Trial version installs

kathy_allen asked a question.

June 19, 2019 at 7:43 PM

Can FNMS identify if an install is a trial version vs licensed copy of an application?

FlexNet Manager Suite On-Premises

Natalie L (Flexera Software)
7 years ago
In general - if the deployed software is somehow distinct, yes; if the only difference is in a license or registry key, no, not without additional configuration to capture that detail.
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- ChrisG (Flexera Software)
  7 years ago
  @Natalie 's response is quite correct, and I understand you are asking a general question here. However to give some more insight into the challenge here, you may find the following thread about a particular application (Quest Toad) interesting: "Unspecified" edition for "Toad for Oracle" versions 9 to 13 . This is about recognizing different editions, but the same principle/challenge applies for recognizing a "trial" version as opposed to some other type of install.
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  - kathy_allen
    7 years ago
    Thanks @ChrisG and @Natalie . I have read through the Oracle thread as we have a lot of apps with unspecified editions. I even opened a support case at one point but was not resolved.
    Most of the examples of trial versions I have found are most likely general installs that require a license key to register. Is there any documentation on additional configuration that would identify them?
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0_Captain Kirk (Flexera Software)
7 years ago
Kathy:Though there are exceptions - in general, a "Trial" version of software has the exact same installation footprint as the fully licensed version - the difference being controlled by a License Key. This makes identification difficult because:1) You need to know where the license key is located (local file/windows registry/etc)2) The license key may be encrypted3) Know the translation rules to interpret the license key to know if this is a trial install or notAt a higher level, a concept to keep in mind is that if you look at the actual EULA for most trial software, it will state that only 1 or 2 copies of trial software can be installed across the organization. You can understand why a publisher would not want you to install 25 instances of trial software. Therefore, even if you could determine that there are 25 installs of trial software for a product, it is likely that you would be legally obligated to license most of them anyway.Trial software should be installed in a controlled sandbox/lab environment so the installs can be known and then within the license in FlexNet Manager they can be exempted from consumption.
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