Revision as of 13:06, 20 September 2008

The WHMCS licensing addon module allows you to license your own web applications for selling to end users. Supporting both local license keys and periodic remote checking, it offers a robust and secure way of licensing your scripts.

Installation

To install the licensing addon module, you should upload each of the files to the following paths:

dl.php - /
licensing.php - /modules/servers/licensing/
verify.php - /modules/servers/licensing/
licenses_manager - /modules/admin/licenses_manager/
clientareaproductdetails.tpl - /templates/xx/ (where xx is your active template name)

Following that, you need to insert your license key into the WHMCS configuration.php file using the line below:

$licensingaddonkey = "xxxxxxxxxxxx";

Setting up a licensing product

1. Begin by creating a product in the normal way (Configuration > Products & Services)
2. On the module settings tab, choose "Licensing" in the Module dropdown
3. The options for a licensing product will then appear. These are explained in detail below:

• Key Length - this defines how long the randomly generated key will be - enter the numerical value you want
• Key Prefix - this defines the start of the license key and is how you can validate an applicable key for the product you're performing the checking in has been entered - eg. Monthly-, Owned-, Mobile-, etc...
• Allow Reissue - determines whether a client can reissue the license from the client area
• Allow Domain Conflict - determines whether to ignore domain mismatches on license checking (if you want to allow a user to run the product on multiple domains)
• Allow IP Conflict - as above but for the IP address
• Allow Directory Conflict - as above but for the directory
• Support/Updates Addon - explained in detail below

Downloads

Downloads are how your client receives the software product after purchase. These are configured using the existing digital download product release mechanism. For more information on this, refer to http://wiki.whmcs.com/Products_and_Services#Download_Distribution

Addons

Each product can be assigned multiple addon products which can be added at the time of initial ordering or at a later date. Uses for addons include extra value added services such as installation, configuration, upgrades, etc... They allow you to charge additional fees for items which aren't required in order to utilise the actual product.

Support & Update Addons

If you enable these on your licensing product, then the client is required to have an active support & updates package in order to receive support & download the related product downloads. This means you can charge your users for the continued support and updates using any of the recurring terms available to you in WHMCS. For example we charge you annually for this service on owned license.

Setting up a Support & Updates Addon Package

The guide below explains how to create a support & updates package which is include free with the initial license purchase and then requires renewal once it expires.

1. Ensure your licensing product is created first
2. Then, go to Configuration > Product Addons > Add New
3. Enter the name, description, price and recurring cycle - leave the Show on Order setting unchecked
4. Now tick the licensing product(s) in the applicable products section for the addon
5. Now go back to the product configuration area and click the edit icon next to your licensing product
6. On the Module Settings tab, choose the addon you just created in the "Support/Updates Addon" field and save

And that's it! If you didn't want to include it free with the initial purchase, you would leave the setting on the Module Settings tab at None and tick the box for Show on Order in the addon configuration.

Managing Licenses

To manage licenses, go to Utilities > Addon Modules > Licenses Manager. From here you can browse through all the license keys that have been issued, search for license keys and make changes to the allowed domains, ips and directory for a license.