Any time you need to use the LumenVox Automatic Speech Recognizer (ASR), Text-to-Speech Server (TTS), Call Progress Analyis (CPA), or the Speech Tuner, you will need one license for each simultaneous session. This means that if you have five calls to your speech-enabled IVR at the same time, you will need to have at least five ASR licenses.
A license is used when the application opens a port to the speech product, throughout the entire span of the instance's speech automation, and is then released back to the License Server when the port is closed. For example, in a telephony application, this correlates to when the call connects to the IVR, and until the call leaves the IVR.
For our API, this begins at CreateClient, and finishes at DestroyClient. With MRCP, the license is tied up for the duration of the MRCP Session.
Two License Types: Perpetual and Subscription
LumenVox offers two means of vending licenses:
- Perpetual - You purchase the licenses outright, then download and install them on a local LumenVox License Server that you manage and maintain.
- Subscription - In special circumstances, we will provide you with access to our Subscription License Servers. These are Internet-facing License Servers, hosted by LumenVox. Your client will pass authentication credentials via TCP/IP to them, and they send your client the license token for the duration of the session.
Regardless of license type, you will download, install and manage the LumenVox products (ASR, TTS, Speech Tuner, etc.) locally. If you are interested in a hosted solution, please contact LumenVox Sales.
The remainder of this article focuses on the Perpetual licensing model. If you are interested in more details Subscription model, please visit its documentation page.
How LumenVox Perpetual Licenses Work
There are two separate components to LumenVox licensing. One is the License Server, which hosts and distributes licenses to clients. The other is the license client, which obtains and validates the licenses. The client can be a number of different components depending on how you are using the LumenVox software:
- In many cases, the license client is the LumenVox Media Server. This is true in any deployment that uses MRCP, such as most VXML platforms.
- A custom application that makes use of the LumenVox C or C++ API for ASR or TTS is a license client (in this case the client is the application which is linked against the LumenVox libraries).
- When you run the LumenVox Speech Tuner, it requires licenses and is thus a license client.
When the License Server is started, it loads all of the licenses it has installed. This group of licenses is called the license pool. When a client requests a resource (e.g., a decode from the ASR), it sends a message to the License Server to see if any licenses are available. A valid license is required for each active connection between the LumenVox client application and the ASR/TTS server.
When the License Server receives a request for a license, it checks its license pool and if the appropriate license is available, the License Server assigns that license to the requesting product. The License Server sends the product a license token that lets the product know that the license is available. The License Server removes that license from the pool until the product returns it.
All of this communication between the License Server and its clients happens over a proprietary version of TCP.
Licenses are tied to the machine on which they are installed and are not intended to be moved from one machine to another. They can be uninstalled from one machine and the uninstalled deployment on the website can be used in a fresh installation on a new machine by generating a server ID file from the new machine.
The client software can be installed on a machine separate from the License Server, meaning you can store all
of your licenses on one machine and have multiple machines running different clients all looking at a single
License Server for licenses. A client can also use more than one server, allowing for very flexible, redundant deployment options.
The Licensing Process
The License process differs depending on whether you are installing licenses on your own servers or are using LumenVox's hosted licenses (as is the case for users with subscription licenses). If you are using subscription licenses, please see our documentation on using subscription licenses.
For users who will be hosting their own licenses, the process is as follows:
-
To get started licensing, the first thing you must do after installing the License Server is to
generate a server ID file and upload it to our Web site.
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Then you must upload that file and download a license file.
- Finally, install the license file.
More Information About Licensing
If you would like to control where a LumenVox product installation looks for licenses, see
Configuring Licenses.
Our Frequently Asked Questions about LumenVox Licensing answers
many common licensing questions.
You may also want to see our two-part
video tutorial
on licensing.
