Software Activation and License Metering
As part of Altova’s Software Activation, the software may use your internal network and Internet connection for the purpose of transmitting license-related data at the time of installation, registration, use, or update to an Altova-operated license server and validating the authenticity of the license-related data in order to protect Altova against unlicensed or illegal use of the software and to improve customer service. Activation is based on the exchange of license related data such as operating system, IP address, date/time, software version, and computer name, along with other information between your computer and an Altova license server.
Your Altova product has a built-in license metering module that further helps you avoid any unintentional violation of the End User License Agreement. Your product is licensed either as a single-user or multi-user installation, and the license-metering module makes sure that no more than the licensed number of users use the application concurrently.
This license-metering technology uses your local area network (LAN) to communicate between instances of the application running on different computers.
Single license
When the application starts up, as part of the license metering process, the software sends a short broadcast datagram to find any other instance of the product running on another computer in the same network segment. If it doesn't get any response, it will open a port for listening to other instances of the application.
Multi-user license
If more than one instance of the application is used within the same LAN, these instances will briefly communicate with each other on startup. These instances exchange key-codes in order to help you to better determine that the number of concurrent licenses purchased is not accidentally violated. This is the same kind of license metering technology that is common in the Unix world and with a number of database development tools. It allows Altova customers to purchase reasonably-priced concurrent-use multi-user licenses.
We have also designed the applications so that they send few and small network packets so as to not put a burden on your network. The TCP/IP ports (2799) used by your Altova product are officially registered with the IANA (see the IANA Service Name Registry for details) and our license-metering module is tested and proven technology.
If you are using a firewall, you may notice communications on port 2799 between the computers that are running Altova products. You are, of course, free to block such traffic between different groups in your organization, as long as you can ensure by other means, that your license agreement is not violated.
Note about certificates
Your Altova application contacts the Altova licensing server (link.altova.com) via HTTPS. For this communication, Altova uses a registered SSL certificate. If this certificate is replaced (for example, by your IT department or an external agency), then your Altova application will warn you about the connection being insecure. You could use the replacement certificate to start your Altova application, but you would be doing this at your own risk. If you see a Non-secure connection warning message, check the origin of the certificate and consult your IT team (who would be able to decide whether the interception and replacement of the Altova certificate should continue or not).
If your organization needs to use its own certificate (for example, to monitor communication to and from client machines), then we recommend that you install Altova's free license management software, Altova LicenseServer, on your network. Under this setup, client machines can continue to use your organization's certificates, while Altova LicenseServer can be allowed to use the Altova certificate for communication with Altova.