A couple SC licencing questions

[2ninerniner2]

Howdy,

As the title states, I have a couple of pres-sales licencing (CDN spelling ) questions:

1) is there an upgrade path (licence) from SC Workgroup to Enterprise ?

2) if I purchase Enterprise, may I, for example, install it on a 3 party FMP host (e.g. Point In Space (PIS)) for a solution for one client, and then also deploy it on FMPSA hosted another client (different client, same "solution") ?

As I am just getting into the FMP solution "biz" I would like to keep my costs as low as possible for the moment; but that is not to say that I am adverse to paying whatever it takes to get the job done properly

The reason behind 1) above is that, having "proved" the system with the Demo version, what I would like to accomplish now is to install the Workgroup version on a client's shared drive (yes, I know this is not the ideal way to do this, but it's more of a "proof of concept" for them) for them to "whet their whistle" with an actual working version for at the most 2 IWP users. If this is successful, this client has no problem with purchasing and installing FMPSA and the SC Enterprise version.

Which brings me to item 2): if I purchase the Enterprise version for Client "A" (their own FMPSA), may I also use this for Client "B" using a 3rd party hosting provider (e.g. PIS)?

Thank you in advance

Cheers!

Lyle

[Smef]

1) Yes, you can upgrade from workgroup to enterprise on our website for the difference in cost between the two licenses, however you will need the Enterprise license if you wish to use SuperContainer with IWP.

2) No, the Enterprise license is for a single company or organization. If you have a single solution which is going to be used by multiple clients you can purchase the Solution Bundle license which will allow you to distribute SuperContainer for use with a single solution. The workgroup and enterprise license are also each for a single deployment of SuperContainer. You could either purchase a second enterprise license or purchase the solution bundle license.

SuperContainer should not be installed or made available on a share. This is not just "not ideal" but it is unnessary 99% of the time and can cause problems in your database. The SuperContainer files should not be made accessible to anyone outside of access through a SuperContainer URL or the companion pluign. Giving your users access to SuperContianer files through a share will cause confusion to your users and can make your references in your filemaker database break. You should treat file stored in SuperContainer similar to files stored in a regular container field in that you should access them only through FileMaker or another developer-controlled application.

You can have your file stored on a drive other than your filemaker server or supercontainer server machine, but they should not be made available through a share. If the entire drive you are going to store the files on is currently available through a share you should restrict access to the SuperContainer root directory so that your users do not have access to it.

[2ninerniner2]

Thank you so very much David

That clarifies an awful lot for me. Looks as though I will be purchasing the Enterprise version as IWP is the main focus of this particular solution (at the moment ). If all goes well with this client, then it will not be long before the Solution Bundle will be required ... can I upgrade from the Enterprise ?

Cheers!

Lyle

[Smef]

Unfortunately you cannot upgrade from enterprise to solution bundle. The reason for is is that the licenses are for very different groups. The enterprise license is for the organization or company that is using the solution, and so you register it with that name and you can use it throughout the company with multiple databases. The Solution Bundle license is burchased by the developer (rather than the client) and is distributed with the particular solution that the developer purchased for when the solution is distributed. If you crate a second solution you wish to distribute you would need to purchase a second solution bundle license.