CodeMeter License

Management
● Installing and Managing Software Licenses
User Manual
Version 026

NMR
Innovation with Integrity
Copyright © by Bruker Corporation

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means without the prior consent of the
publisher. Product names used are trademarks or registered trademarks of their re-
spective holders.

© July 27, 2022 Bruker Corporation

Document Number: 10000057561

P/N: H162728
Contents

Contents
1 Introduction and Product Order..................................................................................................... 4

2 Installing the License - Online Activation ..................................................................................... 5

2.1 Additional Activation Information..................................................................................... 9
2.1.1 CodeMeter Installation on CentOS 5 .............................................................................. 9
2.1.2 CodeMeter Installation on Linux and macOS ................................................................. 9
2.1.3 Supported Browsers for License Activation .................................................................... 9

3 Offline Activation............................................................................................................................. 11

4 Moving an installed license to a different computer - Re-Hosting ............................................. 20

4.1 Online Re-Hosting........................................................................................................... 20
4.2 Offline Re-Hosting........................................................................................................... 22

5 Restoring of Lost Licenses ............................................................................................................ 23

6 License Installation Scenarios....................................................................................................... 25

6.1 Single-Place Solution...................................................................................................... 25
6.2 Multi-Place Solution - Floating License........................................................................... 25

7 Troubleshooting .............................................................................................................................. 27

8 Contact ............................................................................................................................................. 28

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Introduction and Product Order

1 Introduction and Product Order

Since 2016, Bruker software packages have started to use the new “CodeMeter” license
management. CodeMeter is not available for:
• all Topspin version < 3.6
• Amix 3.9 (which is still the latest version for Linux systems)
• Hystar
A license for Bruker software can be ordered from the Bruker website. Just go to https://
www.bruker.com/nmr_license_requests.html (please note: a login for Bruker website is
required) and fill out the request form. BBIO EIMEA Frontoffice will process the order details
and generate an “activation ticket” and provide it to the customer.
A ticket consists of a 25-digit alphanumeric code like e.g.:
PH3T4-9D9U9-FNSGP-J9FXP-TTNXC
This code works as an access key to the purchased license package. In addition, the license
ticket is proof of ownership for the license(s) contained therein. It should be kept safe, as it is
required for deactivation, moving the license to another computer, etc. It authorizes the
customer to assign the license package to a computer of personal choice.
Install the software product on the computer system. During installation you may also be
requested to install the package “CodeMeter Runtime”. This is the component of the license
management system. Most installation routines will perform this task automatically.

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Installing the License - Online Activation

2 Installing the License - Online

Activation
The following instructions assume that the computer system has access to the internet. The
transfer and activation of the license then can be performed by an online process. Please
note that internet connectivity is only required at the time of the activation process. Once the
license has been transferred any further use of the software product is independent of
internet access. Only AV Core systems are an exception here. For them, you need a
permanent internet connection to access the CodeMeter Time Server.
For an offline alternative see section “Offline activation”.
On the computer system that shall hold the license, open a web browser and navigate to the
following address:
http://licensecentral-bbio.bruker.de
You should see the welcome screen of the activation process:

The activation process is available in ten international languages. The preferred language
can be selected at the top right edge of the screen:

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Installing the License - Online Activation

Now enter license ticket code in the respective form field and click “Next”:

The activation services will now display the license package(s) which have been deposited
for the provided ticket.

Click on “Activate Licenses” in order to initiate the activation process. A ticket can refer not
only to a single product license but also to a combination of products. Therefore you are
requested to select which license you like to transfer to the current computer. In this example,
there is only one product available.

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Installing the License - Online Activation

Select the right option “CmActLicense” to put the license only on a computer. The option “in a
dongle” is intended for Bruker internal use and is not supported for customers.

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Installing the License - Online Activation

The entry “Select CmContainer” is automatically filled with your default container. Do not
change this selection unless instructed otherwise e.g. by Bruker support team members.
Finally click on “Activate Selected Licenses Now”. The online license transfer starts now:

If you see the following message the license transfer has been completed successfully and
the requested license is now active for use on the computer system:

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Installing the License - Online Activation

2.1 Additional Activation Information

2.1.1 CodeMeter Installation on CentOS 5

The TopSpin installation installs the CodeMeter Runtime version 5.10. Newer versions do not
run under Centos 5.
The CodeMeter Runtime 5.10 online activation and the WebAdmin user interface works with
firefox-45.8.0 . Former firefox versions or other web browsers may fail.
Firefox upgrade hints:
A change in the yum configuration is necessary because the Centos 5 support has expired in
March 2017.
login as root
cp -p /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo_backup
sed -e 's|^mirrorlist=|#&|' –e
's|#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/\(.*\)/
$basearch/|baseurl=http://vault.centos.org/5.11/\1/$basearch/|'
(Please note that above three lines starting with sed declare a single command and
must be written in a single line).
/etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo_backup > /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo
yum install firefox.$(uname -i)
if yum install shows conflicts update the whole Centos 5 to the last version 5.11 executing
"yum update" and retry the Firefox Installation.

2.1.2 CodeMeter Installation on Linux and macOS

• The Linux version of the CodeMeter runtime delivered with TopSpin comes as an RPM
package and thus can only be installed on RPM based distributions like Red Hat
(CentOS, Fedora) or Suse. If you use a different, not directly supported, distribution
(Debian, Ubuntu,…), please download the CodeMeter Runtime here: https://
www.wibu.com/support/user/downloads-user-software.html and follow the given
installation details on this website.
• CM runtime for diverse macOS versions are available on the same site.

2.1.3 Supported Browsers for License Activation

In principle, all common browsers should allow CodeMeter license activation.

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Installing the License - Online Activation

In practice, it often turns out that some browser versions (especially Google Chrome and MS
Edge) can cause problems.
No problems have been observed with the Firefox browser so far, which is why it is
recommended.
Since CodeMeter runtime version can also have an influence here, the latest version should
always be used if possible.

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Offline Activation

3 Offline Activation
It is also possible to retrieve a license if your workstation has no internet connection.
All steps of an activation must be done manually in this scenario. The following scheme
(taken from the Codemeter Online help which is available via Codemeter Control Center and
WebAdmin) illustrates this very nicely:

To transfer the license, you need to follow these steps:

1. On the workstation which needs a license open the “CodeMeter Control Center” via the
start menu entry.
2. Click the “Activate License” or “License Update” button (depends on whether a license
has been activated before or not) and proceed with “Next”.

3. The CmFAS Assistant supports you in importing and updating license files for your
CmContainer. Click “next”.

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Offline Activation

4. Select the first radio button with the option “Create license request” and click “Next”.

5. Save the WibuCmRaC file on the harddisk by following the steps from the wizard. When
done, transfer this file to the workstation which is connected to the internet.

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Offline Activation

6. On a workstation which has internet access open the following URL: http://licensecentral-
bbio.bruker.de, enter the ticket number and click “Next”. In the new window click “Activate
License”.
7. You should select the right option “CmActLicense”. The option “in a dongle” is intended
for Bruker internal use and is not supported for customers.

8. Click at the bottom of the page the “Offline license transfer” link (marked red in below
picture).

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Offline Activation

9. Upload the just generated WibuCmRaC file by selecting the file and clicking the “Upload
Request And Continue Now” button.

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Offline Activation

10. Now click the “Download License Update File Now” Button and save it. Leave the
webpage open, you will need it again later.
The license update file (128-xyz.WibuCmRaU file needs to be transferred to the
workstation with no internet connection and imported using the Codemeter Contral
Center.
11. Open again Codemeter Control Center and click “License Update” button to enter the
CmFAS assistant and click there the “Next” button.

12. Select the “Import license update” option and click “Next”.

13. Select the WibuCmRaU file and click “Commit”.

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Offline Activation

14. Please note: The license activation is not yet finished!

Click on the “here” link and creation the receipt file (again a 128-xyz.WibuRaC file) will be
prepared.

15. Click the “Commit” button and then transfer this receipt file to the workstation which is
connected to the internet.

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Offline Activation

16. Click “Finish”.

17. If you clicked “Finish” instead of the “here” link in step 14, you must open the CmFAS
assistant again and then choose the “Create receipt file” option.
Clicking “Next” leads to the receipt file preparation and you can go on as described
above.
This receipt needs to be uploaded to the workstation with internet connection by clicking
“Next” on the webpage shown in step 9.

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Offline Activation

18. Upload the generated receipt file by selecting it and clicking the “Upload Receipt Now”
button.

19. The license transfer is now completed. Clicking “OK” leads you to the starting point of
licensecentral.bbio.bruker:

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Offline Activation

The status field (marked red) shows that now no license of the ticket is available for activation
any longer. You can now close the browser / browser tap.

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Moving an installed license to a different computer - Re-Hosting

4 Moving an installed license to a

different computer - Re-Hosting
The licensing system allows to reallocate the license to another computer system, e.g. if the
customer intends to move the installation to another computer system. This is called re-
hosting and can be performed by the customer without the need to contact Bruker license
department.

4.1 Online Re-Hosting

Open the welcome screen of the license activation process as described before (http://
licensecentral-bbio.bruker.de ). Enter the same ticket number that has been used already for
the initial activation of the license. The current collection of licenses is shown:

After a click on “Re-Host Licenses” the system offers to deactivate this license. If several
licenses are active on the current system, select the item that shall be deactivated.

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Moving an installed license to a different computer - Re-Hosting

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Moving an installed license to a different computer - Re-Hosting

After clicking “Deactivate Selected Licenses Now” the marked license is removed from the
current computer and assigned back to the ticket. Now the license can be activated on
another computer system by providing the ticket code again.

4.2 Offline Re-Hosting

If Re-Hosting is done offline, again the CmFAS Assistant supports you in importing and
updating license files for your CmContainer. The part using the CmFAS Assistant is identical
to the one for offline activation (see Chap. 3).
On the computer with internet connection open CodeMeter License Webdepot (http://
licensecentral-bbio.bruker.de) and follow the above-mentioned steps. But instead of clicking
Deactivate Selected Licenses now switch to offline mode and continue with the steps
described under ‘Offline License Activation’.

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Restoring of Lost Licenses

5 Restoring of Lost Licenses

A special form of license re-activation is the license restoring process.
If a customer had a disk crash, forgot deactivation of the license before new setup of
computer etc. their license is still activated in a CmContainer which is no longer accessible
for license de-activation.
It is possible to get back the ‘lost’ license. Please contact us via NMR License Questions and
Solutions form on our Website (https://www.bruker.com/protected/en/services/software-
downloads/nmr/nmr-license-questions.html) To reach this section a login to Bruker Website is
required.
2nd level support can release such ‘lost’ licenses if the user can proof that the license
belongs to him/her. The 25-digit alphanumeric license ticket number is very important here.
Another proof could be license order or e-mail of requester or CmContainer in which the
license is activated.
Re-activation of released licenses is possible using the restore process:
The customer should enter the license ticket in CodeMeter License Webdepot (http://
licensecentral-bbio.bruker.de) again.
Web page displays the license as "Activated" but offers a new button "Restore license".

If the license has not been in a proper confirmed status before (for example uploading of the
receipt file using an offline activation has not been done) the window looks a little bit different:

Clicking the ‘Restore License’ button shows this page:

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Restoring of Lost Licenses

Following the instructions on the screen and accepting the legal disclaimer activates the
license in a new container and the old one is finally locked.
Clicking the button “Restore Selected Licenses Now” will start the online restoring process.
If restore process must be done offline, again the CmFAS Assistant supports you in importing
and updating license files for your CmContainer. The part using the CmFAS Assistant is
identical to the one for offline activation (see chapter 3).
On the computer with internet connection open CodeMeter License Webdepot (http://
licensecentral-bbio.bruker.de) and follow the above-mentioned steps. But instead of clicking
“Restore Selected Licenses Now” switch to offline mode and continue with the steps
described under ‘Offline License Activation’(see chapter 3).
Note: This restoring procedure requires a new or empty CmContainer on the computer where
the license should be activated.

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License Installation Scenarios

6 License Installation Scenarios

6.1 Single-Place Solution
For single-place installations the product license should be activated on the computer with
the software installation. The product(s) can be started and used only on this system where
the license activation has been performed. In this case, nothing needs to be configured
beyond the activation process as described above. For an additional installation of software
on other computer systems, further license activation(s) must be executed on these systems.

6.2 Multi-Place Solution - Floating License

For multi-place installations, one central computer is defined as license server which hosts all
product licenses. Other computers then access this license server in order to get their
product licenses dynamically when required and do not need local license activations then.
This gives a great flexibility for a multi-place installation and is also known as “floating
license”. E.g. more installations can be prepared than product licenses available and the
overall number of licenses for products then limits the number of installations that can be
active at the same time.
In order to let a system act as license server please follow these steps for the license setup:
1. Use the ticket to activate the license package on the computer defined as license server,
as described above.
2. On this central server, in a web browser (FireFox preferred) navigate to the following
address: http://localhost:22350
3. You should see the “CodeMeter WebAdmin” user interface. Select “Configuration” from
the menu bar and “Server” in the second menu line. Enable the check box “Network
Server” and leave the proposed value for “Network Port” unchanged:

Click on “Apply” and close the web page.

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License Installation Scenarios

4. On every computer that may request licenses later, open in a web browser the address
http://localhost:22350. In the displayed WebAdmin interface, select “Configuration” and
“Basic”. Click the trash icon in the "Automatic server search (255.255.255.255)" line.
Under “Server Search List” click on “add new server” and enter the network address
(name or TCP/IP address) of the server system where the license package has been
installed.

Click on “Apply” and close the web page. This computer will now use the server system
for resolving any license requests and licenses are taken from the pool of licenses which
have been activated on the license server computer. Generally, licenses are only
allocated if the application is running and returned back automatically afterwards.
It is possible to create more sophisticated license management scenarios by e.g.
configuring more than one address in the server search list and providing more than only
one license server. For in-depth information and further support for such situations,
please click the question mark button at the top right edge or refer to documentation
which is available from the vendor of the license management system, Wibu-Systems, at
http://www.wibu.com

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Troubleshooting

7 Troubleshooting
In the case of CodeMeter license problems, the following hints may help to diagnose the
problem.
• Sometimes, activation or other CodeMeter related activities do not work because of Web
browser incompatibilities. Bruker recommends using Firefox.
• Occasionally, possibly in connection with a major Windows update, the CmContainer
cannot be accessed anymore. It either disappears, or is corrupt, or claims that no
licenses are available. In such a case, start the CodeMeter Control Center. In some
cases, it will tell you that the container is corrupt, and the status light tells you to repair it.
This may fix the problem.
• Other cases have been reported where the WebAdmin shows no licenses for any
program or it shows everything, but nothing works. This could mean that the
CmContainer has been “Blacklisted” and is not available anymore for the user.
“Blacklisted” means the validity of the CmContainer on the host workstation has been
“cancelled” because this container has been locked by CodeMeter.
In such a case, contact Bruker support and provide the following information.
• If there are general problems with CodeMeter licenses 2nd Level support would need the
following data (files):
Whole output of TOPSPIN in the start window ("Command Prompt" or shell ) using cut-
and-paste and save with an editor( no screenshot please ) and the history file in
<TOPSPIN installation path>/prog/curdir/<USER>/
• The CmContainer serial number, which can be taken from Codemeter Control Center. If
CodeMeter Central does not open anymore, you may identify the number by checking the
folder C:\ProgramData\CodeMeter\CmAct. The files stored in this folder carry the serial
number in their names.
• The 25-digit license key.
• If neither is available, provide the order number of the spectrometer or the order number
under which license had been ordered.
• The cmdust logfile, which can be obtained as follows.
– Windows: Open the Windows start menu, enter cmdust, and click on the CmDust
icon. It will run the program and will write the logfile CmDust-Result.log to your home
directory. A Windows Explorer window will automatically open. This will allow you to
copy the file and put it into an email to 2nd level support.
– Linux: Open a Linux terminal window and enter:
/usr/bin/cmu --cmdust --file cmu_cmdust.txt
– MacOS: Open a shell and enter: /usr/local/bin/cmu --cmdust --file cmu_cmdust.txt

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Contact

8 Contact
Manufacturer
Bruker BioSpin GmbH
Rudolf-Plank-Str. 23
D-76275 Ettlingen
Germany

Contact form: https://www.bruker.com/en/services/service/magnetic-resonance.html

Website: http://www.bruker.com
WEEE DE43181702

Bruker BioSpin Hotlines

Contact our Bruker BioSpin service centers.
Bruker BioSpin provides dedicated hotlines and service centers, so that our specialists can
respond as quickly as possible to all your service requests, applications questions, software
or technical needs.
Please select the service center or hotline you wish to contact from our list available at:
https://www.bruker.com/en/services/support.html
Phone: +49 7243 7695 155

If you have license problems, it is best to use the "NMR License Questions and Solutions"
form on our website:
https://www.bruker.com/protected/en/services/software-downloads/nmr/nmr-license-
questions.html
Note: a login to our wesite is required.

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● Bruker Corporation

[email protected]
www.bruker.com

Part No: H162728