Licensing overview

Mascot Server

Mascot Server is available for Microsoft Windows XP and later and Linux on Intel / AMD.

Entry level is a single processor (cpu) licence. There are no restrictions on the number of users submitting searches to the Mascot server or the size of the searches. If you require greater speed or throughput, you will want to run Mascot on additional processors. The hardware can be a single, multi-processor system or a cluster of systems connected by a standard LAN.

For licensing purposes, each cpu is defined as 4 cores. For example, a 1 cpu licence will use all the cores in a system with 1 x quad core processor or 2 x 2 core processors or 4 x 1 core processors. If the system has more cores than are covered by the licence, the surplus cores will not be used for searches, but are available for other purposes, such as generating reports. A licence can be upgraded to use additional processors at any time.

The licence is perpetual, not an annual fee, and includes 1 year warranty covering technical support and all updates. After the first year, if you wish to continue receiving technical support and updates, you have the option of purchasing a support contract for 20% of the licence fee per year. Alternatively, you can buy a single version update for 25% of the licence fee.

When choosing hardware, aim for fast 4 or 6 core processor(s); 64-bit OS; 12 GB RAM or more; maybe 1 TB of storage; no great benefit to using RAID. There are more detailed notes on PC specification here.

Mascot Daemon

Mascot Daemon, a Windows client for automating search submission, is bundled with Mascot Server. It can be installed as required without additional licence fees.

Mascot ParserFree

Mascot Parser is a toolkit providing an object oriented interface to Mascot result files. Mascot Parser makes it easy for programs written in C++, Java or Perl to access Mascot results. It is free for all purposes except redistribution as part of a commercial software package.

Mascot Distiller

Mascot Distiller is a Windows workstation application, for installation on a single PC. The basic functionality can be enhanced by adding optional Toolboxes. Multiple users can share a single installation by logging in to Windows as different users via Windows Remote Desktop or similar (requires a server edition of Windows). We recommend installing on a PC with fast multi-core processor(s), 64-bit Windows, and plenty of RAM. When processing a multi-file project, Distiller can use all of the available processing capacity.