




















                                COUNT! v2.6
                              February  1993


                       Network Administrators Guide



    This document is intended for Network Administrators and assumes the 
    audience is familiar with MS Windows v3.0 or above, MS DOS v3.3 or 
    above, and basic network management principals.




                             Table Of Contents


                    Topic                             Page
                    ---------------------             -----
                    What is COUNT!                      1
                    Using COUNT!                        2
                    Setting up COUNT! on a network      5
                    Methods of controlling access       5
                    USER Messages                       6
                    Registering COUNT!                  7
                    Transferring a License to COUNT!    7


                                COUNT! v2.6
                       Network Administrators Guide
                                  Page 1


                              What is COUNT!

COUNT! is a MS Windows utility that enables you to abide to "simultaneous 
use" licenses in a network environment.  This type of license allows you 
to provide applications to a user community without buying a license for 
each potential user.  The result is typically an 80% to 90% reduction in 
the cost of the application.

Simultaneous use licenses:
    Unlike mainframe programs which base the fee on the number of 
    potential users of a product, personal computer software licenses are 
    often based on the number of people using a program at any point in 
    time.  If the network provides a dozen applications to 50 users, it is 
    probable that five to ten licenses for each application will be 
    sufficient to meet the needs of the 50 users without purchasing 50 
    licenses of each.

    Most major suppliers of personal computer software base their license 
    on simultaneous use.  However, many of these (Microsoft for example) 
    provide no means for maintaining the license.  Should you wind up in 
    court, you are required to provide evidence that adequate precautions 
    were taken to ensure that the simultaneous use license was not violated.

What does COUNT! Do:
    COUNT! launches programs in an MS windows environment and keeps track 
    of the number of users.  It will enable you to enforce simultaneous 
    use licenses.  It also provides features to make many programs which 
    function poorly in a network environment behave better.

    COUNT! enables a user to access an application as easily as if it were 
    installed on his local hard disk.  To to this, it will if necessary:

         Establish a network connection
         Modify the current DOS directory
         Check for license availability
         Execute the program
         Free the network license
         Disconnect the network connection


                                COUNT! v2.6
                       Network Administrators Guide
                                  Page 2


                               Using COUNT!

An end user needs no special knowledge to use COUNT!  He simply launches 
applications normally through Windows.  A License dialog box appears 
informing him the license is being shared.  If no more licenses are 
available, the dialog box will inform him of that and provide a list of 
current users.

To set-up applications to run under COUNT!, a network administrator should 
be familiar with the Windows Program Manager, and the methods to launch 
applications.  There are several ways to launch a windows application.  
The most typical is for the user to "double click" on an application icon 
in a Program Manager group.  The second is to use the file manager to 
launch an application with a selected data file.  A third is to launch the 
application using the Program Manager's "Run command".  You do not need to 
support all methods as a network administration manager.  All are covered 
here.

COUNT! is a Windows application which launches other applications.  The 
"launched" application is a parameter for COUNT!.  For instance, to launch 
Microsoft's Excel, the program line could be "COUNT! MS_Excel".  To launch 
Aldus' Persuasion, the program line could be "COUNT! Persuasion".  COUNT!  
would then do everything necessary to make appropriate network 
connections, start the application, and enforce software licenses.

This raises two questions.  How do you use the COUNT! command line under 
Windows, and how does COUNT! know how to make network connections, etc., 
for each application.

Using the COUNT! Command Line:
    All the methods of launching an application with COUNT! require the 
    use of a COUNT! command line.  The command line has the form 
    "COUNT! ApplicationName".  COUNT! launches the program associated with 
    ApplicationName.

Supporting Applications Launched via a Program Manager Application Icon:
    You will need to modify the vendor supplied installation procedure to 
    modify the icon's "properties" to use COUNT! to launch the program.

    The application icon program line properties can be changed using the 
    following procedure:

         In Program Manager, select the program icon by clicking on it 
         once with the mouse.

         Select File-Properties, from the Program Manager's menu.  A 
         "Program Item Properties" dialog box should appear.

         Change the command line box to launch the program through COUNT!  
         ie.  "COUNT!.EXE MS_Excel".


                                COUNT! v2.6
                       Network Administrators Guide
                                  Page 3


         You should also change the icon to the application's normal icon, 
         which is typically in the main .EXE file of the application.  
         However, the .exe file may not be available to Windows if the 
         network drive is not currently connected.  There are utilities 
         available which allow you to extract an icon from an application 
         .exe file.  You could then make these icon files available to 
         Windows.

Supporting Applications Launched via File Manager:
    You will need to modify the "[extensions]" section of WIN.INI to 
    associate COUNT! with the extension of data files your program runs.  
    Again, you need to supply a command line such as 
    "XLT=COUNT!.EXE MS_Excel ^.XLT"

Supporting Applications Launched via Program Manager's Run Command:
    The user would have to enter a correct COUNT! command Line in Program 
    Manager's "RUN" dialog box.


How COUNT! Launches the Application:
    The COUNT!.INI file controls what COUNT! does in launching an 
    application.  COUNT!.INI consists of a number of applications 
    "Sections" containing keywords describing how to launch the 
    application.  Each section begins with the ApplicationName in square 
    brackets.  Keywords can be any of the following:

         Connect=Network connection command
         ConnectDrive=Drive:,Network_Path,Password
             (Only Windows 3.1 and Above support this command.  You can 
             use "Connect" to support Windows 3.0)  The Password can be 
             optional with some Network services.  However, the comma 
             separator must be included as in the example below.  You can 
             use "*" as the Password and the User will be prompted to 
             provide one before the connection is made.  If The Drive and 
             Network service are already in use, this command is ignored.  
             Network Drives which are connected with this command are 
             Disconnected when the the user exits the application.
         StartDirectory=Starting directory
         Execute=Program invocation command
         Disconnect=Network disconnection command
         CountFile=R/W file which holds the current users/license counts
         MaxUsers=Number of users that can use the program simultaneously
         UpdateLicense=Number of minutes between updates of the
             CountFile.  The default is 5.  A 0 inhibits updates.

         All keywords other than Execute are optional.


                                COUNT! v2.6
                       Network Administrators Guide
                                  Page 4

    If a CountFile is used, A DOS environment variable must exist prior to 
    entering Windows which provides a user name.  This is accomplished by 
    the DOS SET command as follows:
         "SET Name=UserName"

    The UserName must be unique to each network node.
    The COUNT!.INI file can be created with any file editor such as 
    NotePad.  Below is an example COUNT!.INI file

         [MS Excel]
         Connect=USE E:\\MyServer\ExcelProgram /R
         Execute=E:\EXCEL\Excel.EXE
         Disconnect=USE E: /D

         [MS Project]
         ConnectDrive=L:,\\MyServer\MSProject,,
         Execute=L:\WinProj\Project.EXE
         StartDirectory=c:\Project
         CountFile=Q:\Licenses\Licenses.Dat
         MaxUsers=10


                                COUNT! v2.6
                       Network Administrators Guide
                                  Page 5


                      Setting Up COUNT! on a Network

COUNT!.EXE and COUNT!.INI need to be placed in a common network directory 
accessible to all users.  Users should be granted READ ONLY access to 
these files.

If a CountFile is used to monitor or meter access (via MaxUsers), a common 
user READ\WRITE area needs to be made available for this file. COUNT! will 
create the CountFile as required.

Also, as mentioned previously, A DOS environment variable must exist 
(NAME=UserName) if a CountFile is used.  It is suggested that this be 
created in each nodes AutoExec.Bat or Network Connection.Bat file.


                       Methods of Controlling Access

There are two ways to use COUNT! to enforce simultaneous use licenses.  
One method is to put each application you want to control access to in a 
unique network service, and place a limit on the number of connections to 
this service.  COUNT! could then connect to the service before starting 
the program, and disconnect when done. The server would preform the 
license counting/metering.

The above method is the most secure method of controlling access. However, 
there may be situations in which you cannot or prefer not to create unique 
network services for each application.  You can then use COUNT!'s MaxUsers 
keyword to control access.

When a program is launched, COUNT! first checks the CountFile (if 
specified) to see if the number of current users is less that the MaxUsers 
defined in COUNT!.INI for that application.  If so, COUNT! adds an Entry 
to the CountFile similar to the one below:

         [MS Project]
         John Doe=09:33:27 02/12/92

The timestamp is updated every 5 minutes unless overridden with the 
UpdateLicense Keyword.


                                COUNT! v2.6
                       Network Administrators Guide
                                  Page 6

                              USER Messages

     There are a few messages COUNT! passes on to the user that a Network 
     Administrator needs to be aware of.  These are covered below:
     
       "All Licenses for this application are currently in use!"  A user 
        will get this message when all licenses set by the MaxUsers 
        parameter are in use.  They will also get a list box identifing 
        users so they can try to free up a license on their own.
     
       "Please Exit AppName IMMEDIATELY!  License VIOLATION!"  Through an 
        Application error or user tampering, the license reserved for this 
        user in the CountFile has been erased.  A user should Never get 
        this message.  It sould be looked into by the Network 
        Administrator.

      The remaining messages should not normally be seen by a user, but 
      may arrise in setting up applications to run under COUNT!

       "Could Not Connect (to Drive)"  A network Error caused by an 
        incorrect DOS drive or Network file service specification in 
        COUNT!.ini, or unidentifable network connection problem.

       "Drive In Use on Different Service"  A failure to connect to the 
        requested network service in COUNT!.ini because the requested Drive 
        is already being used for a different network service.  You should 
        not set up two network file services to share the same DOS Drive.

       "Could Not Execute"  Execution of the application failed.  Most 
        often this is caused by an error in COUNT!.ini or perhaps a DOS 
        PATH Error.

      "Could Not Find Count!.ini"  COUNT!.ini is not in the same 
       subdirectory as COUNT!.exe.

      "No Application Specified"  No ApplicationName was specified on the 
       COUNT! Command Line.

      "No Program to Execute in Count!.Ini"  No "Execute=" was included.

      "Name Environment Variable Not Defined!"  You MUST have a Name 
       Environment Variable defined if you are using a CountFile.


                                COUNT! v2.6
                       Network Administrators Guide
                                  Page 7


                            Registering COUNT!

COUNT! is copyrighted software and all rights are reserved by the author.  
You are free to evaluate the product for 30 days to determine its 
suitability to your needs.  Use beyond 30 days requires registration.

Anyone with the conscience to use COUNT! will want to register it.  A 
license to COUNT! enables you copy and use the software on a single server 
for up to 100 Users.  The cost of the license is $59.  If you would like 
to register, please fill out the form on the next page.

In return, you will be sent a diskette with a registered version of the 
software.

                      Transferring a License to COUNT!

Upon registering, you will receive a license number.  To license the 
software, you will need Read/Write access to the directory where 
COUNT!.EXE is located.  From Windows Program Manager, use "File Run" and 
place in the command Line "Drive:\Path\COUNT!.EXE /L".

You will prompted you for your company and server name.  You are limited 
to approximately 25 characters, so you may have to abbreviate.  If Name 
appears truncated in the Main dialog box, you can reinstall the license.


                            COUNT! v2.6 User Registration

     NAME:             ____________________________________

     Company:          ____________________________________

     Street:           ____________________________________

     Town, State, Zip: ____________________________________


     Please register me for (____) copies of COUNT!.  Enclosed is $59.00 for
     each copy (plus 6% Sales tax for Maine residents).

     Preferred Media:  5.25"(360K) ____  3.5" (720K) ____

     Please make checks payable to:
                       Edward Derzawiec
                       6 Sweet Fern Road
                       Cape Elizabeth, ME  04107

     Signature:   ____________________________________

     In signing this form I agree:
          1. Not to make copies of the registered software received for
             purposes outside of my use on a single network server.

          2. Not to modify the software without written consent of the author.

     I welcome your comments on the merits or limitations of COUNT!, or
     enhancements you would like to see added.

         _______________________________________________________________

         _______________________________________________________________


     To improve the testing of COUNT!, please answer the following:

         Server Type:
              Operating System: DOS ____, OS2 ____, VMS ____, UNIX ____
                               Other _________________

              Network OS:  Novel ____, Vines ____, PCSA ____, Other ________

         Nodes:
              PC/XT (8086/8088) ____,   AT (286) ____,  (386/486/SX CPU) ____
              Display: Mono, ____, CGA, ____ EGA, ____ VGA, ____  Color ____
              Windows Version ____

         Applications Count! is Used For:
              
               ______________________________________________________________

     ========================================================================
     Do not write below this line:

         Serial number licensed to above user: ____________

