Product Registration

Before using VisiBroker, you need to register and activate the license you received for your product. The license may be in the form of an email from Micro Focus listing one or more serial numbers and license keys, or it may be a license key file sent to you in an email from Micro Focus.

If you have a valid license for an earlier versions of VisiBroker installed on the same machine as the newly-installed VisiBroker software, use the lmadm command-line tool to migrate your previous license for use with the newly-installed VisiBroker software. For information about VisiBroker licenses, see “Licensing”.

If you have already received a key file in an email from Micro Focus for a product you purchased online or downloaded for evaluation, or if you downloaded a free version of the product, you can use the registration wizard to apply the key file, or you can copy it to the <install_dir>\license directory and it will be applied automatically when you restart your product.

Registration methods

If you have a serial number and key, you can register and activate your VisiBroker product using one of the following registration methods:

•	Direct. If your system is connected to the Internet, this is the simplest method.

If you were presented with the option “Do you want to register and activate VisiBroker now?” during the installation process and answered Yes, the Product Registration Wizard launches automatically. Otherwise you can launch the Wizard by following the instructions in To register and activate a license after installation.

If the system on which you are installing VisiBroker has internet access, then the quickest and simplest way to register is using the Direct Registration option. The Product Registration Wizard guides you through all required steps and automatically activates your license for you. The sections on installing VisiBroker on various systems give you full instructions on direct registration.

•	Email. You send your registration request via your own email account (from any system), and will receive an activation file via email that you can apply to your installation. For more information, see “Email registration”.

•	Web page. Similar to email, except you register by visiting the Micro Focus web site. For more information, see “Web page registration”.

•	Telephone. You provide information to a Micro Focus representative, who will send you an activation file by email or mail. For more information, see “Telephone registration”.

Depending on which method you choose, you may be asked to indicate whether you have a Developer Network (BDN) account. See “Licensing” in the “Planning your Installation” chapter. If you do not have an account, you will be prompted to create one in the Product Registration Wizard.

If you do not choose the Direct registration method, you will receive an activation file. Simply copy this file into the <install_dir>\license directory and it will be applied automatically when you start your product. Alternatively, you can start the wizard at another time by running lmadm.exe from the VisiBroker installation folder.

Direct registration

The most straightforward method of registering VisiBroker is to enter the serial number and license key and choose direct registration, as described in this section. See the Registering your License sections in the various platform-specific installation chapters.

Email registration

1	At the Select Registration Method screen, choose Email.

2	Indicate whether you have an account, and click Next. If you do not have an account you are prompted to create one.

3	Review the Information Summary and click Next.

4	Copy the content of the Email Registration content pane into an email message addressed to supportline@microfocus.com. You can send your registration request via your own email account from any system. Include in the email:

a	The information in the Information Summary window.

b	The information in the Email Registration window.

c	The registration key, which you can retrieve by choosing the Web page option.

d	Your support contract serial number.

5	Click Next and Finish to close the wizard.

6	You will receive an activation key file by email. Copy the activation key file to the <install_dir>\license directory and it will be applied automatically when you restart VisiBroker.

Web page registration

1	At the Select Registration Method screen, choose Web page and click Next.

2	Copy the registration key from the Web Registration step of the wizard, then click Finish to close the wizard.

3	If you have a developer network account, go to https://visireg.microfocus.com. Enter your developer network account information and click Login.

If you do not have an account, go to https://visireg.microfocus.com/srs5/new_user.jsp and create one.

4	In the Product Registration web page, enter the VisiBroker Serial Number and Registration Key that you copied from the Product Registration Wizard, and click Continue.

5	Verify the email address to which the activation file will be sent, and click Register.

6	You will receive a product activation file by email. Copy the activation key file to the <install_dir>\license directory and it will be applied automatically when you restart VisiBroker.

Telephone registration

1	At the Select Registration Method screen, choose Telephone and click Next.

2	Select the appropriate region’s telephone number from the information at https://supportline.microfocus.com/, and call the number for telephone assistance.

3	Click Next and Finish to close the wizard.

4	You will receive a product activation file. Copy the activation key file to the <install_dir>\license directory and it will be applied automatically when you restart VisiBroker.

 

To register and activate a license after installation

To register and activate your license after you have installed VisiBroker:

1	Go to <install_root>/bin directory.

2	Launch lmadm from the /bin directory and complete the license registration process.

3	The Wizard appears and presents the following panels:

a	Product Registration Wizard: Select Have Serial Number.

b	Serial Number: Enter the 20-character serial number and the 6- character license key supplied with your installation into the respective fields.

c	Select Registration Method: Choose Direct.

d

Account Information: This is specified as a prerequisite for installing VisiBroker. See the section A username and password for information. Choose I have an account. If you have not yet set up a developer network account, select I do not have an account. The wizard prompts you for the information to create an account.

e	Account Information: Enter your developer network account information.

f	Proxy settings: If you have any proxies configured, check I use a proxy and enter your proxy information. If you do not use proxies, just click Next.

g	Information Summary: Check the information you have entered and if it is correct click Next. Click Back if you want to change anything.

h	Direct Registration: This dialog box shows how your registration is progressing. When registration is complete, the Done button is enabled. Click Done.

Registering an evaluation copy of VisiBroker

If you are installing an evaluation or free version of VisiBroker, copy the license activation key file you receive by email from Micro Focus to <install_dir>/license directory. If you did not receive a license activation key file, or if you are reinstalling the software, go to https://www.microfocus.com/product-trials/corba/index.aspx?productname=VisiBroker and download a new license key.

Verifying installation and registration

To verify that you have installed and registered VisiBroker correctly:

1	Open a windows command prompt and go to the <VBROKERDIR>\bin folder. The default value for <VBROKERDIR> is C:\MicroFocus\VisiBroker.

2	Setup the VisiBroker environment by running vbroker.bat.

3	Go to the sample folder <VBROKERDIR>\examples\vbroker\basic\bank_agent to compile and run the server to verify if the installation has been installed properly.

4	Compile the example using the supported compiler for the operating system where you are installing VisiBroker. For the compilers supported by this release of VisiBroker, see http://supportline.microfocus.com/prodavail.aspx.

5	Assuming the "nmake" command is in the PATH, enter "nmake -f Makefile_cpp" for a C++ example and "vbmake.bat" for a Java example.

6	Once the compilation is successful, run "osagent" from the same folder. This is a lookup service from where clients will receive the server's IOR.

7	Start the server as follows:

For VisiBroker for C++:
server.exe

For VisiBroker for Java:
vbj Server

8	The server starts and displays the object reference which is hosted by this server.

Cleaning up and re-registering a license

You can clean up and re-register an existing VisiBroker installation if there is a license issue.

Note

Before cleaning up and re-registration, contact Micro Focus Customer Care (at http://supportline.microfocus.com) if you need to increase the registration count for your license. A valid reason is necessary to increase the registration count. For example, if you are just planning to re-install the product in a different location in the same machine, the license count will not be increased. For re-hosting the license, contact Micro Focus support.

Cleanup instructions

1	In the problematic VisiBroker installation, remove the following files and folders from the <install_dir>/var folder:

borland.lic

borland.pkg

mf_license.dat and mf_licensej.dat (if present)

the hidden files and folders under the var folder, for example var\.bpy-tjacqr

If you do not see the hidden files and folders, then:

In Windows, enable viewing hidden files by using Folder Options.

In UNIX, use the ls -la command to list the hidden files and folders.

2	Remove the reg*.txt or hidden *.slip from the <install_dir>/license folder.

3	Open a UNIX console or Windows command prompt.

On a UNIX operating system, log in using the same non-root user who installed VisiBroker.

4	Go to the <install_dir>/bin folder.

5	Set up the VisiBroker environment by running . ./vbroker.sh for a UNIX system, or vbroker.bat for Windows.

6	Run lmadm -i console.

Select option 2 to list all licenses. You should not see any license listed. This step makes sure that you have cleaned up the license successfully.

Re-registration of VisiBroker license

You can re-register the VisiBroker license by any of the same methods that you use to register a new license. See “Registration methods”.