I'm looking to implement a basic product activation scheme such that when the program is launched it will contact our server via http to complete the activation. I'm wondering if it is a big problem (especially with bigger companies or educational organizations) that firewalls will block the outgoing http request and prevent activation. Any idea how big as issue this may be?
A:
there are personal software solutions to purposely block outgoing connections. Check out little snitch. This program can set up rules that explicitly block your computer from making connections to certain domains, IP's and / or Ports. A common use for this program is to stop one's computer from "phoning home" to an activation server.
darren
2010-01-14 00:04:17
A:
I can't tell you how prevalent this will be, sorry. But I can give you one data point.
In this company Internet access is granted on an as needed basis. There is one product I have had to support which is wonderful for its purpose and reasonably priced, but I will never approve its purchase again - the licensing is too much of a hassle to be worth it.
Mark Ransom
2010-01-14 00:04:55
+1
A:
In my experience when HTTP traffic is blocked by a hardware firewall then there is more often than not a proxy server which is used to browse the internet. Therefore it is good practice to allow the user to enter proxy and authentication details.
The amount of times I have seen applications fail due to not using a corporate proxy server and therefore being blocked by the firewall astonishes me.
kerchingo
2010-01-14 00:15:40
A:
The activation solution our company offers supports direct activation, activation via proxy server, activation via the license proxy server we also supply, and activation via secure file exchange (done at the user self-service web page or by email). All of the above seem to be needed to cover the scenarios our customers encounter at their end users, especially the 'disconnected mode' activation.
Dominic
Dominic
2010-06-04 15:02:08