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CHAPTER 3 : Authenticating Visaj


Using the Navajo Authentication Service

The first time you run Visaj, the Visaj Configuration Dialog is displayed, straight after the Visaj splash screen. Pressing "Continue" at this point will allow you to use Visaj in "demo" mode - i.e. you will not be able to generate code. To have full use of Visaj, you will need to authenticate your copy.

There are two ways of authenticating Visaj:

Web authentication is the simplest to set up and gets an evaluation started quickly. Once you have purchased Visaj, however, you will no longer need outside authorization to run Visaj and local authentication will be more convenient.

The following information describes how to authenticate Visaj for your use. The authentication dialog gives you step-by-step assistance. There is also a button labelled "Help" which gives more information in a separate dialog.

You can return to the authentication dialog at any time when using Visaj, by selecting "Authentication..." from the Options menu in the Class Editor
window, the Project window or the Resource Bundle window.


Web Authentication

This form of authentication is the most straightforward, but assumes that:

  1. You are running Visaj on a computer that can access the Internet.
  1. You have a "key" given to you by your Visaj supplier.


Note - If you are running Visaj on a computer which cannot connect to the Internet, you will have to use Local Authentication.
To configure Visaj:

  1. Run Visaj
The Visaj splash screen is displayed, followed shortly afterwards by the Authentication dialog.

  1. Press the button labelled "Configure ...".
The dialog now displays a panel giving you a choice of web or local authentication.

  1. Make sure the "Web" page is displayed.
Press the tab at the top of the panel if this is not the current page.

  1. Enter your key in the text box labelled "Key".
You are given a key with your instructions for downloading the software. This is in the form of a text string, a hyphen, and an alphanumeric string. Enter it into the text box.


Note - If you have not been given a key, contact your supplier.
  1. Adjust the proxy settings, if necessary.
If you are working behind a firewall, you will probably need to set a proxy. If you use a web browser, Visaj will attempt to find the information from its records. The settings calculated this way will probably be correct. If they are not, adjust them as necessary.

  1. Press the "Connect" button.
Wait while Visaj contacts the Navajo web server to verify your key. If your key is not validated, you will be shown a message explaining what the problem is and informing you that you should contact your supplier directly or via this web site: http://www.ist.co.uk.

If the validation is successful, a message is displayed telling you how many days you have left for evaluating Visaj.

  1. Press "Continue".
The Visaj Class Editor window is displayed. See the Visaj User's Guide for details on where to go from here.


Local Authentication

You will usually only need to get a local Visaj authentication key once you have purchased the product. However, if you are using a computer which cannot connect to the Internet, your supplier can issue time-locked evaluation keys using the same mechanism.

Some additional notes for local authentication can be found in the Navajo Authentication System Notes section later in this document, to which you should refer, particularly if you have any problems with wlmd on Windows 95/98.

There are special considerations regarding Authentication on the Macintosh. These are documented in the file MAC-README.TXT, which is in the mac folder on the CD-ROM and in the download area on IST's web site.

Configuring the server on Windows 95/98/NT

  1. Run the Navajo authentication program (double click on its icon)
The Navajo authentication program (wlmd.exe) will be accessible from the Visaj folder after you have installed Visaj. When run it will display the Unique Identifier for your machine.

If the machine has an ethernet card, the identifier will be derived from the hardware address of this card. If not, the identifier will be generated from other machine characteristics.

  1. Contact your supplier, telling them this identifier and your customer reference number.
They will send you a key of the form:

KEY:VISAJ:2.3:99/06/23:6:61038F88D0B4704F8F7A:ABC1234
which you should write to a file in the windows folder of your system. The name of this file can be anything you choose, provided that it is not the same as an existing file in this folder - we suggest you use visajkey.dat. The path to this file is needed in Step 5.

  1. Select the "Navajo authentication" icon in the Visaj folder so that it highlights and then press the right mouse button. Select "Properties" from the popup menu.
  2. The Properties dialog contains a tabbed panel with two options. Select the "Shortcut" page.
  3. The "Shortcut" page contains a text field labelled "Target". This is the path to the wlmd.exe executable. Append the path to your authentication key file (from Step 2 above) to the end of the wlmd.exe path. Click on "Apply" and then close the Properties dialog.
  4. Double click on the "Navajo authentication" icon to start the authentication server.
By default wlmd outputs diagnostics to C:\WLMD.LOG. This default can be overridden by adding the following flag to the command line in the shortcut Properties Target field:

-l <new-logfile-path>
where <new-logfile-path> is the path you require for the log file.

Note that you will have to double click on the "Navajo authentication" icon to start the authentication server before you start Visaj for the first time after you machine has been rebooted. Alternatively you can ensure that the Navajo authentication server is also in your startup folder.

  1. Now continue from Section 3.3.3, Configuring Visaj.

Configuring the server on UNIX and other systems

  1. Decide on a machine to use as the host for the authentication server.
Ideally this should be a machine that is visible to everyone who is going to use Visaj, such as a machine which is permanently on your network - a file-server for example.

  1. Download, or install from the CD-ROM, the Navajo authentication server program, wlmd, for your machine.
There is a program available for most machine architectures. Contact your supplier if you have any problems, or if you are uncertain which one to use. Wlmd can be downloaded from the same place as Visaj.

  1. Once you have installed the authentication server, obtain the unique identifier:
  2. wlmd -u
This will give you the unique identifier for your server host. If the machine has an ethernet card, the identifier will be derived from the hardware address of this card. If not, the identifier will be generated from other machine characteristics.

On some UNIX systems you may have to be root to successfully run wlmd; the program will alert you if your system is configured in a way which makes this the case.

  1. Contact your supplier, telling them this identifier and your customer reference number.
They will send you a key of the form:

KEY:VISAJ:2.3:99/06/23:6:61038F88D0B4704F8F7A:ABC1234
which you should write to a file.

  1. Run the authentication manager giving it the name of the file containing the key:
  2. wlmd MyFile
You may wish to redirect the output of the program to a log file and run the process in the background.

You should add an appropriate line to a system startup script to start the daemon when the system is booted. The way to do this varies from system to system - your System Administrator should know what is appropriate for your system. See also Section 3.5.3, Running wlmd on UNIX systems.

Configuring Visaj

  1. Run Visaj.
The Authentication dialog is displayed.

  1. Press the "Configure ..." button.
The dialog now displays a panel giving you a choice of web or local authentication.

  1. Make sure the local authentication page is displayed.
Press the tab at the top of the panel if this is not the current page.

You will have been given one of two options for local authentication:

Your supplier will tell you which type of key you have.

  1. Type the name of the server machine in the text field labelled "Host".
  2. Press the "Connect" button.
If the key is validated, a message is displayed telling you the type of authentication key you have (and for how long it is valid in the case of an evaluation key).

If your key is not validated, a message is displayed telling you so. The following are some possible reasons why a key may not have been validated:

If you have checked all of the above and you are still unsure why your authorization is not being validated, contact your supplier.

If everything seems OK:

  1. Press "Continue" to use Visaj.
The Class Editor window is displayed. Refer to the Visaj User's Guide for information on what to do next.


Troubleshooting

The first thing to do if you have any trouble with getting Visaj authenticated is to double check that you have followed the above instructions and notes correctly. The following paragraphs should help you to sort out any problems.

Web Authentication

Ensure you have entered the authorization key correctly - with correct capitalization (it is case sensitive) and you have correctly distinguished between numbers and letters, for example 0 and O.

Ensure that your proxy settings are correct.

If your firewall prohibits you from accessing port 8081 on navajo.ist.co.uk
then you will have to use local authentication.

Local Authentication

Ensure you have correctly transcribed the data to the authentication file. Ensure that there is no whitespace before or in the line, and that it is the first line in the file.

Ensure wlmd is running correctly and look at the log file.

Ensure that you are running wlmd on the same machine as you used to get the unique machine identity.

Ensure you have entered the type of authentication correctly.

Ensure you are using the correct hostname when specifying where the authentication server is running.

On some UNIX systems you may have to be root to successfully run wlmd; the program will alert you if your system is configured in a way which makes this the case.

If you are running Visaj on a Windows 95/98 system that is not configured for networking some special steps may be required before Visaj can be authenticated.

More assistance

Look at the Visaj FAQ and Visaj Trouble Shooting guide on IST's web site, http://www.ist.co.uk/visaj/support/visajfaq.html and http://www.ist.co.uk/visaj/support/shoot.html.

Finally, if following the above does not cure your problem, email your Visaj supplier, and quote your Visaj Customer Reference number (of the form ABC1234), making sure you identify the product as Visaj. If your supplier is IST then you should email support@ist.co.uk.


Navajo Authentication System Notes

Overview

The Navajo Authentication System involves a client (your Visaj program) and an authentication server (wlmd). You choose a machine on your network on which you want to run the authentication server. Your supplier gives you a key that allows the server to authorize N users at any time, anywhere on your network - where N is the number of user licenses you have purchased.

This section is supplementary to the information in Section 3.3, Local Authentication, and should be read in conjunction with it.

Acquiring the server

Get the appropriate authentication server from the navajo directory on the CD-ROM or download it from the same place as you downloaded Visaj. Find the archive with the highest version number for your system and extract the server (it does not matter where you install it).

Authentication servers are available for the following architectures:

Windows 95/98/NT - wlmd-w32.zip or wlmd.exe

Solaris 1 (SunOS 4.1) - wlmd.sparc-sun-sunos4.1.tar.Z

Solaris 2.4 - wlmd.sparc-sun-sunos5.4.tar.Z

Solaris 2.4 X86 - wlmd.x86-sun-sunos5.4.tar.Z

Solaris 2.5 X86 - wlmd.x86-sun-sunos5.5.tar.Z

HPUX 9.0 - wlmd.hppa1.0-hp-hpux9.tar.Z

HPUX 10.20 - wlmd.hppa1.0-hp-hpux10.tar.Z

IBM Aix 4.1.5 - wlmd.rs6000-ibm-aix4.1.tar.Z

IBM Aix 4.2 - wlmd.rs6000-ibm-aix4.2.tar.Z

IBM Aix 4.3 - wlmd.rs6000-ibm-aix4.3.tar.Z

Silicon Graphics Irix 5.3 - wlmd.mips-sgi-irix-5.3.tar.Z

Silicon Graphics Irix 6.2 - wlmd.mips-sgi-irix-6.2.tar.Z

Compaq Digital Unix 4.0 - wlmd.alpha-compaq-unix4.0.tar.Z

Linux - Slackware 3.5 - wlmd.x86-linux-libc5.tar.gz

Linux RedHat 5.2 & SuSE 6 - wlmd.x86-linux-glibc.tar.gz

UnixWare - wlmd.x86-novell-sysv4.tar.Z

SCO Open Server 5 - wlmd.x86-sco-sysv3os5.tar.Z

Running wlmd on UNIX systems

When run as an authentication manager wlmd takes one argument, the name of the file containing the authentication key. Wlmd should normally be run in the background as a detached process, either from a window or terminal on your system or from a system startup script. In both cases wlmd can be safely backgrounded with the -d (for "detach") flag since it ignores `hangup' signals (SIGHUP, signal 1). This means that even if the shell from which it is started is terminated, or the window from which it is started is closed, it will continue to run in the background. Note that when using the -d flag you must also provide the -l (for "logging") flag and a logfile name. With no -l flag (and no -d flag) logging output is sent to stdout.

Running wlmd on Stand-alone Windows 95 Systems

If you are running Visaj on a Windows 95 system that is not configured for networking you will need to perform the following steps to configure your system before Visaj can be authenticated.

Your Windows 95 Installation CD-ROM may be required to complete this procedure.

  1. From the Windows Start menu select "Settings/Control Panel" and double click on the "Network" icon.
If a TCP/IP entry appears in the Configuration list move on to Step 8.

  1. Press "Add..." in the Network dialog.

  2. Select "Protocol" from the "Select Network Component Type" dialog and press "Add...".

  3. Select Microsoft from the Manufacturer list and TCP/IP as the Network Protocol. After making the selections press "OK".

  4. Choose "Adaptor" from the "Select device" dialog. Select Microsoft from the Manufacturer list and the "Dialup Adaptor" model.

  5. Press "OK" in the "Network" dialog. Appropriate software will now be installed by Windows 95. Note that you may be required to load your Windows 95 CD-ROM.

  6. Restart Windows 95.

  7. Start the "Network" control panel and select "Identification". If no name is shown enter a suitable name and press "OK".

If no "Identification" page exists this is most likely because the system is not configured as a Client for Microsoft Networks. To configure this:

Press "Add..." button in "Network" dialog

Select "Client" from "Select Network Component Type" dialog

Press "Add..."

Select Microsoft Manufacturer and "Client for Microsoft Networks"

Press "OK"

  1. Edit the Hosts.sam file in the Windows directory (i.e. c:\Windows).

Hosts.sam contains an entry for IP address 127.0.0.1. This address represents the loopback adaptor.

Edit Hosts.sam such that the loopback reads as follows:

127.0.0.1 localhost <name>

where <name> is the host name you assigned in step 8 above

Save the modified file as "Hosts" (NOT Hosts.sam)

Your system should now be configured to run the Navajo authentication server. In order to check, run wlmd:

wlmd <authentication key file>

where <authentication key file> is the name of the file containing your Visaj authentication key.

The output from wlmd should include the line:

License key accepted

If this line appears you can now follow the normal procedures for authenticating and running Visaj.




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