A-Shell runs in one of two modes: licensed or demonstration. To run in demonstration mode, it is necessary only to install the software and run it; when prompted for the serial number, simply enter "0000."
To run A-Shell in licensed mode, and thereby avoid the demonstration mode message, you need to enter three data elements: a serial number, a company name, and a security key (also called the "Product Installation Code" or "PIC"). This information is available from MicroSabio or your reseller, and is normally provided when you purchase your original or updated A-Shell license.
• The serial number is a four-digit number.
• The company name is not sensitive to case or to punctuation (spaces, hyphens, etc.), but otherwise needs to be entered exactly as provided.
• The security key (also called a "product installation code", or "PIC") is not case-sensitive, but is sensitive to punctuation and spacing. It is a 29 character string which encodes information about the licensed company name, number of nodes, machine and operating system type, and other options such as PolyShell, D-ISAM, expiration dates, etc. The key is made up of numbers, dashes, possibly an @, and lower case letters (except lower case l, which is given as L to avoid confusion with the number 1.)
To install or re-install the security key, see the next topic, Updating the License.
Notes
The security key is requested the first time A-Shell is invoked. For UNIX, this is achieved by typing ashell at the host machine command prompt (assuming the necessary PATH and MIAME variables were defined.) For Windows, you generally launch A-Shell by clicking on the icon.
The key is stored in the miame.ini file, and re-validated each subsequent time you launch A-Shell. The company name is stored in a file referenced by the CONAME parameter within miame.ini (typically DSK0:CONAME.DAT[1,4].) If either is invalid, it will give you the option of re-entering it (which is useful for converting from demo mode to a proper license).
You can force A-Shell to prompt you for a new key (which is necessary for updating your node license) by using the LICENS.LIT command from the dot prompt (or applying the –k command line switch to ashell in old versions of A-Shell).
The company name and security key are intimately related. This means that you cannot change the company name without impacting your A-Shell license. If your firm's name is Smith Jones & Wilson, and then Wilson leaves the firm, you cannot simply change the A-Shell company name so that it now displays Smith & Jones. If you do so, A-Shell will stop running (or, more precisely, the license will fail and A-Shell will revert to demo mode). If you want to change the company name, you must contact MicroSabio or your reseller.
Attempting to run more nodes than the key allows will result in a message similar to the following:
?A-Shell 4-node license already in use
The number of nodes licensed, as well as any options such as D-ISAM or PolyShell, is noted in the license banner that displays for a few seconds on startup. You can also view detailed information about the license from the dot prompt using the ABOUT command. Under A-Shell/Windows, you can also view similar information on the Help...About dialog box.
Note that the definition of a "node" is slightly different for different operating systems. For A-Shell/Windows, a node is simply a PC, and any number of windows may be running A-Shell on each PC without using up node licenses. (In the case of Windows Terminal Server and Citrix, A-Shell attempts to determine when multiple A-Shell sessions originate from the same workstation, but this is not always possible.) Under A-Shell/UNIX, generally each A-Shell session counts as a separate node. So a PC with a terminal emulator running two sessions over Ethernet for example would use up two node licenses. The exceptions to this are (1) that an A-Shell session can spawn another one with no penalty, and (2) all sessions running underneath a single instance of PolyShell count as a single node for licensing purposes.