Licensing

dBSea v3 uses cloud-based licensing. This page explains how to activate your licence, use trial mode, and troubleshoot common licensing issues.

Licence Activation

When you purchase dBSea, you will receive login credentials for your licence account.

First-Time Activation

Launch dBSea
When prompted, enter your email address and password
dBSea will validate your credentials with the licence server
Once validated, your licence is activated on this machine

Your licence allows you to run dBSea on the number of machines specified in your purchase. dBSea calls each machine-bound instance an activation. To free a machine, use File → Check for licenses and click Release activated license, or Log out of current user.

Logging In

Each time dBSea starts, it connects to the licence server to validate your licence; your sign-in is remembered, so you are not normally asked for your password again. You will need an internet connection for this validation. dBSea contacts the server once more about ten minutes after launch. If the server reports that your activation is no longer valid (for example the seat has been taken by another machine), the login window appears; if the server simply cannot be reached, you keep working in your current mode. After that, no further server contact is made during the session, so you can work offline. Sessions licensed with an offline licence file skip the server check altogether.

If you are logged into dBSea on another machine and have reached your licence limit, you will need to log out from one machine before logging in on another.

Trial Mode

A trial version of dBSea is available to evaluate the software before purchase.

Trial Limitations

Trial mode allows full use of dBSea’s modelling and analysis features with the following restrictions:

Saving projects is disabled
Exported images include a watermark overlay

Because trial mode cannot save, work done during a trial cannot be carried over. Trial licences are issued for a fixed period (30 days by default); the expiry date is shown under Help → About.

Requesting a Trial

To request a trial licence, contact your distributor or use the contact page.

Demo Mode

If no valid licence or trial is available, dBSea opens in demo mode. In this mode:

Opening and saving projects is disabled
Bathymetry import and image export are disabled
You can explore the interface, set up sources and solve on the default bathymetry

Demo mode is useful for exploring the software’s interface and capabilities.

Managing Your Licence

Viewing Licence Status

To view your current licence status:

Go to Help → About
Your licence serial number and expiry date are displayed

Logging Out

To release your licence on the current machine (allowing you to activate on a different machine):

Go to File → Check for licenses
Click Release activated license to free this machine while staying signed in, or Log out of current user to sign out completely

Offline Licence File

If a machine cannot reach the licence server, your distributor can issue a licence file bound to that machine. Import it with File → Import trial license file (or from the login window via Additional tools → Import trial or license from file). The file is a .txt tied to the machine’s system id, shown under Additional tools → Show system id on the login window, and grants a full licence until its embedded expiry without contacting the server.

Troubleshooting

”Licence validation failed”

This error indicates dBSea could not connect to the licence server. Check that:

You have an active internet connection
Your firewall or proxy allows connections to the licence server
Your licence has not expired

Corporate Network Issues

The most common licensing problem is corporate networks blocking connections to the licence server. Firewalls, proxies, or domain restrictions on your corporate LAN can prevent dBSea from reaching the server.

To confirm this is the issue, try retrieving your licence on a connection that bypasses the corporate network:

Tether to your mobile phone’s hotspot
Try on a machine at home or another location not dependent on the corporate IT network

If the licence activates successfully on an alternative connection, the issue is with the corporate network. Contact your IT department about allowing connections to the dBSea licence server. The login window’s Additional tools menu includes Test server certificates and connection and Deep test server certificates and connection, whose output is useful when talking to IT.

Licence Seats

Each licence includes a number of seats. A seat is occupied when dBSea is running and logged in on a machine.

One machine at a time per seat — a single licence seat cannot be used concurrently on multiple machines. However, you can freely move a seat between machines by logging out on one before logging in on another.
Releasing a seat — closing dBSea releases the seat immediately, making it available to other machines.
Automatic release — if dBSea does not release a seat cleanly (e.g. due to a crash or forced shutdown), the seat is automatically freed after a 90-minute timeout.
Long solves are not interrupted — the periodic licence check never runs while a solve is in progress, so a temporary disruption to your internet connection during a long solve will not stop it.

”No licences available”

This error occurs when all seats in your licence are already in use. To resolve:

Log out of dBSea on another machine, or wait up to 90 minutes for an uncleanly released seat to expire
Contact your distributor if you need additional seats

Internet Connection Required

dBSea requires an internet connection to validate your licence when starting. If you work in an environment without reliable internet access, contact your distributor about an offline licence file.

Getting Help

If you continue to experience licensing issues:

Note any error messages and error codes displayed
Contact support via the contact page with details of the issue

Legacy Licensing (v2 and earlier)

dBSea versions 2.x and earlier were originally licensed via HASP dongle. The most recent v2 releases also support cloud licensing alongside HASP dongles, so existing v2 users can move to cloud licensing without upgrading.

We recommend upgrading to v3 regardless, as it includes many bug fixes and performance improvements over v2. Contact your distributor for assistance with the upgrade process.