When DRM is applied to a document the CopySafe PDF Reader will request
permission from the DRM Portal for the user's right to open the document
every time that the document is opened for a new session. When the
Reader requests permission there will be two (2) data transmissions:
The Reader sends the user's Computer ID and Document ID to the DRM
server.
The server will respond by returning an appropriate response
depending on the user and document status.
If either data transmission is interrupted or prevented the sequence will not be completed and the user will fail to get permission to open the document.
DRM Validation Failure
When a user reports that they cannot open a document, you as the admin
need to narrow down what the possible causes might be and the user
simply reporting that "it doesn't work" is totally useless. So always
encourage the user to be as descriptive as possible by explaining at
what stage the failure or error occurred, what the error or response
message was and especially which document so that you check your usage
logs, group and the permissions applied to that document.
In most cases troubleshooting a validation failure is a process of
elimination and its early success depends on the information provided by
the user and what you can learn from your logs.
Common Reasons for Failure
The following causes are listed in no particular order of occurrence:
User was not connected to the Internet.
The document or the user account has expired.
The document or user account has been suspended.
User is not a member of the group sharing the document.
User does not have eBook permission to access the document.
User was detected as using a "remote" connection which was not
allowed.
The permission request was either not sent or not received.
The first thing to check is the reason that this user should have
access, ie: is their access rights bestowed by "group permissions" or
"ebook permissions". Unless they have been white-listed for use of the
document then they will need either Group or Ebook permissions for the
right to open the document.
Checking your Stats page will show all requests for all of your
documents. All requests for your documents are logged so that you can
check the date, time, which user, which IP address and the response that
was sent back to the CopySafe PDF Reader.
Failure to Receive Server Responses
If the send or receive of data between the user and the server fails, it
will be due to interference. The requests and responses sent to the DRM
server uses port 80 which is the most commonly used port for web traffic
so the failure in either direction will be due to one of the following:
Firewall - some network administrators suffer paranoia and stifle
network traffic.
Anti-virus software - some are not friendly and give no option to
allow a program to run.
Limited user account - the account using the computer has limited
permissions to use programs.
Determining if the server response failed is quite easy... if the user's
request for the document appears in your stats, than it means that the
request was sent and received by the server, so no problem there. But if
the stats show that access was granted yet the user reports that they
could not open the document, then the response was blocked for one of
the reasons above.
Remedying a response failure may require that the anti-virus software be
shut down*. Firewall is rarely the issue unless you are on a corporate
network. Limited user rights can be improved by starting the CopySafe
PDF Reader by using "Run
as Administrator".
* A recent survey of retail IT stores showed 4 well-known AV packages on
display, none of which are recommended for anyone using software that
was not included with Windows or software not provided by Microsoft. In
fact Microsoft provides better anti-virus software for free... look for
"Microsoft Security Essentials".
Unauthorized for Virtual
This means that the user has been detected using a virtual computer, ie:
running Windows in a virtual partition or while running Remote
Assistance or a Remote Desktop Connection. By default "remote viewing"
is nor permitted. However if you need to provide access to DRM documents
for remote users you can change the "remote" setting in document
properties. Please note that enabling Remote View can enable a use to
screen capture and record your document which is why it is not
recommended.
Analyzing Your Document Statistics
Analyzing your document stats can help to arrive
at the problem.
