SOLO Server Product Configuration

Before you can begin issuing and activating licenses, you must define and configure the products and product options in SOLO Server which will be used to issue your application's licenses. This topic is designed to guide you through adding your first product option, and assumes you have already defined your licensing requirements. Additionally, the SOLO Server manual can be viewed by clicking the menu Help / Manual or Help / Help for this Page in the very top right of the administrative web interface.

Important

Before you distribute production copies of your application, it is imperative that you update your application with encryption key data from your activated SOLO Server account.

In SOLO Server, a product is defined to describe your application as a whole, and may contain one or many product options. For each type of license your application will support and require activation to use, at least one product option needs to be defined. In this guide, we will use an example product named "XYZ Product" with the following example licensing requirements:

Self-issue 30 day evaluations.
Require activation for a non-expiring license after the evaluation has expired.
Support two different product editions for activated, non-expiring licenses, including an "Express Edition" (which includes 90 days of support and updates), or a "Standard Edition" (which contains more features, and 1 year of support and updates).

Creating a Product

Sign-in to SOLO Server. This can be done by clicking the "Log-in to SOLO Server" button or Tools / Log-in to SOLO Server menu option in SOLO Server, or by clicking on the SOLO Server Login link at the SoftwareKey.com website (for SOLO Server Shared URL authors).
Click the Configure / Products menu item then use the Actions dropdown and choose Add Product Wizard.

Create or select a Product...

This screen in the "Add Product Wizard" allows you to create a new Product, or add an Option to an existing Product.

When adding a new Product, you also have the option to copy all settings from an existing Product; however this does not copy the existing Product's Options, Upsells, or Updates.

Note that all steps after this one in the the "Add Product Wizard", a new panel will show at the top titled "Summary of current selections..." until you reach the end of the wizard (at which point this is all that is displayed). This panel provides a helpful summary of the selections you made as you progressed through the wizard, and is also very helpful in summarizing combinations of certain settings.

Configure your new Option...

This panel allows you to create a new Option from a blank template, or create a new Option that has all settings copied from an Existing option. When you choose to copy all settings from an existing Option, this will not copy Extended Pricing, Priority Codes, Shipping, Upsells, and Rules. If you need to make a copy of an existing Option that also copies these additional settings, use the Duplicate Product Option page instead.

The selection you make in "Type of Product" field should describe the nature of the item that is being sold. Always select "Licensed Software/Application" if you are selling a license that may be activated with SOLO Server via a supported licensing client (configured on the next screen). You may still configure download and shipping settings after selecting "Licensed Software/Application."

Configure your licensing settings...

Selecting your licensing client

You may be asked to select the licensing client you use.

Choose Protection PLUS 5 SDK as your licensing client.

Protection PLUS 5 SDK licensing is based entirely on the needs of your software and how you define your licensing requirements. Consequently, you must select the Option Type and Trigger Code Number appropriate for the behavior defined in your application's source code.

When editing a Product Option, there are additional Option Types available. The Option Types for use with Protection PLUS 5 SDK are:

Activation Code: The most common Option Type and used for most license types.
Activation Code with Days Left: Similar to Activation Code, but this Option Type will not allow activations if it is past the "Download Until" expiration date in SOLO Server.
Volume License: Used to provide a downloadable volume license that is not tied to a particular installation and does not require activation.
Downloadable License with Trigger Code Validation: This is the same as a Volume License, except a trigger code activation is required to allow the software to run.

Configure download settings...

This screen allows you to configure a file that may be downloaded via SOLO Server's ESD features, or a download page hosted on your company/product web site, which can be provided to the user from SOLO Server's Customer License Portal and invoices.

Configure e-commerce settings...

In this screen, you may configure basic settings for SOLO Server's e-commerce, such as the price and unit of measure.

Important

Setting the price to zero allows anyone to use the shopping cart to process an order without entering a credit card, even if you are not using the e-commerce engine of SOLO Server. It is strongly recommended that you set the price to a value greater than zero unless you specifically want to allow this or have configured a shopping cart rule to verify eligibility for a free upgrade.

Configure miscellaneous settings...

This screen allows you to configure miscellaneous settings, such as whether the new Product and Option are hidden and enabled.

Review and save

This screen provides a final summary of your settings and selections, and allows you to save your new Product and Option.

Important

When configuring your product options, Protection PLUS 5 SDK requires the Issue Installation ID option to be checked!

The product option configuration offers a plethora of configuration options not covered in this guide. Each of these options are documented in the SOLO Server manual, which you can see by clicking the Help link at the top of the page.

Creating Additional Options For Your Existing Product

It is possible to simply create additional product options the same way the first was created. However, it is generally a good practice to copy existing product options to create your additional product options. This is especially true when using Protection PLUS 4 SDK compatible activation codes, and when using the SOLO Server shopping cart. Consequently, it is strongly recommend to follow the steps below to create your additional product options:

Return to the product listing page if you are not already there. You can do this by clicking the Configure / Products menu item.
Click the Actions dropdown menu and select the Add Product Wizard.
Select Add new Option to an existing Product, select the Product, and then click Load and Continue at the bottom.
Select Define a new Option starting from a copy of all settings from an existing Option.
Select the Product that contains the Option you wish to copy, select the Option to Copy, and then click the Copy button.
Choose the Type of Product, enter a name for it, and then click the Continue button.
Make any appropriate changes to the licensing settings and click the Continue button.
Make any changes to the additional settings as necessary.
Once you get to the Review and save page, go over your chosen settings, and then click the Save button.

With everything configured as described in our example and steps above, the new Option will be added in your Product list/catalog as shown below.

Preventing Cross-Product Activation

When your application submits activation requests to SOLO Server, it can include the Product ID (397336 in the example screen shot above) in the request. By doing so, SOLO Server will ensure that the License ID the user entered for activation is for the appropriate Product ID specified in the request. Since each Product ID is generally unique for each of your applications, this validation prevents licenses issued for one product or application (i.e. "XYZ Product") from being used to activate an entirely different product or application. If no Product ID (or a zero) is sent to SOLO Server, then SOLO Server will not perform this validation for you, and you will need to make sure you evaluate the Product ID and Product Option ID in the activated license to ensure the license is for the appropriate application.

Furthermore, the Product Option ID may also be included in an activation request, just like the Product ID. Though this is typically not necessary or appropriate, it does allow you to create special builds of your application that will only activate with a certain Product Option ID. Using the "XYZ Product" example here, this kind of validation can be useful if the "Standard Edition" and "Express Edition" are released and distributed as entirely separate builds/installers. Otherwise, if both editions are made available in a single build/installer, then it is best to rely on Product ID validation alone.

Automatic Recurring Payments

SOLO Server's Payment Plans allow you to offer subscription licenses, maintenance and support subscriptions, payment over multiple installments, and more. Learn more about how to configure SOLO Server for Payment Plans.