Upgrading to new Instant Protection PLUS 3 activation features

Instant Protection PLUS 3 v3.1 adds support for the new SOLO Server Installation ID features via the new XmlActivationService Web service and its ActivateInstallation and CheckInstallationStatus methods. SOLO Server version 1.9.4.0 or higher is required to take advantage of these new features.

When a Product Option has Issue Installation ID enabled, a unique ID is generated and returned in the activation response. This value gets stored in the License File and is used to regularly "phone home" and verify the installation is still active. An individual installation can now be remotely deactivated instead of all installations under a given license, which was the case with previous versions of Instant Production PLUS 3/SOLO Server.

The Online Activations URL under Tools / Options / Server Settings now defaults to the ActivateInstallation URL. When upgrading from a previous version of Instant PLUS, it may be necessary to edit or click Set Defaults to reset the Server Settings to have the correct URL for activation. A new Check Installation Status URL has been added under the Server Settings that is used for background checking when an Installation ID is present in the License File.

Although you can upgrade your existing Product Options to begin issuing an Installation ID, existing users will continue to phone home and check the license status until they reactivate. We recommend creating new Instant Protection PLUS 3 Projects (IPP files) to force existing users to reactivate. In order to upgrade previous Instant PLUS Projects to use the new activation features, you will need to re-synchronize your project with SOLO to get the new encryption data. The Instant PLUS Wizard will not allow you to continue until either: (1) you re-synchronize and the necessary encryption data is acquired; or (2) you choose to synchronize with a different product on the server.

Instant PLUS 3.1 remains backward compatible with older versions of SOLO Server and SOLO Lite by specifying the old URL to getcode.asp/getcode.php. When the license does not contain an Installation ID, background checking will fall back to the original Check License Status URL.