Configuring license keys for one domain, many servers and test sites

[Robert]

We have a single domain: http://www.msia.org that runs on multiple servers behind a load balancer. We also do development for this site on a number of locally-hosted development computers under the domain msia.oz (i.e. a non-routing TLD that can only ever be used locally). We test all of our changes when combined together on a staging website called stage.msia.org.

We upgraded to Business level for our plugins Events Calendar PRO and Eventbrite Tickets, and plugged in the new license keys on the production domain http://www.msia.org. However, it still says we are out of installs.

Please advise. We can’t be the first organisation to set up our development cycle this way, and we really don’t want to have to manually apply updates to each and every server (production, staging, and development) when there is a new release.

Thanks in advance!

[Cliff]

Hi, Robert.

I see you only have 1 domain registered at https://theeventscalendar.com/license-keys/. Your msia.oz and stage.msia.org sites are not registered.

Also, just as an FYI, if you see that message, your site will still work but you won’t be able to receive automatic updates.

On which of your site(s) are you seeing the notice about being out of installs?

Could it possibly be specific to your Filter Bar license, which is Personal (1 site) instead of Business (3 sites)?

[Robert]

Hi Cliff,

Thanks for your reply.

First, I’m not sure how to add stage.msia.org and msia.oz to the domains, as there’s no “Add” button in the Licensing interface that I can see.

More importantly, we are still unable to update the-events-calendar-eventbrite-tickets and events-calendar-pro (currently at 4.4.3 and 4.4.7, respectively) on the http://www.msia.org website (main site), either through the web admin or using wp-cli. Filter Bar is fine.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Best,
Robert

[Robert]

Hi Cliff,

A p.s. in case it’s relevant–we run a multisite installation using directories for separate “sites” (which are actually all part of the main site), and all have the http://www.msia.org domain.

We use multisite sub-sites only for purposes of running multiple languages and providing different access levels to different users. To a front-end website user, they would never know the difference.

Could that be a clue?

Best,
Robert

[Cliff]

I had a developer take a look and we’re guessing it’s related to multisite more so than any load balancer situation.

I’ve issued you a new license key that has a 1 month expiration for your 3 products. Please try those license keys instead and see if these issues go away.

If they do work for you and you want to keep the automatic update functionality, you can reference each product’s page to see the multisite pricing (it’s quite a bit more money just to enable automatic updates).

Please let me know how this goes for you.

[Robert]

Hi Cliff,

Thanks for all that.

The new keys do work.

It would be great to have the existing keys work.

On the page you sent, I note:

If you only want to use our plugin on a handful of sub-sites (10 or fewer) and are willing to perform manual updates, then you do not need a multisite license. In this case you can purchase a Personal license (for 1 sub-site), Business license (for 2-3 sub-sites) or an Agency license (for 4-10 sub-sites).

We have the Business license, and only 2 of the 5 multisite sub-sites have Events plugins active (i.e. it’s not network activated). So, seems like we should be able to use it, right?

We had some old servers running in parallel with new servers we just transitioned into using. I wonder if having multiple servers with different operating system versions triggered something on your end to make it look like we were using more than two sub-sites? If so, is there any way to reset that? We only have the new servers running now.

Would be great to have our new licenses work.

Best,
Robert

[Robert]

Hi Cliff,

I take it back. 🙁

It looked like the plugins updated via wp-cli, but then when I tried again (using the new keys you issued) it still fails–both with wp-cli and in the multisite network admin for the plugins.

I have manually updated them for now, but full automation is a very important part of our strategy. Any solutions so we can get the updates we need automatically?

Best,
Robert

[Cliff]

I verified with the team that only multisite licenses can receive/perform automated updates in a multisite environment. (Personally, I’m interested in promoting the opinion internally that this restriction should be lifted.)

However, another thought is that a multisite license may need to be network activated and have the license key input at the network-level settings. If you’re really interested in finding this out, you might want to try that and report back your findings.

I’ve appreciated your effort and detailed replies throughout this thread.

[Robert]

Hi Cliff,

I tried network activating The Events Calendar PRO, but after doing so, there did not appear any Events tab or settings in the Settings area of the Multisite Dashboard. So, I didn’t know where I was supposed to plug in my multisite key.

If you could tell me that, and what the pricing would be for multisite with six total sites, we might consider going that route just because the ease of automation would save us a lot of developer time on manual upgrades.

Or, if you successfully advocate internally for a more reasonable approach to upgrades on multisite installations, obviously that would be ideal… 🙂

Thanks for your help.

Best,
Robert

[Cliff]

Robert, there are network-level settings for the licenses at wp-admin > Network > Settings > Events Settings > Licenses tab (/wp-admin/network/settings.php?page=tribe-common&tab=licenses)

The price for a multisite license is viewable at each product page (e.g. $200/yr more than PRO’s Business license). However, since I issued you temporary keys, you should be able to click “Renew” at each one from https://theeventscalendar.com/license-keys/

Regardless, I have brought up the issue again for discussion and will let you know if there’s any progress expected in the near-term.

[Cliff]

Robert, when using non-multisite licenses, could you verify if you are logged in as a Super Admin?

Please also confirm if you do or do not see the update notifications — and if you do see them, do they then just fail?

[Support Droid]

Hey there! This thread has been pretty quiet for the last three weeks, so we’re going to go ahead and close it to avoid confusion with other topics. If you’re still looking for help with this, please do open a new thread, reference this one and we’d be more than happy to continue the conversation over there.

Thanks so much!
The Events Calendar Support Team

[Author]

Posts