How to license cameras offline in Milestone XProtect October 18th, 2012 by Kevin Bowyer In another of our Milestone XProtect series of how to blogs, I’ll take you through how to license new cameras whilst not connected to the Internet. Why might you want to licence a camera offline? Any manager of a security system needs to make decisions about how that system is connected to the network. We encounter XProtect-based security systems of all sizes and configurations. Some are connected to the Internet and some are not. XProtect’s mobile server capability would require an online connection, but if you have no need for this feature or tie your network down tightly your XProtect server may be operating offline, and in this case you’ll be licensing cameras offline.
How easy is the licensing process? In general, it’s very easy. Once you have XProtect installed, your online Milestone account set up and your SLC added (you may have followed our ), it really is extremely easy to license cameras online. All you need is the username and password for your online account and the process is a couple of clicks away. That is, of course, if you have an internet connection.
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If not, it’s a little more involved, and goes like this:. 1) Export license request file. 2) Upload file to Milestone online.
3) Receive license file by email. 4) Import license file Note that an internet connection will be required to complete the process, but the final step can be done on any machine that is connected, not necessarily the machine running your XProtect management server.
Step 1 – Export the License Request File So I will pick up at the point where I have added a camera in an unlicensed state within the licensing grace period (see image below). As mentioned above, you would normally just go to File - Activate License Online. However, having no Internet connection means this process cannot be used. The method to use involves generating a License Request File (.lrq) to be uploaded to Milestone later.
To start the process go to ‘File’ - ‘Manage License Offline’, then select ‘Export License for Activation’, as shown. Next, you will see the following window. This screen lists the devices you have added on your system and whether or not they have used a license (i.e. Have previously been activated). My screenshot shows two unlicensed cameras.
I will need 1 license for each camera so I simply choose ‘Ok’. You will then be asked to save a file with the extension.lrq. Save this onto a USB stick so you can upload it from a machine with an internet connection, as below. Step 2 – Submitting the license for validation Now I have the license request file for the cameras, I need to submit this to Milestone online to manually license the cameras. This is done through your online account. Log in to your via their ‘Software Registration Service Centre’ and click ‘Current SLC’s’.
Depending on how many SLC’s you have you may need to select from a list. Select the link for the correct SLC you want to add the camera to. On this page you will see the link to ‘Upload License Request’. Use this option to import your.lrq file from your USB stick. On the following screen you can browse for the file and add it to be uploaded. You also need to supply an email address for Milestone to email you a license file (which will have the extension.lic). Once input, hit ‘Upload’.
You should then receive a message stating that the email has been sent successfully. The file is sent for the Milestone team to manually license your cameras. You will receive an email with the license file attached for import into your system (it took approximately 30 minutes for my license to be returned for this HOWTO). Put this file onto your USB stick. Step 3 – Importing the Validated License Open up the XProtect management software and go to File - ‘Manage License Offline’ then ‘Import License’. Browse for the license on your USB stick and import it.
You should now see that your previously unlicensed cameras have now fully been licensed as below. Job done and your cameras are now fully licensed and will no longer be operating under a grace period. If you’re adding further cameras offline at a later date, just repeat those steps. Network Webcams / NW Systems Group is a Milestone Advanced Certified Partner.
It has recently become evident that many people are struggling to activate their Milestone licenses. Accordingly, we wanted to make the process as simple as possible and designed this blog entry specifically to guide you through all the relevant steps needed in order to activate your Milestone product. Firstly, it is important to note that Milestone does not require any hardware ( such as dongles etc. ) in order to work and the full version of your Milestone software is available for download on the Milestone website. To do this simply go to www.milestonesys.com and click on the downloads section as seen below. Next, simply select the correct version of software that you have purchased and download it from there. The benefit of having the software online is that you do not need to wait for the disk to arrive and setup can begin straight away.
Once the software has finished downloading you can proceed with the normal instillation procedure. At a certain point you will be asked for your license file as can be seen below. At this point you will have to register the SLC file. By now you should have received a SLC number via email which looks something like the following.
For obvious reasons we cannot display a real SLC at this point but the naming convention should look something like this 781-B82-7G4 Next you will need to register the new SLC to your Milestone account. To do this, simply visit the Milestone website again at www.milestonesys.com and click on the software registration page as seen below. Next, if you are a new user you will first have to register an account with Milestone. This process is quick and there are no additional costs involved.If you are an existing user, please simply use your existing email address and password here.
Once loged in you should see a window similar to the one below, although if you are new to Milestone no SLC’s will be listed in your account as seen below. Next you will need to add your new SLC to your account. To do this simply click on the Add SLC button as below.
Next, Type in the SLC number that has been sent to you via email and click on submit. The SLC should now appear in your SLC list. Next you will have to download the.LIC document as is required by your Milestone instillation wizard. To do this, Click on the newly added SLC and the following screen should apear. At the top of the screen you should then see a button which reads Get Initial LIC. Once you have clicked on this, the.lic file will be downloaded onto your computer. Next you simply browse to the downloaded.lic file in the setup wizzard and continue the instillation.
Once done, Milestone should be fully installed and operational. Once cameras have been added to the Milestone system it is important to note that they must be activated within 30 days. To do this, click on the “File” option in the Milestone Management Application, and then click on the Activate license online. This will register all the camera’s and they will no longer be in trail mode. And that’s it.
Should you wish to change any of the license aspects or add additional SLC’s to your account you can always access the software registration page again to make the necessary changes.