Limelight XE FAQ
Below are Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Limelight XE
Q) How do I get Limelight XE to try out?
A) Go to the download page and click the DOWNLOAD button. You will need an account (which is free) to download files, request support or post in forums. Once your account is established you can download the latest Limelight XE revision installation file. The installer come with the basic free license which never expires. If the features supported by this license is adequate, enjoy! If you require additional functionality, you can purchase various subscription levels by clicking the BUY button on the home or download pages. Alternatively, you can visit the Purchase page which compares various subscription plans.
Q) What do I do after I download and install the software?
A) You will need to register the server to give it an identity. This is a required step which provides a unique identifier (GUID) to the server - all licensing of that server is based on this identity and the administrator's email (provided at registration). To register the server, follow the quick start instructions to log in as the first administrator and change the password. Once logged in, on the main console menu under HELP you will find the REGISTER SERVER entry. Click that menu item and follow the provided instructions. Once registered, an email will be sent to the administrative contact provided in the registration dialog with a basic (free) license key.
Q) What are the limitations of the basic (free) license?
A) The basic license has quite a bit of functionality. Almost all of the capabilities are enabled with limits on quantities. For a complete list, please see the comparison chart. A basic license key can be used on up to 5 computers simultaneously so that a star-topology can be created with one central master server and 4 slaves - the basic setup for a command center with edge servers. If you are a student or educator and require additional installations on the basic (free) license, please reach out to our staff via our contact form and tell us how you are using Limelight XE so we can consider increasing the number of simultaneous installations allowed.
Q) How do I get support?
A) There are several ways to get support. First, do a search on this website for the subject matter - this will result in a list of articles, white papers, forum entries and documentation related to that subject. Second, log into your account and from the main menu SUPPORT item, you will find at the bottom of the list the item SUPPORT CONTACT FORM. If you are already logged in, you should see the "How can we help you?" block to the right. Click either the GET SUPPORT button on the right or the menu entry and fill out the required fields, include any script code with scripting questions (you can use the INSERT CODE SNIPPET tool on the right of the tool bar). Optionally, you can upload a file attached to your issue. If you have multiple files, please ZIP them together as one file and upload the compressed library. Our support team will get an alert when that from arrives and reach out as soon as possible to assist you. Also, don't forget to read this FAQ... it is quite possible your answer may be here.
Q) Ok, I received my free license key or purchased a subscription... how do I install the key that was provided to me?
A) The license key is a 128 bit number that fits the Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) format. Here is an example of a GUID key value
{CB197BE6-51FE-43E8-9C15-1E918258DB60}
This unique number is your key to the actual license kept on our secure servers. To install and activate the license, see the license installation section of this site.
Q) Are there any tutorials on how to build a command or process control center using Limelight XE?
A) Yes, there are several tutorials, both video and written that walks a user through the installation process and introduces the user to Limelight Interface Architect (LIA). The architect tool is used to create and connect all display elements that make up your command center. Once you are done designing your interfaces and store them on a Limelight server, the Limelight Display Client (LDC) can read the configuration and display the information on multiple monitors (such as a display wall) or user consoles. It is highly recommended that before creating user interface (other than for testing) that users install and configure the server(s) to connect to all required hardware such as PLCs or other equipment. As the hardware is connected, abstracted copies with a permanent GUID link are created. These device GUIDs are used to connect to elements in the displays. Hardware GUIDs can also be used, but may change when the configuration is edited. This is also true for database connections.
For more information on creating a command center, start with this document (ADD LINK) and video (ADD LINK).
Q) Where can I download example scripts, designs and other files including back revisions of Limelight XE?
A) On the website menu, click support / downloads. Here will be an up to date list of all available files for registered users. You can browse anonymously, but to download any file you need to be logged in. If you don't have an account you can create one - it's free.
Q) My license limits the total number of accounts in the system. I created up to the maximum and then deleted several accounts but the system still tells me I have exceeded the maximum and the TOTAL ACCOUNTS value in the account manager component view still shows the maximum. What's going on?
A) When an account or token is deleted, it is not removed from the database but rather "marked" as deleted - it still exists which allows it to be recovered (e.g. un-deleted). To remedy this, simply purge the deleted accounts via the PURGE tool found in the main menu of the console under TOOLS > DATABASE > PURGE TOOL. There you can select how to remove the deleted accounts. Once you purge the database, the total number of entries will be updated and if you are below your license limit you can create new accounts again.
Q) Since Limelight XE runs as a service, if I'm using an external database, how do I make sure the database such as MySQL is running before Limelight XE's ace.exe service starts?
A) The Limelight XE service is called ACE for Automation Control and Event engine. When using an external database such as MSSQL or MySQL with Limelight XE, you must create a dependency to the database service within the settings for the ACE engine service. Follow this procedure:
- On the Windows Server or Windows 10 machine, press the Windows key + R, a "run" dialog should appear.
- In the run dialog line called "open" type "regedit" and press return. This will launch the registry editor (use caution not to change anything except what is detailed below or the system could become unstable or corrupted).
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ACE_Service.
- On the right pane you should see several NAME / VALUE pairs such as Description and DisplayName. In that pane, right click and select NEW -> MULTI-STRING VALUE.
- Change the name to "DependOnService" (without the quotation marks) and press enter to create it.
- Now double click on the new DependOnService entry and in the Value data edit box add the name of the database service - for example, the latest version of MySQL is version 8.0 (as of this FAQ entry) which is named MySQL80 (you can scroll down and see the names of all the services here as well to find it). Once entered, click OK.
- You may receive a warning that says "Data of type REG_MULTI_SZ cannot contain empty strings. Registry Editor will remove the empty string found." This is simply a warning stating there is an empty string in your entry and the registry editor removed it... all is well.
- If you check the service dependencies tab of the Limelight XE service using either services.msc or the administrative tools - services, you now see the database service listed. This indicates to Windows that the database service must be started first before it attempts to start the Limelight XE ACE engine. This will prevent errors or crashes in Limelight XE due to the missing database engine when the system is restarted (as is done in Windows updates).