Licensing FAQ


This page answers frequently asked questions about licensing.

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Licensing FAQ

Q: How many licenses do I need?

Highest of users and computers. It's really simple. You count the number of users and computers (servers and workstations) in your organization and purchase the highest number of the two. That's it. Example organizations:

Examples Computers Users Required Licensing
Company A 50 30 50 Per computer
Company B 140 120 140 Per computer
Company C 150 150 150 Either
Company D 120 150 150 Per user
Company E 200 500 500 Per user

Why the simple rule above is always the case

Technically, you need to license the number of users and computers running the software directly or indirectly. When you run a task on a computer, you run it on a machine with a user account. Both user and computer requires a license, but we only require you to license the highest number of the two. Indirect usage is when you make features available to users (say deployed software) or touch their account. Let's look at an example of 1000 users, 500 workstations and 10 RDS (Remote Desktop Services) servers and look at typical use cases:
  • Logon Scripts and Outlook Signatures (direct usage): In this case, all 1000 users use the software directly, either on a workstation or on the server-side in an RDS session. Therefore, the usage is 1000 users and 510 computers. License requirement: 1000.
  • Software deployment on the servers (indirect user usage): The direct usage is 10 computers and 1 domain admin user account. But since you use the software to make other software available to all users, your indirect usage is 1000 users and 10 computers (510 if you also deployed to the workstations). License requirement: 1000.
  • Help Desk Application (indirect user usage): Here you have one user running the application on one machine. Since you use the software to modify all your Active Directory users in your domain, your indirect usage is 1 computer and 1000 users. License requirement: 1000.
In other words, it is always the case, that you count number of users and computers in your organization and purchase the highest number.

Q: Is it subscription based?

Yes. You pay a subscription on a yearly basis, which includes support, cloud inventory access (Enterprise and Platinum) and product updates.

Q: What if my subscription runs out?

If you decide to cancel your subscription, you need to uninstall the software.

Q: What if I don't have a domain?

The scenario is the same. You still have the same number of users. The only difference is that the user does not have an Active Directory account; they only have a local account on a workstation.

Q: Do I need a special license for servers?

No

Q: Do I need a special license for Remote Desktop Services (RDS)?

No

Q: Do I need a device license for RDS from iPad, Androids, etc?

No. Because nothing is executed on the device. Your session is licensed on the server-side.

Q: Can I verify the product does what I need it to do without purchase?

Yes. You can download the product and use it in trial, which lets you test-drive any edition. Just click "Download" at the top menu and run the installation. It's a fully functional trial. Any tasks created with the trial will work with a licensed version; you only need to swap your trial key with your purchased license key. The trial is valid for 14 days and is limited to testing on 5 machines. For example, you can only use Software Deployment with the trial on 5 machines. If you deploy to more than 5 machines, it will not work on machines in excess of number 5. Should you require more licenses for testing, please contact us.

Q: I am interested in Outlook signatures - should I get Outlook or Enterprise edition?

Generally, we would advise to deploy through a logon script, which requires the Enterprise edition. The big advantage of using logon is you do not need to redeploy every time a signature needs a change. Here is a matrix of features:
  Outlook Edition Enterprise
Signature designer
Azure AD / Office 365 support
Install Once/Every time
Exe/msi deploy option
Set signature for new and reply emails
Ask user to correct AD info before install
Create desktop icon to re-install
Install multiple signatures
Logon script deployment
Lock signatures
Lock stationery
Delete all other signatures
Install to multiple exchange mailboxes
Install Exchange profile
All Enterprise features
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This video will walk you through each edition and which features go in which edition. Feel free to contact us for more information.


Q: Which features are available in which edition?

The table below shows a complete feature mapping for each edition. For additional information and proper licensing, please contact us.
  SkyBox Boxshot FastTrack Automation Studio Enterprise Boxshot FastTrack Automation Studio Platinum Boxshot
      Best Value  
Edition   Single Feature Editions Enterprise Platinum
Home Screen Info
Logon Script Builder Info
Software deployment Info
Outlook signatures Info Outlook Edition
Build custom EXE files Info
Cloud Inventory (SkyBox) Info Cloud Inventory Edition
Backup features Info
Query Azure AD Info
Query Active Directory Info
Modify Active Directory Info
EXE to MSI Info MSI Edition
Build custom MSI files Info
Windows as a thin client Info
Build Scheduled Tasks Info
Build Windows Services Info
Browser Control Info
SQL Server automation Info
FTP automation Info
Citrix features Info
Cloud Management Info
Cloud MSI distribution Info
LAN Management Server Info
SCCM features Info
Geotracking in scripts Info
   

Q: Do you offer any discounts?

Yes. We do offer very attractive volume license discounts based on the number of licenses. These are automatically priced in, when you calculcate the price above. For example, the license price level at 500 licenses is roughly half of the price at 25 licenses.

Q: How is SkyBox licensed?

The SkyBox service (Enterprice and Platinum) and SkyBox server (Platinum) are covered with your license. This means there is no additional cost to use SkyBox as long as you subscription is current. The inventory part of SkyBox has its own documentation page here and cloud jobs have their own documentation page here.

Q: If I take a computer out of service do I lose a license?

No. Once a computer is removed from service and does not execute a FastTrack task for 3 months the License is recovered. For example, if you remove 10 computers from your environment because they are off lease, you will recover all 10 licenses after 3 months. If you are per-user licensed for RDS that license will be recovered after 3 months of non use.

Q: Is there special licenses for use with VDI?

No. A VDI or VM is considered the same as a physical computer.

Q: Can I just replace my license key type without modifying my scripts?

Yes. FastTrack Automation Studio works the same for all editions, but features you are not licensed to use will be blocked upon execution.

Q: Does the software stop working, if we exceed our licensing?

No. There is no automatic "handbrake" in the software if you go over your license quantity, because we do not want the software to stop working in your production environment. We will however contact you, if the license count exceeds your actual license.

Q: Are we automatically advised, if we exceed our license count?

No. Currently there is no "automatic" notification within the software, if you exceed your license count. We will however contact you to resolve the issue.

Q: Can I install the editor on more than one computer?

Yes. You can install Automation Studio on as many computers as you like. The script editor itself is free to use. Please refer to the drawing below. The Home Screen is part of Automation Studio.

Context

Q: What does "geotracking" mean and why is it only available in the Platinum edition?

The Platinum edition offers the functions PublicIPAddress, Latitude, Longitude, MapUrl, City, Region and Country. These functions are proximity functions, meaning that you can expect them to be accurate at a city level. If you have divisions in different cities or countries, you can for example use these to document the location of a laptop or tablet to the event log or a central log file as part of a SmartDock script. If you have set up a local SkyBox server and have Platinum licensing, this information will automatically be included when using the SaveInventory command.

These geographical functions are extremely simple to use, but they are only available in the Platinum edition because of their technical nature. The only way they can work is by having the executing machine make a very small transparent web request to a FastTrack web server and based on the public IP address that made the call, behind the scenes a geocoding takes place in real-time and this information is then returned to the executing machine to serve to you through the function used. The machine executing the script will cache the information, so it should not be a concern to the keep the use down. The geocoding is a service that FastTrack Software pays for, but you are using the functions flat-rate as part of your Platinum licensing. In other words - the cost for FastTrack Software to offer these functions to you is covered in the fixed additional licensing price for Platinum. If you fall out of subscription on your licensing, these functions will no longer work and will return "unknown".


Rating: 5 out of 5

"Use this as a replacement for VBScript and PowerShell"

"It's easy to include attractive GUI elements in FastTrack scripts, beyond the basic dialog boxes and text input that VBScript offers ... Another powerful feature is the ability to distribute scripts as Windows Installer (.msi) or standard .exe files. Although interesting in its own right, this ability results in a much more intriguing capability: to repackage -- or wrap -- software installers as .msi files without using snapshots. If you've ever created an .msi installer file from before-and-after system snapshots, for use with a software distribution system such as Group Policy or SCCM, then you know how hit-and-miss the results can be."

Read full review


Rating: 8 out of 10

"Faster than the rest"

"We found the FastTrack syntax to be more transparent and easier to learn than Microsoft's PowerShell – the editor in particular provided good support in this regard. the Script Editor offers a large number of options from the command set through to simple output of graphical elements, which cannot be achieved at all with PowerShell or other solutions or only with a significantly greater level of effort."

"Anyone wanting to tackle the many hurdles in everyday admin and especially anyone for whom logon scripts and client automation is a priority will benefit from the variety of functions offered by FastTrack."

Review in English      Review in German