License Count

[rboynton]

Adrien,

You and I discussed this issue some time back, but I need to revisit it. We purchased a 10 user license for our church, and can often only have five or six users connected at a time without hitting the license count and getting a "license violation" screen.

The issue apparently stems from the fact that we have all inbound SMTP traffic forwarding to our email server inside of our LAN. These connections apparently count against our number of concurrent users. Though I understand the point you made about product cost versus "giving away" functionality, I believe something needs to be done with how users are determined.

We simply want to be able to have the number of concurrent users that we purchased. Have you given any further consideration to how license allocation might be changed to resolve issues such as this?

[adrien]

Hi Rick

Since you're using port forwarding on port 25 (using Extended Networking), what in effect you are asking for is free (uncounted) use of inbound redirection, albeit maybe just for port 25.

I can understand the frustration feeling you're being forced to pay for spammers to connect to you (in terms of the licenses they chew).

But as far as WinGate is concerned, you are getting your 10 users. The problem is it's not the 10 you want.

We have had several discussions about this in house, and actually we have some sympathy for the situation, and are looking into options, however I have to rule out things like special casing behaviour (wrt licensing) for inbound redirects (ENS) based on port, or making all inbound ENS redirection free.

What this means is that any solution to this which we may implement will be based solely on our SMTP server, which would mean you'd need to (instead of redirecting port 25 inbound) open port 25, and run the WinGate (or some other) SMTP server and get it to relay to or perhaps replace your internal mail server. There was some discussion about making SMTP reception not subject to licensing (or only trusted senders consuming a license). This would then solve your problem. However in the meantime the only immediate fixes I can suggest (which will alleviate the problem you're currently experiencing) aren't ideal, but workable, and include:

since connections to non-WinGate services residing on the WinGate computer don't consume licenses:

1. Run the organisation's mail server on the WinGate computer, then just open port 25.
2. Run some other software on the WinGate computer that will pipe mail through to your internal server.

These options (whilst not the greatest) are at least something you can do now, since even if we decide to modify the code as discussed, it will take some time to roll out.

Regards

Adrien

[rboynton]

Adrien said: "There was some discussion about making SMTP reception not subject to licensing (or only trusted senders consuming a license). This would then solve your problem."

That change would solve the issue, for sure. Port 25 would be the best approach, as it can be clearly tied to outside entities. Port 110, on the other hand, is clearly tied to a user, thus should consume a license when a connection is made. I appreciate the fact that the team is discussing this, and you want to ensure your customers receive (the licenses) that which was paid for. We use Mailtraq as our email server, and it has some tremendous anti-spam defensive measures. Enabling the WG email piece, and forwarding to our email server would defeat some of this.

Thank you again for considering my request.

[labull]

Hey Rick - Curiosity has gotten the better of me. What email server are you using on your network?

[rboynton]

Hi Larry. Good to hear from you! We use mailtraq pro.

[logan]

Hi Rick,

How does your WinGate computer connect to the internet?
Does it have a direct connection to the internet or does it connect through an upstream modem/router over a private IP range that is NATed to the internet.

I'm thinking if your WinGate computer connects through an upstream router, it would be possible to add another network adapter to the mail server (or use an existing unused adapter) and plug the server directly into the upstream router (along side WinGate). Port 25 can be forwarded directly from the router to the mail server so licence limitations become null for incoming SMTP traffic. You'd just need to make sure that the mail server was protecting itself sufficiently with a firewall and only listening on port 25.

Best regards,
Logan

[rboynton]

Hi Logan,

Thanks for the idea, but our ISP interface connects directly to the WG machine. I'd need to procure a router to deal with this. Perhaps if one shows up some day I might go that direction.

[logan]

That's a shame. I thought I was on to something there :).

[rboynton]

Adrien,

Would it be possible for you or one of your team to email me privately regarding this? Thank you.