Licensing
Impact Workstation Licence
Licence ID
The current licence ID is displayed here.
View Licence Details
Select this button to open Help > About Impact, showing the complete licence details.
Product Name
The product name associated with this licence is displayed here.
Customer
The customer name associated with this licence is displayed here.
Deactivate Licence
Select this button to deactivate the current licence on this machine.
Advanced Activation Options
You can configure advanced options such as proxy server and logging in this section.
Note: Changing these activation options requires a restart of Impact for them to take effect.
Activation Host
This is the web address Impact will contact to activate, deactivate, or extend the licence lease using the Nalpeiron licence service.
- Impact uses HTTPS, so TCP port 443 must be open between the Impact client and the Nalpeiron address.
This value is not configurable and is set to: https://my.nalpeiron.com
Test Connection Timeout (Registry key: LicenceConnectionTimeoutSecs)
Default: 10 seconds
This timeout controls how long Impact will wait during the pre-check phase to verify that the activation host is reachable before attempting any licence operations.
By default, Impact attempts to contact the activation host to extend the licence lease for perpetual licences:
- At startup
- Every 2 minutes in the background
To avoid delaying startup when the activation host is unavailable or unresponsive, this pre-check timeout prevents Impact from waiting too long.
If the pre-check times out, Impact will:
- Skip the licence operation
- Continue to start up (if it already has a valid licence)
- Try again at the next scheduled check (2 minutes later in the background)
Value range: 0–600 seconds
- 0 uses the Nalpeiron default (typically 30 seconds)
- The actual pre-check timeout used is the greater of Test Connection Timeout or Connection Timeout
Recommendation: On slow or unreliable networks, set this equal to or greater than the Connection Timeout (for example, 30 seconds).
Proxy Server Address (Registry key: LicenceProxyAddress)
Specify an alternate proxy server address to communicate with the Nalpeiron activation host, where required.
Port (Registry key: LicenceProxyPortNumber)
Specify the proxy server port to communicate with the Nalpeiron activation host, where required.
Username (Registry key: LicenceProxyUserName)
Specify a proxy server username, where required.
Password (Registry key: LicenceProxyPassword)
Specify a proxy server password, where required.
Connection Timeout (Registry key: LicenceNSLConnectionTimeoutSecs)
Default: 0 (uses 30 seconds)
This timeout controls how long to wait when establishing the connection to the Nalpeiron licence server during the actual operation (activation, deactivation, or lease renewal).
This timeout is only used if the pre-check phase succeeds.
Value:
- 0 = Use Nalpeiron’s default value (30 seconds) — recommended for most cases
- Non-zero = Specify a custom timeout in seconds
This timeout applies to:
- Initial licence activation at startup
- Automatic licence lease renewal (every 2 minutes in the background)
- Manual licence deactivation
Transaction Timeout (Registry key: LicenceNSLTransactionTimeoutSecs)
Default: 0 (uses 30 seconds)
This timeout controls how long to wait for the entire transaction between Impact and the Nalpeiron licence server to complete, including receiving the server’s response.
This timeout is only used if the pre-check phase succeeds. It is passed to Nalpeiron alongside the Connection Timeout.
Value:
- 0 = Use Nalpeiron’s default value (30 seconds) — recommended for most cases
- Non-zero = Specify a custom timeout in seconds
This timeout applies to the same operations as the Connection Timeout.
Understanding Timeout Settings
Impact uses a two-stage process when communicating with the activation server:
- Pre-check: Impact tests if the activation server is reachable (using Test Connection Timeout)
- Actual operation: If the pre-check succeeds, Impact performs the licence operation (using Connection Timeout and Transaction Timeout)
Important: If the pre-check times out, the actual licence operation will not be attempted, even if it would have succeeded with longer timeouts. For this reason, Test Connection Timeout should typically be set equal to or greater than the Connection Timeout.
Recommended Timeout Configurations
Default (most networks):
- Test Connection Timeout: 10 seconds
- Connection Timeout: 0 (30 seconds)
- Transaction Timeout: 0 (30 seconds)
Slow/unreliable networks:
- Test Connection Timeout: 30–60 seconds
- Connection Timeout: 30–60 seconds
- Transaction Timeout: 30–60 seconds
Fast networks (reduce startup delay):
- Test Connection Timeout: 5 seconds
- Connection Timeout: 0 (30 seconds)
- Transaction Timeout: 0 (30 seconds)
Log Level (Registry key: LicenceLogLevel)
You may be asked to enable and generate a licence log by your support representative if you are having difficulties with Nalpeiron licence activation.
Available values include:
- None (default) (LicenceLogLevel = 0)
- Errors only (LicenceLogLevel = 1)
- Errors and warnings (LicenceLogLevel = 2)
- Errors, warnings and info (LicenceLogLevel = 3)
- Errors, warnings, info and debug (LicenceLogLevel = 4)
The log level should be returned to None when not required, to avoid unnecessary and unrestricted log file growth.
Location
This is the Nalpeiron licence log location when the log level is anything other than None.
This value is not configurable and is set to: C:\ProgramData\Arden Software Ltd\Impact
The log file itself to look for is: 206aa16f79294eae8f.log
Use Licence Server (Registry key: UseLicenceServer)
It is also possible to configure the use of Licence Server from this page. Licence Server is an alternative to a Nalpeiron workstation-locked licence and provides a floating licensing mechanism for sharing licences and modules between two or more Impact workstations on the same local network.
Location (Registry key: LicenceServerAddress)
The location of the licence server host. Specify an IP address or server name.
Multiple server addresses should be separated with semicolons; servers are contacted in the order specified.
TCP/IP Port (Registry key: LicenceServerPort)
The TCP port to use to connect to the Licence Server specified. The default value is 3000.
Auto-allocate if licences available (Registry key: LicenceServerAutoAllocate)
Impact can auto-allocate a licence during database connection to prevent the user being prompted.
The type of licence automatically allocated to each workstation or user is configured with Licence Server Administrator itself.
Enable debug logging to “licence.log” (Registry key: LicenceServerLog)
Where enabled, a licence.log file is generated in:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Arden Software Ltd\Impact\XX
(where XX = Impact major version number, for example 12)
Never check for an activated workstation licence (restart required) (Registry key: LicenceServerIgnoreNalpeiron)
This option can be used to avoid delays at startup where Impact cannot contact the Nalpeiron licence server.
You must restart for this option to take effect (Impact remembers the option from startup). Once enabled, this prevents any access to the Nalpeiron workstation licence, including viewing, activating, or deactivating an existing licence.
If you return to the Licensing options after enabling this option, a message explains this behaviour:
