This article illustrates how to spot and reprogram a softkey that has been cloned. Softkeys can be cloned when the machine’s settings (Virtual MAC Address, UUID, PCU settings, NICs, etc.) are edited. To recover this softkey, you must first establish and understand why it has been cloned so you can keep this from happening again.
Usually, this happens because the softkey has been installed in a virtual machine running in an environment with several hosts, where the VM is passed from one host to another dynamically (e.g.: VMware vCenter Server). This environment requires that CPU Masking be turned on, because this will guarantee the softkey will see all hosts with the same hardware configuration, thus avoiding cloning detection when the VM migrates to another host.
To confirm the softkey status, access this address:
http://localhost:1947/_int_/products.html
After you spot the cloned softkey, you must reprogram it with the Formatting procedure.
FORMATTING
To recover the softkey, you will need to save its memory and send it to Elipse Software. There are thre possibilities: via HKCustumer, via Elipse License Manager (eLic), or via .C2V file.
a) via HKCustomer: follow the procedures at Generating/activating softkeys for servers with no internet connection.
b) via eLic: to generate the read file, go to Protection Devices tab at the main page. Then, choose the device to update, and click Save Status. Save the file generated (.elr extension) and send it to Elipse Software.
c) via .C2V file: follow the procedures described at Generating a hardkey/softkey file in C2V format.
In response, a recovery file with V2C extension is generated. Then, apply it to Admin Control Center (http://localhost:1947/_int_/checkin.html), or use ElipseRUS.exe (available at HKCustomer zip file).
After applying the file, the softkey is recovered, and is not cloned anymore.
