Openwind requires permission from a centralised licence server in order to run. Every time Openwind starts it sends a request via HTTPS to the licence server. The request is multiply encrypted and sends the client name, a random number and the unique machine ID of the PC which is requesting permission to run Openwind. Openwind uses one of the layers of encryption to identify the client and then decrypts the information and checks the licence information on the server to see if the licence is valid and whether there are enough available seats to allow this request. If this machine ID is in the list of current users, then this PC will have priority.
The advantages of this method are that it is not prone hardware incompatibilities and does not require a dongle. It also allows flexibility to move from one PC to another without asking permission from us.
Problems can arise when there are issues contacting the licence server, either through lack of an internet connection or when there is a proxy server preventing Openwind’s request from getting through.
We are currently working to improve the auto-configuration of Openwind to detect proxy settings but until that improves, the following steps can be taken.
1.White-listing the address HTTPS://secure.awsopenwind.org is the simplest option as this enabled Openwind to bypass the proxy server as if it was not there. However, this can be a problem for some organisations, in which case the next option is necessary.
2.Edit the Openwind.ini file to tell Openwind about the proxy server as follows
•UseProxy Yes if using proxy settings or No if the above URL is whitelisted
•HostHTTP <the address of the proxy for normal HTTP requests on port 80 e.g. 192.168.0.1>
•HostSSL <the address of the proxy for secure HTTPS requests on port 443 e.g. 192.168.0.1>
•PortHTTP <the port on the proxy server that deals with HTTP requests e.g. 8080>
•PortSSL <the port on the proxy server that deals with HTTP requests e.g. 8080>
•Authenticate No if no user authentication is required by the proxy; Yes otherwise
•Username <username of this user on the proxy server>
•Password <password for this user on the proxy server>
•SavePass Yes is required for this INI file to work
•Automatic No as this option does not appear to work well just now
•URL <the URL of the auto-configuration script for the proxy server>