Working with Time Zones

Time zone functionality enables publishers to bind license usage to a specified geographic location by identifying the time zone of that region. This makes it possible for the publisher to vary license model pricing based on the geographic location in which the software is used.

At run time, when a license checkout is requested, the time and time zone of the client machine is read and compared to the time zone specified in the license file. If the time zone read from the client machine matches the time zone in the license file, the checkout proceeds as usual. If, however, there is a mismatch between the time zone read from the client machine and the time zone specified in the license file, the checkout request is denied.

The time zone is expressed in a license file using the TZ keyword to define a region within which license usage is permitted. The SERVERTZ time zone setting is preloaded in FlexNet Operations and binds served license usage to the time zone of the license server. However, before Producer Portal users can select any other time zone settings for a license model (served or nodelocked certificate licenses only), those settings must be configured by manually adding rows to the FlexNet Operations database table, PROD_FNP_TIMEZONE. For information about adding time zones and supported license models, see the FlexNet Operations On-Premises Installation & Implementation Guide. In the Producer Portal, time zone settings are displayed in a single-select drop-down list.

Important:Time zone licensing is intended for use with customers with whom you have a trusted relationship. There is no secure programmatic restriction with time zone licensing functionality: If an end user manually changes the time zone to match the time zone specified in the license certificate, a license can be consumed.

Supported License Types

Time zone-based licensing is supported for licenses used by applications built with FlexNet Publisher version 11.7 or later, and applies to the following certificate-based licenses: floating counted, floating uncounted, and nodelocked counted. Licenses that contain the TZ keyword must be generated by a version 12.7 Vendor Certificate Generator (VCG) that has its version configured as 12.7 in its license generator configuration.

Time zone-based licensing is not available for nodelocked uncounted licenses (because limiting licenses based on their geographic location is not required if an unlimited number of licenses is available).

FlexNet Publisher supports a time zone range from GMT -12:00 to GMT +12:00 (or GMT -12:00 to GMT +14:00 if using FlexNet Publisher 11.15.1 or later).