Licensing FAQ's

The authorisation code is a 20-character, alpha-numeric code which will unlock the purchased software and provide a license for use. An authorisation code, in combination with a unique identifier of the hardware you are installing, allows the user to retrieve a license code. The software is then licensed for the duration purchased.

An authorisation code looks like this:
471dd626dd91534ef616

All SPSS products are sold on an annual maintenance scheme. The annual maintenance fee includes ongoing use of the software, ad-hoc technical and statistical support and all software upgrades. The maintenance is invoiced annually on the anniversary of purchase.

A single-user license (also known as a named-user license) allows you to install the software on a fixed number of machines. You will have a different license code for each machine.

A concurrent-based license allows an unlimited number of installations of the software but only a specific number of users to access the software at one time. The users may be based across multiple departments i.e. if you purchase a two user concurrent license, an unlimited number of users can install the software on their computers, but only two users will be able to access the software simultaneously.

Please follow the steps below to begin using the Commuter License feature:

STEP 1

To enable the Commuter Licensing, first either modify or remove the -com <percentage> parameter in the LSERVOPTS system environment variable on the SPSS Sentinel License Manager. The <percentage> represents the total percentage (0-100) of licenses that are commutable. Default value is "0". Either change this or remove the -com parameter completely.

For example:

-l "C:\Program Files\SPSSSentinelLM\\Logfile.txt" -com 50 -f "C:\Program Files\SPSSSentinelLM\\Logfile.err"

This change allows 50% of the licenses to be commutable.

To edit this environment variable, choose Control Panel->System->Advanced then click the Environment Variables button at the bottom of the dialog box. Edit the LSERVOPTS line by selecting it in the System Variables area. After this change, you must reboot the machine; restarting the License Manager will not enable Commuter Licensing. #CC0000

STEP 2

Attach the portable computer to network.

STEP 3

Install SPSS for Windows on portable computer. The default duration for a commuter license is 3 days with the default maximum threshold set at 7 days. The maximum threshold can be lowered or raised up to 180 days (SPSS 14.0 and 15.0 only) by changing the "MaxLife" registry value on each client:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\SPSS\SPSSCommute

For SPSS 16.0 and later (SPSS Statistics 17.0 etc.), the maximum threshold can be raised up to 30 days by modifying the value specified in the "SPSS_COMMUTE_MAX_LIFE" system environment variable.

The maximum threshold can also be automated as part of a push installation when you add the COMMUTE_MAX_LIFE property to the MSI file or as a parameter to the command line installation. Please see the installation instructions for further information.

STEP 4

To check out a license, choose SPSS Commuter License from the application program group. Next, highlight the desired module(s), enter the desired interval, and click the "Check Out" button. You will be able to utilize the checked out modules while disconnected from the network.

When a license is checked out, a red checkmark appears next to the feature and the number of available licenses is decremented accordingly. Wlmadmin shows that a commuter license is in use. If an additional SPSS module is checked out without the Base module, Base is automatically checked out with the additional module.

When you are ready to return the license, connect the portable computer to the network, select the checked out module(s), and click "Check In". Alternatively, you can allow the interval to lapse and the licenses will be automatically returned to the license commuter pool.

The maximum number of days a commuter license can be checked out is seven by default. For SPSS 15 or previous versions of SPSS, this limit can be adjusted by modifying the MaxLife value in the following registry path on each client machine (a valid value is between 1 and 180).

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SPSS\SPSSCommute

For SPSS 16 and 17, the maximum length of time can be adjusted by modifying the SPSS_COMMUTE_MAX_LIFE environment variable on each client computer. Set the value of this variable to the maximum number of days for which an end user can check out a commuter license. This should be a number between 1 and 30.

This error can be caused by mistyping your License or entering your authorisation code in the license field. If you wish to enter an authorisation code, please select the 'Back' button and choose 'Use Authorisation via ... to get a License'. The available methods are Internet, Phone, or Email.

Please have your System Administrator enable commuter licensing on the SPSS Sentinel License Manager machine:

1. On the SPSS Sentinel License Manager machine, right-click My Computer and choose Properties.
2. Click the Advanced tab and select Environment Variables.
3. Locate the LSERVOPTS system variable and edit it. Find the "-com 0" parameter and either remove it to make all network licenses commutable or change the value to the percentage of licenses you want to be commutable. A valid value is between 0 and 100.
4. Restart the computer.

1. The Lock Code encrypted into the entered license does not match that of the hardware you are attempting to license. If you are unable to determine which machine for which this license was generated, please contact our SPSS-SA sales representative (link to Lindi James’s staff page).
    
2. You are attempting to license your installation via a Terminal Services/Citrix session with a single or site authorisation/license. If you intend to run the software via Terminal Services/Citrix, you will need to obtain a Network license. Please contact our SPSS-SA sales representative (link to Lindi James’s staff page) to obtain a Network License. If you intend to run the application on a server-class machine without Terminal Services/Citrix or you are licensing a server based product, e.g. SPSS Server, please go to that machine directly and run the License Authorization Wizard to request/submit a license.
    
3. You are entering a network authorisation code into the License Authorization Wizard installed with SPSS for Windows, SPSS Text Analysis for Surveys, or AMOS. The network authorisation code is required to license the SPSS Sentinel License Manager, not the aforementioned applications. At this point, you must contact our SPSS-SA Sales Representative (link to Lindi James’s staff page) to request a new authorisation code as the network authorisation code is only valid for one machine. Once you receive the new authorization code, please launch the License Authorization Wizard installed with the SPSS Sentinel License Manager (Start->Programs->SPSS Sentinel License Manager->SPSS License Authorization Wizard) and enter your authorisation code when prompted.
    
4. Ensure the SPSS Sentinel License Manager service is started. Go to Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services and locate "Sentinel LM". The status should report the service is started. If it is not started, i.e. blank, right-click/double-click on the "Sentinel LM" service name and select "Start". If the service will not start, one possible cause could be the Sentinel License Manager was previously installed elsewhere, but has since been removed and installed into a different directory. If that is the case, go to Start->Programs->SPSS Sentinel License Manager->Service Loader. Next, ensure the "Executable Path" is correct and click "Add". Finally, start the "Sentinel LM" service following the aforementioned steps.
    
5. You have an lshost or lsforcehost environment variable defined on the machine where the SPSS Sentinel License Manager is installed. Please remove the environment variable and run the License Authorization Wizard again on this machine to request a license.
    
6. You are not logged in as 'root' while attempting to license the SPSS Sentinel License Manager on a non-Windows platform. Please log in as 'root' prior to licensing your installation.

Single user authorisations enable you to license up to two installations. Site authorisations are bound by the number of licenses that were purchased. If this is a Network authorisation, you can license only one License Manager. If you wish to purchase additional licenses please contact our Sales Representative (link to Lindi James’s staff page).

SPSS has processed your license request and determined the submitted authorisation code is not valid.

Please ensure the following:

1. Make sure the authorisation code is entered correctly and submit the request again.
2. If you copied and pasted the authorisation code from an email, make sure that there are no trailing spaces at the end of the authorisation code.
3. Ensure that the authorisation code is not entered with dashes.
4. If this fails, go into your product installation folder e.g. (c:\Program Files\SPSS), find and remove the file "lservrc", and re-enter the authorisation code using the License Authorization Wizard, or spssactivator.exe.

NOTE: for some products the "lservrc" file may reside within a subdirectory of the product installation - eg. for the Modeling Family, it is within the bin subdirectory of the product installation directory.

The SPSS Statistics licensing program has detected some change on your computer which has caused it to revoke your license for SPSS. This does not mean that your authorisation code or right to use the product has been invalidated, only that the licensing system "believes" that an error has occurred. The most common reason for this error is a change of date or time on the computer. Please check your date and time. If you date and time is incorrect, set them to the correct date and time, restart the computer and open SPSS.

If your date and time is correct but the error 7002 with specific symptom number 26 persists, please contact our SPSS-SA technician (link to Klay Martens Staff Page)

The License Manager IP address entered during the SPSS for Windows installation is invalid.

Please do the following to verify:

1. Navigate to the SPSS directory and open "spssprod.inf", using any text editor.
2. Verify the "DaemonHost" value matches the IP address of the machine where the SPSS sentinel License Manager is installed.

If the "DaemonHost" value is accurate, you have a name resolution problem. Error # 2070, (Symptom number 5) typically means the name resolution database contains a record where a single or duplicate hostname to IP address mapping is incorrect (and that IP address is not active or does not exist on the network). For example, the name resolution database maps Machine_A to IP address: 192.168.1.100, but Machine_A's IP is actually some other address.

To verify, please do the following:

1. Run lswhere.exe (which is located in the SPSS directory) from a problematic SPSS for Windows client and take note of the displayed output.

The following is an example of the output:

Sentinel LM 7.3.0 Search Tool For License Servers
Copyright (C) 2004 Rainbow Technologies, Inc.

Server Address : 192.168.1.101
Server Name : Machine_A

If the SPSS Sentinel License Manager machine is not listed or you encounter the error, "Error[17]: Probably no servers are running on this subnet.", please add the following system environment variable to the SPSS for Windows client and run lswhere.exe again:

Variable: LSHOST
Value: Name or IP address of the License Manager machine

2. When you see the SPSS Sentinel License Manager machine name and corresponding IP address listed in the lswhere output, ping the displayed Server Name from a command line, e.g.

ping Machine_A

An example of the resulting output is as follows:

Pinging Machine_A [192.168.1.100] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

If the request times out, you have a name resolution problem and must address it before SPSS can acquire a license from the SPSS Sentinel License Manager.

If the machine is trying to connect to the SPSS Sentinel License Manager through a VPN and you have meticulously gone through each of these steps without success, then we have had reports from other customers that upgrading to a more recent version of the VPN client, e.g. 4.8, has also resolved this issue.

To confirm this run the following command: netstat -ba > sentinel.txt from the command line of the server housing the Sentinel LM. This will produce a text file (named sentinel.txt) that lists all applications using ports on the server. Run a search for port "5093" and determine if the Sentinel LM application (named lservnt.exe) is using this port.

If a conflict has been found, reserve this port through the Registry and reboot the server.