Rangecast FAQ
[FAQ-1126] What is a License-Only Hub?

Page Type: REFERENCE

OVERVIEW

A "license-only" hub is a hub that writes a license (granting permission to certain users to access certain content), but does not itself have any audio sources that are programmed under the name/authority of that hub. The utility of this concept is based on the fact that *receiving* and *distributing* audio content are fundamentally different activities.

METHOD

1) Only a Rangecast administrator can authorize one hub to distribute content received (originated) by another hub. See the process here

[FAQ-1127] How a License written by one hub can grant authority to hear content received by another hub

By default, a hub administrator cannot grant access to any other content, since the other content is owned by other hubs. However, Rangecast can create exceptions to this general rule, so that content originating from one hub may be included in the Licence access grants written by another hub.



2) For a license-only hub, in the hub's License, it is advantageous for system performance (but not required) to have this checkbox unchecked: [img-hub_admin_licenseonly]

If the Rangecast administrator knows that the hub will be a license-only hub, these two steps can be done in a single operation. But the license-only checkbox is under the control of the hub administrator, and does not require Rangecast system permissions.

REFERENCE

A License is described here

[FAQ-1110] What is a License?

A License grants Rangecast user account(s) permission to access a specific set of channels, from someone authorized to allow access (a hub administrator). The channels may be identified individually, or access may be granted to entire baskets of channels (Collections, or all content from one or more originating hubs). For a hub administrator to grant access via a License, either (a) Rangecast administration must have given permission to this hub's administrators to grant access to the channels, or (b) the channels must originate at the same hub (in which case the administrator's right to grant access is implicit in the role of hub administrator.) Note that a hub may exist for the sole purpose of License authority; it is not required that a hub originate any content (e.g. operate feed sites or scanners.)



There are two primary applications of a "license-only" hub:

1) for an organization that has users/listeners, but obtains content only indirectly from another organization's radio scanners;

2) for an organization that wants to package certain content for distribution in a way that is clearly distinct from their entire operation.

Further elaboration:

1) In the first case, when different organizations *receive* and *distribute* content, it is important to separate these roles into different hubs.

For contrast, if this is not done (by having the distributing organization's users listed in the license held by the organization that manages the radio receivers), several problems arise:

a) the users for the two organizations are included together in the same license, making it harder to administratively maintain (although this can be mitigated by dividing the users into two lists, by writing separate license elements);

b) delegating of responsibility for hub administrative tasks becomes problematic, because the lists of authorized user accounts for both organizations are managed under a single administrative password

c) if in the future, the distributing organization obtains access to additional content (either by adding their own scanners, or obtaining use of a third organization's content), there will be no hub where the distributing organization's content is gathered together in one place for efficient and clear licensing

2) In the second case, examples of reasons why an organization might want to package content into a separate "license-only" hub include:

a) for media organizations that provide public access through web portals, it may simplify administration to separate internal-use and public-use access grants into separate licenses, since these are distinct functions easier to view and manage on separate administrative forms

b) for ease of creating World names, packaging together certain content through a license may provide a Word name that is easier to communicate, when the content brings together multiple collections
[FAQ-1120] Name syntax of automatically generated Worlds (how to request content by a World name)




c) when users within an organization are given access to different quantities of content (e.g. only some users have access to certain secure channels), it may be convenient to distinguish these spheres of content with different Licenses, so that Worlds built on a particular License have consistent behavior across all users

CITATIONS

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