Supported products

Commuter licensing is provided only for the following products:

• PIPE-FLO Professional
• PIPE-FLO Compressible
• PIPE-FLO Stock
• Overtime

It is not available for Flow of Fluids or for PUMP-FLO.

If you are an end-user of one of these applications, please contact your network administrator or IT personnel to see if they are utilizing the commuting feature for your network.

The most common use of commuter licensing is when a user on your network needs to use the software on a portable computer that is not (or will not be) connected to the network. The WCommute and WRCommute utilities are found on the PIPE-FLO installation CD under the path "\Server\ClientTools\".

If you choose to allow users to check out software licenses, you will need to copy one or both of these utilities to an available location on your network.

Checking Out Licenses

There are two different methods for checking out a commuter license:

1. To check out an authorization, the computer must be attached to the local network and have access to a license server containing an available software license. After checking out an authorization, the user may disconnect the computer from the network and continue to run the software. (Refer to the section "Checking Out a License on the Local Area Network" below.)


2. A remote user (not attached to the local network) can also obtain an authorization by sending a commuter locking code to a local user, who checks out the authorization. The local user then forwards the authorization code (via email or other method) to the remote user to enable the software on his computer. (Refer to the section "Checking Out a License for a Remote Computer" below.)

Restricting Commuter Licensing

Commuter licensing uses up the same license tokens as other types of licensing. If you want to restrict the percentage of license tokens on a specific license server that can be used by commuter licensing authorizations, use the "–com" option when you start the license server. This makes sure that commuter licensing doesn't use up all of the license tokens needed by other users of the software on the network.

Commuter Licensing Authorization Check-In Policy

When checking out an authorization, the user requests authorization for a specific number of days (the default is 30 days). The authorization expires after that many days, and the license server automatically recovers the license without any action by the user. You may choose to instruct the local user not to bother checking in the authorization after returning. On the other hand, if you are in danger of running out of license tokens for the software, you may want to encourage local users always to check in authorizations as soon as possible. Note that the commuter licensing user must check in an authorization back to the same license server from which the authorization was checked out.

Warning: A remote commuter authorization (checked out using WRCommute) cannot be checked back into the license server, and will always remain checked out for the full number of days requested.

Commuter Instructions for Network Users

As the network administrator, you need to give your network users instructions on how to check authorizations in and out. The following sections have been written aimed at the end user.

1. Your network administrator will give you instructions on where to find the WCommute utility. Within Windows Explorer, navigate to the "WCommute.exe" file and double-click the file to run it.


2. To find an authorization for the commuter license you want to use, select the "Search Subnet" button to see network licenses available for commuting on all license servers within your subnet. Or, if there is a specific license server you want to search or want to select a license server outside of your subnet, select the "Single Server" button.
   • If you select "Search Subnet", you may need to wait a few moments while WCommute searches the subnet for license servers.
   • If you select "Single Server", a dialog box appears, asking you to enter the name of the license server you want to contact. Enter the license server computer's host name or IP address and click OK.


3. For each available license server, you will see a list of licenses for which you can check out an authorization. If you see a red check mark next to a license, it means that an authorization has already been checked out to your computer. You may not check out an authorization if it is already checked out.
   • PIPE-FLO Professional licenses are listed as "Feature: PROF"
   • PIPE-FLO Compressible licenses are listed as "Feature: COMP"
   • PIPE-FLO Stock licenses are listed as "Feature: STOCK"
   Find the desired license in the list and click it once to select it.


4. Type a number from 1 (one) to 30 to select the number of days the authorization will be checked out.

By checking out an authorization, you decrease the number of available uses of the software for other network users, so specify the minimum number of days that you need.


5. Click the "Check Out" button. Remember the name of the license server from which you obtained the authorization. You will need to check in the authorization back to the same license server later.


6. To check in an authorization, look for the license under the license server from which you checked it out. Click once on it to select it. There should be a red check mark next to it, indicating that you currently have it checked out. Click the "Check In" button. If you do not see the red check mark, either you have selected the wrong server or the license authorization has timed out and returned automatically to the server. If you are sure that you have selected the correct server, there is no need to check in the license.


7. To exit WCommute, go to the "File" menu and select "Exit".

To Obtain and Install a Remote Commuter Authorization

• A remote user generates a commuter locking code for the remote computer, and sends the commuter locking code to a local user who has access to the license server.


• The local user checks out a remote commuter authorization, and sends it to the remote user.


• The remote user installs the remote commuter authorization code.

Warning: A remote commuter authorization (checked out using WRCommute) cannot be checked back into the license server, and will always remain checked out for the full number of days requested.

Getting a Remote Commuter Locking Code

1. On the remote computer, run the WRcommute utility. Within Windows Explorer, navigate to the file "WRCommute.exe" and double-click the file to run it.


2. Select the "Get Locking Code" tab. This tab displays commuter locking code for the current computer.


3. Send the commuter locking code as an E-mail message to the local user who can check out the authorization for you. Type an E-mail address in the "E-mail address" field and click "Send".


4. If WRCommute is unable to create the E-mail, save the locking code to a file and include the file in an e-mail message to the local user.

Checking Out a Remote Commuter Authorization

1. On the local computer, follow steps 1-4 in the previous section "Checking Out a License on the Local Area Network".

Warning: This license will remain "in use" and unavailable to other users for the number of days specified on this screen; The license cannot be checked in before that time expires. Be sure to change the number of days from the default of 30 to the minimum number of days needed by the remote user.


2. Select the "Check out authorization for remote machine" check box and click the "Check Out" button.


3. Enter the commuter locking code received from the remote user. You can select "Enter the locking code string for remote machine" and type it in the text box or paste from the clipboard. You can also select "Get locking code string for remote machine from a file" and read the code from a file.


4. Click "OK". You see the "Remote Commuter Licensing" dialog box.


5. Send the commuter locking code as an E-mail message to the remote user. Type an E-mail address in the "E-mail address" field and click "Send".


6. If WCommute is unable to create the E-mail, save the locking code to a file and include the file in an e-mail message to the remote user.

Installing a Remote Commuter Authorization

1. On the remote computer, run the WRCommute utility.


2. Select the "Install Remote Authorization Code" tab.


3. Enter the remote authorization code received from the local user. You can select "Enter remote authorization code" and type it in the text box or paste from the clipboard. You can also select "Get remote authorization code from a file" and read the code from a file.


4. Click "Install".

In conjunction with our license software supplier, we have identified an issue that may affect your attempts to commute your network licenses. If your network administrator intends to enable this feature and is having difficulty, please have him or her contact our technical support department to request a software patch.

Who is affected by this issue:

• It ONLY applies to customers with network licenses AND who want to commute.


• It applies to all PIPE-FLO Stock and PIPE-FLO Compressible customers who purchased v2007 before 3/17/2008.


• It applies to PIPE-FLO Professional customers who purchased v2007a between 1/21/2008 and 3/17/2008. Basically these are the new professionals that received v2007a without first having v2007.


• It MAY affect customers who had v2007 and upgraded to v2007a, but ONLY IF they install to a new computer and only install from the 2007a CD or download.


• It PROBABLY WILL affect customers who had v2005 (or earlier) and upgraded to v2007a, without having v2007.

We apologize for any inconvenience. Please contact our technical support department if you have any questions regarding this issue.