Single-user license protection

Single-user licenses can be used by a single user on a single computer. To enforce the single-user character, AIMMS requires that single-user licenses be protected by either

a hardware dongle, which, must be connected to a USB or parallel port of your computer, depending on the type of dongle; or
a software nodelock, which must be activated to match the hardware characteristic of your computer.

When ordering the AIMMS software you can indicate whether you want your AIMMS system to be protected by a dongle or by a nodelock. Which choice to make is dependent on your situation and the intended use of the AIMMS software.

Pros and cons of hardware dongles

Dongles offer you the most ﬂexibility when you want to use AIMMS on multiple computers, and do not want the hassle of having to deactivate and activate a nodelock on these computers. On the other hand, dongles occasionally break, you can forget to take the dongle with you, they can be stolen, and, because of their small size, get lost quite easily, especially if you are moving them around a lot. Dongles are only available for Windows, not for Linux.

Pros and cons of software nodelocks

Nodelock ﬁles are stored on the harddisk of your computer, and are, therefore, much less vulnerable to loss. Only if you computer is stolen, or in case of a harddisk crash, you must contact Paragon before being able to activate your nodelock on a replacement computer. On the other hand, if you are frequently working on multiple computers, you have to remember to deactivate the nodelock on the old computer, prior to being able to re-activate it on the new one, every time. In addition, you need access to the internet to activate or deactivate a nodelock. A nodelock can be deactivated and re-activated at most three times per day.

Shipment

If you request a hardware dongle for license protection, a physical shipment of the dongle to your site is required before you can start using AIMMS. The AIMMS dongle will be sent to you by courier, along with an AIMMS CD-ROM. Shipping costs and a dongle fee of $125/€100 per dongle will be added to the price of your license.

If you request a software nodelock for license protection, we will send you the AIMMS license number and activation code by e-mail, after which you can start using AIMMS directly.

Older AIMMS 2.20 dongles

If you upgrade from AIMMS 2.20 to AIMMS 3, you can continue to use your existing AIMMS 2.20 hardware dongle. The green Activator as well as the grey Sentinel dongle must be connected to the parallel port of your computer. The purple Sentinel dongle must be connected to a USB port of your computer. The AIMMS 3 setup program does no longer install the required device drivers for accessing the dongles. If you use the grey or purple Sentinel dongle you can download the required drivers from the AIMMS download page. If you still use the green Activator dongles supplied with AIMMS 2.20, you can obtain the required drivers separately from our FTP site ftp.aimms.com.

Network license protection

If you order an AIMMS 3 network license, no license protection needs to be installed locally on your computer. Instead, you need the host name and port number of the server running the AIMMS 3 network license server. For more information about installing the network license server itself, please refer to the documentation of the AIMMS 3 network license server.

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