Description
Auto DB looks in your website's Bin directory for your license file. This is fine if you only have a few websites, but you may find it more convenient to specify a single location for your Auto DB license(s). You can specify the path to the folder containing your license file(s) in the Registry or Machine.config file.

Add Auto DB to the Global Assembly Cache
We recommend placing the Auto DB control (By360Impact.AutoDB.dll) into your Global Assembly Cache when using this license management technique. That way, you don't have to add any Auto DB files to individual websites. Add Auto DB to the Global Assembly Cache using Windows Explorer. Simply drag By360Impact.AutoDB.dll to your C:\WINNT\Assembly\ or C:\Windows\Assembly\ directory.

Then place your Auto DB license file(s) into a directory on your server and use either the Registry or Machine.config file to indicate that location. See details below.

Registry Method
From your Start Menu, choose Run...then type Regedit and press OK. This will start the registry editor.

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Right mouse-click on SOFTWARE, and choose New > Key Type "360 IMPACT" (without the quotes) Right mouse-click on 360 IMPACT, and choose New > Key Type "Auto DB" (without the quotes) Right mouse-click on Auto DB, and choose New > String Value Type "LicenseFileDirectory" (without the quotes) Double-click on LicenseFileDirectory and specify the path to the directory where your Auto DB License(s) are stored. Then simply exit the Registry Editor.

Warning: Using the Registry Editor incorrectly can cause problems (i.e. make sure not to delete anything!)


Machine.Config Method
The Machine.Config file is a special file recognized by ASP.NET that provides configuration information for all ASP.NET websites on your server. There is a section of this file called appSettings that allows you to enter configuration information for specific applications (Auto DB in this case.)

You will find your Machine.Config file at C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\CONFIG\machine.config (where v1.1.4322 represents the production version of the .NET Framework.)

You can open the machine.config file with any text editor including Notepad, or Visual Studio .NET for instance.

Locate the <appSettings> section, as seen in Listing A...and add the AutoDBLicenseFileDirectory key as show in Listing B.

Note: that in the default Machine.Config file, the <appSettings> section is commented out using <!-- -->. If this is the case in your Machine.Config file, you will simply need to move the --> under </appSettings> to just after example: as shown in Listing B below.

Here, we will add the AutoDBLicenseFileDirectory key that Auto DB will be looking for. In this example, we specify C:\ADBLicneseFolder\ as the directory containing our license files. Obviously you may specify a different location if you like.

TIP: The Machine.Config file is CaSe SeNsItIvE...take care in ensuring you do not change the case of any tags.