OCEE documentation
OCEE documentation

Subscription Manager

This page describes how to obtain and install subscription keys for your OCEE installation.

In order to activate your OCEE installation, you need to get a valid production subscription key. When OCEE is installed for the first time, you usually have an evaluation or a provisional subscription key which is valid for a restricted time only.

To obtain an unlimited production subscription key, you must create an activation code in your OpenCms installation and send it to Alkacon Software. You will then receive the production subscription key for this activation key. Please note that we can not generate a production key without the activation code. This activation procedure must be repeated for each OpenCms installation that requires a production subscription key. If you are using the OCEE cluster manager, you will need to transfer the subscription to all servers.

Just follow these steps:

  • Install OCEE in a working OpenCms installation.
  • Copy the ocee-license.xml file to your ${OPENCMS_HOME}/WEB-INF/config/
    folder. You can directly edit the file to set your license information or do it later from the
    OpenCms workplace.
  • Do the needed changes to your opencms.xml file as explained in the section Installation of the License Manager.
  • Restart your servlet container.

There are 4 types of subscription keys:

  • Evaluation key: An evaluation subscription key allows you using the software for evaluation purposes for a time period of 31 days. This license key is not OpenCms installation dependent.
  • Provisional key: A provisional subscription key is issued as soon as you order an OCEE package, and you will get it with the download instructions. This subscription key allows you using the software until you install it in the final production machine and has a standard duration of 31 days. This subscription key is not OpenCms installation dependent.
  • Development key: A development subscription key allows you using the software for development purposes. This version is restricted to a certain runtime limit, normally 12 hours, after that time the OCEE features will be disabled and you will have to restart your servlet container. This subscription key is not OpenCms instance dependent.
  • Production key: A production subscription key (or just subscription key) has no time restriction.
    Since a subscription key is OpenCms installation dependent, it is necessary to collect some data to
    generate the license key. This data is called activation code and is described in the next section. Please understand that in some cases the payment confirmation might take some time, and that we cannot issue any production license key without confirmation. But there is no problem in prolonging the duration of your provisional license key until the payment is confirmed.

You need only one subscription key for a cluster of OpenCms instances, but the number of allowed cluster servers is limited by the key. If you have multiple OpenCms clusters, you will need one key for each of them.

There can be four kinds of usage scenarios:

  • Illegal use: You have no license key at all, you are using a wrong license key or you are using an expired evaluation or provisional license key. In this case, the Alkacon OCEE products will not work, and more over they will interfere (in a non destructive way) the normal behavior of OpenCms. Additionally, several warnings will be written to log files. Every time a user logs in, a warning is displayed.
  • Product Evaluation or Activation: You have a valid evaluation license key. In this case, Alkacon OCEE products will properly work in the same way as if they where activated, but just for a restricted time period of 31 days. In the last 10 days, member users of the Administrators group will get a warning after logging into OpenCms.
  • Development: You have a valid development license key. In this case, Alkacon OCEE products will properly work, in the same way as if you were using a production license key, but just for a restricted runtime period of 12 continuous hours, after that, you will have to restart your servlet container, or work without Alkacon OCEE features.
  • Productive Use: You have a valid (production) license key. In this case, the product is activated and it just works.

Since a subscription key is OpenCms installation dependent, it is necessary to collect some data to generate the subscription key. This data can be obtained in the "Subscription" app which you can select in the launchpad:

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You will be shown the status of your current subscription key (if any), and can click the "Update subscription key" button to set a new key or generate the activation code.

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When you click "Request new key", a new dialog with the activation code pops up. Follow the instructions in the dialog.

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To configure the subscription manager, you need to make changes to the following files in ${OPENCMS_HOME}/WEB-INF/config:

Add the license configuration class to the opencms.xml configuration file, adding it below the /opencms/configuration/ node, like this

<configuration>
...
    <config class="org.opencms.ocee.license.CmsLicenseConfiguration"/>
</configuration>

Please note: This configuration entry has to be the first in the order of the org.opencms.ocee.* entries.

The subscription information is maintained in the ${OPENCMS_HOME}/WEB-INF/config/ocee-license.xml XML file. This section describes the configuration options for this file. For a standard configuration file, see the provided example configuration file.

  • Element: /opencms/license/name
    Description: The name to which the Alkacon OCEE product has been licensed to, it has
    to exactly match the name sent to you by Alkacon Software GmbH.
  • Element: /opencms/license/key
    Description: The license key to activate your Alkacon OCEE product, it has to exactly
    match the key sent to you by Alkacon Software GmbH.

A subscription configuration could look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE opencms SYSTEM "http://www.alkacon.com/dtd/6.0/ocee-license.dtd">
<opencms>
    <license>
        <name>Alkacon Software GmbH</name>
        <key>207/nAbWRJ2Qe6s53qAzMSpAzp4gIyRH/GWNBUqzqupya7uLbZHN7waOUSgpdZQRJILQrw5A3mpaNF6DUgfrdDon+Lcs671IkK5vhJx2JA7P3OKrqQqzpySR7uYslofmNsToYg==</key>
    </license>
</opencms>

Note that setting the key is the in the ocee-license.xml is the same as setting the key through the user interface.