Manage Licenses Offline

Purchased Crestron Virtual Control licenses can be managed offline via the USB‑OFFLINE dongle as described in the following procedures.

IMPORTANT! Any existing Crestron Virtual Control licenses within the XiO Cloud service cannot be converted to offline licenses. If switching your Crestron Virtual Control installation from online to offline licensing mode, new room and/or BACnet licenses must be purchased.

NOTE: The USB-OFFLINE dongle must be connected to the VC‑4‑PC‑3 or the host running VC‑4 at all times. If the USB‑OFFLINE dongle is removed, all licensed rooms will stop, licensed BACnet objects will no longer function, and an error message will be displayed within the web configuration interface indicating that there is no dongle detected.

Configure Offline Licensing Mode

Each Crestron Virtual Control installation that will use offline licensing requires the purchase of one USB‑OFFLINE dongle. Once all Crestron Virtual Control licenses and the USB-OFFLINE have been purchased, the offline license mode must be configured using the provided license utility or through the web configuration interface.

To configure your Crestron Virtual Control installation for offline licensing:

  1. Order your Crestron Virtual Control room license(s), BACnet licenses (if needed) and one USB‑OFFLINE dongle per VC‑4 server or VC‑4‑PC‑3.

    2. NOTE: Each offline license key is matched to a unique system key. Therefore, a single USB‑OFFLINE dongle cannot be used by more than one Crestron Virtual Control installation at the same time, and multiple dongles cannot be used within a single Crestron Virtual Control installation.

  2. For Crestron Virtual Control installations licensed through the XiO Cloud service, remove all existing licenses as described in the XiO Cloud Service User Guide.

    3. NOTE: Ensure the VC-4 server or VC-4-PC-3 is online within XiO Cloud prior to removing your existing licenses.

  3. Upgrade the VC-4 software to version 4.0000.00057 or later. This is the minimum version that supports offline licensing and includes the license utility.
  4. Upon successful upgrade, restart the VC-4 server or VC-4-PC-3.
  5. Connect the USB-OFFLINE dongle into an available USB port on the VC-4-PC-3 or make it available on the host running VC-4.
  6. Switch the license mode using one of the following methods.
    • To use the web configuration interface:
      1. Access the web configuration interface as described in Web Configuration.
      2. Open the Settings tab and then expand the Licenses accordion.

        3. Licenses Accordion

      3. Select Offline Dongle from the License Mode drop-down menu.
      4. When prompted, select Yes confirm the selection.

        5. Change License Mode Dialog Box

        The Crestron Virtual Control service restarts in the new license mode.

    • To use the licenseUtility.sh script:
      1. Open a new terminal window.
      2. (VC-4 server only) Change directories to /[VirtualControlHome]/scripts, where [VirtualControlHome] is the home directory set during installation.
      3. Issue the following depending on your Crestron Virtual Control installation:
        • For VC-4 servers, issue ./licenseUtility.sh.
        • For the VC-4-PC-3, issue licenseUtility.sh.

        4. The licenseUtility.sh script opens the license utility with the following options:

        Copy 
        help                          - Lists the help menu
        getlicenseinfo                - Shows the current license information
        getmode                       - Gets the current license mode
        switchmode [1 | 2]            - Switches the current license mode to XiO Cloud (1) or Offline (2) licensing
        addlicense [LICENSEKEY]       - Adds license into control system. User must pass the "LICENSEKEY"
        dellicense                    - Deletes the current license from the control system
        exit                          - Exits this utility

      4. Issue switchmode 2 to switch the license mode from online (XiO Cloud) to offline.

        5. NOTE: All Crestron Virtual Control installations are placed in online license mode by default.

      5. Issue exit to exit the utility, then issue sudo systemctl restart virtualcontrol in the terminal to restart the Crestron Virtual Control service.

Request an Offline License Key

Once the offline license mode has been configured, a license key must then be requested that allows the Crestron Virtual Control installation to validate its licenses offline. Offline license keys are tied to a specific VC-4 system key and number of room licenses or BACnet licenses. If room licenses or BACnet licenses need to be added to a Crestron Virtual Control installation, a new offline license key must be requested.

NOTE: Room licenses and BACnet licenses do not share an offline license key. For Crestron Virtual Control installations that require both license types, two unique offline license keys must be requested and applied.

  1. Ensure the USB-OFFLINE dongle is connected to the VC-4-PC-3 or the host running VC-4 and that offline licensing mode has been configured as described in Configure Offline Licensing Mode.
  2. Obtain the VC-4 system key using one of the following methods. The system key will be required in the next step.
    • To use the web configuration interface:
      1. Access the web configuration interface as described in Web Configuration.
      2. Open the Settings tab and then expand the Licenses accordion.

        3. Licenses Accordion

      3. Record or use the copy button Copy Button to copy the value provided in the System Key text field.
    • To use the licenseUtility.sh script:
      1. Open a new terminal window.
      2. (VC-4 server only) Change directories to /[VirtualControlHome]/scripts, where [VirtualControlHome] is the home directory set during installation.
      3. Issue the following depending on your Crestron Virtual Control installation:
        • For VC-4 servers, issue ./licenseUtility.sh.
        • For the VC-4-PC-3, issue licenseUtility.sh.

        4. The licenseUtility.sh script opens the license mode utility with the following options:

        Copy 
        help                          - Lists the help menu
        getlicenseinfo                - Shows the current license information
        getmode                       - Gets the current license mode
        switchmode [1 | 2]            - Switches the current license mode to XiO Cloud (1) or Offline (2) licensing
        addlicense [LICENSEKEY]       - Adds license into control system. User must pass the "LICENSEKEY"
        dellicense                    - Deletes the current license from the control system
        exit                          - Exits this utility

      4. Issue getlicenseinfo , and then record the value listed for System Key.
  3. Fill out and submit the offline licensing form to request an offline license key from Crestron.
    • When requesting a new offline license key, the following information is required:
      • The VC-4 system key (obtained using the license mode utility or web configuration interface as described in step 2 above)
      • The number of purchased room or BACnet licenses
      • The PO (Purchase Order) number for the room licenses or BACnet licenses
      • The USB-OFFLINE dongle serial number (located on the dongle or on its packaging)
    • When updating an existing offline license key, the following information is required:
      • The VC-4 system key (obtained using the license mode utility or web configuration interface as described in step 2 above)
      • The number of additional room licenses or BACnet licenses purchased
      • The PO (Purchase Order) number for the new room licenses or BACnet licenses
      • The USB-OFFLINE dongle serial number (located on the dongle or on its packaging)
      • The current offline license key
      • The current number of room licenses or BACnet licenses (located within the Licenses status accordion in the VC-4 web configuration interface)

Crestron will send the offline license key via email once the request has been processed. The offline license key must then be applied to the Crestron Virtual Control installation as described in Apply the Offline License Key.

Apply the Offline License Key

Once an offline license key has been obtained as described in Request an Offline License Key, it must be applied to your Crestron Virtual Control installation using the provided license utility.

To apply the offline license key:

  1. Ensure the USB-OFFLINE dongle is connected to the VC-4-PC-3 or the host running VC-4 and that offline licensing mode has been configured as described in Configure Offline Licensing Mode.
  2. Apply the offline license key using one of the following methods.
    • To use the web configuration interface:
      1. Access the web configuration interface as described in Web Configuration.
      2. Open the Settings tab and then expand the Licenses accordion.

        3. Licenses Accordion

      3. Enter the license key provided by Crestron into the License Key text field.
      4. Select Add. The provided licenses are populated in the table below this setting automatically.

        5. Licenses Accordion - Add License

    • To use the licenseUtility.sh script:
      1. Open a new terminal window.
      2. (VC-4 server only) Change directories to /[VirtualControlHome]/scripts, where [VirtualControlHome] is the home directory set during installation.
      3. Issue the following depending on your Crestron Virtual Control installation:
        • For VC-4 servers, issue ./licenseUtility.sh.
        • For the VC-4-PC-3, issue licenseUtility.sh.

        4. The licenseUtility.sh script opens the license mode utility with the following options:

        Copy 
        help                          - Lists the help menu
        getlicenseinfo                - Shows the current license information
        getmode                       - Gets the current license mode
        switchmode [1 | 2]            - Switches the current license mode to XiO Cloud (1) or Offline (2) licensing
        addlicense [LICENSEKEY]       - Adds license into control system. User must pass the "LICENSEKEY"
        dellicense                    - Deletes the current license from the control system
        exit                          - Exits this utility

      4. Issue addlicense [licensekey], where [licensekey] is the offline license key provided by Crestron.
      5. Issue exit to exit the utility.
      6. To ensure all licensed rooms are started immediately, issue sudo systemctl restart virtualcontrol to restart the Crestron Virtual Control service.