WibuKey Over Internet

Situation to solve

One of my colleagues was trying to work at home but she had no working wibu key on her. I was also working at my home but I had a network Wibu-key with more licenses than I needed. So the goal was to share my network Wibu-key so that she can use ARCHICAD with the license that she would get from my Wibu-key.

The CodeMeter version of this article can be found here: CodeMeter/CodeMeterOverInternet

Given network topology

1.png

One can get the Local IP Address of the computer on the administration site of the Router: 3.png

One way to get the Global IP Address of the computer is also on the administration site of the Router: 4.png

An other way to get the Global IP Address is to visit this link: http://www.whatismyip.com

Solution

Setting NAT

Because the computer where the wibu server is running is placed in a local network, it cannot be addressed directly from the internet. The only IP address my colleague can directly see from her place is the Global IP Address of my Home-router. Due to this I have to set a Network Adress Translation (NAT) rule in my Router. Please note that Wibu does not officially support NAT, but it may be worth trying if a particular NAT implementation works correctly. 2.png

The default Port number for wibu has to be also given as it can be seen in the picture.

Setting Up The Wibu Server

The wibu Server should be set up as usual. You can see how to set up a Wibu server here: Wibu key Server Basics

Setting Up The Wibu Client

My colleague had to do these steps:

  • Go to the Control Panel
  • There double-click on Wibu-key
  • Choose the Network tab

5.png

  • Make sure that the check-box for " WkLan " is checked
  • Make sure that the default port is left (22347).
  • In the lower right area of the tab enter the Global IP for the Router of the one who provides the Wibu Server.
  • Press the "Add" button.
  • Press "Ok" or "Apply".
  • Start ARCHICAD.

Note: If the 'WkLAN Server Search list' is empty, ARCHICAD will search for keys available in the local network. If a server address is added to the list, ARCHICAD will only look for free licenses on that specific server. This server could be in any network domain. If there are several entries in this list, ARCHICAD will search for a license on those servers, in the given order.

Setting Up Server Access

To avoid non-authorized users accessing your WibuKey server (which is now shared with the whole world), you should specify who can access your WibuKey server. To do this:

  • Open the WIBU control panel
  • Click the small cogwheel icon in the upper left corner of the WIBU control panel, and switch to "advanced mode". This will display extra tabs:

ServerAccess.jpg

  • Go to Server Access tab
  • Type the network address (IP address or network name) of a client you want to grant access to in the text field at the bottom of the dialog. Check the first two checkboxes too, then click the Add button
  • Add additional users in the same way
  • Select the "Default" entry and uncheck the last two (or all three) checkboxes, then click Modify. This entry controls what rights should be granted to clients who are not added to the list separately.
  • Click 'Apply' button before closing the WIBU Control Panel

This is the meaning of the checkboxes in the dialog above:

  • Read: client can read the content of the WIBU Key on the server
  • Access: client can reserve an empty license on the server
  • Cancel: client can fire another users from the server with the help of the server monitor. ( WkSvMon )