server's IP.
On subscription renewals, the server where the license is located must be able to communicate online with https://www.sgo.es to update the license every month / year automatically. This https communication uses ports 443 and 8443. If this connection is not accesible then you will need to install the new license manually via the offline method.
- If the activation code was purchased and activated with a different email account, and now you get an error that the activation code belongs to other user: When a user purchases an activation code it is registered to its email address (except for some authorised partners), and no other users can make modifications to it. Please make sure you use the same email address when you are activating the license or making any change to its state. For security reasons, using a different email account is not permitted.
- For additonal diagnostics use the "sgoActivationTool->Advanced mode" , where you can see all your licenses and transfer licenses between computers via simple drag and drop actions. It also provides a LicStats tool for diagnosing floating licenses, showing the available licenses / total licenses and the mac addresses of the computers that are currently holding each license.