Accounts

>What Is an Account?

>Prerequisites for Creating an Account

>Cloud Licensing Flow

>Account Status

>Creating an Account

>Actions for Accounts

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What Is an Account?

An account represents a set of cloud licensing permissions that grant authorization rights to a customer's end user to access protected applications. Accounts are an integral part of cloud licensing.

Cloud licensing (also known as CL) refers to licensing that is hosted by Thales on a service-hosted, cloud license manager server.

Each account is defined for a specific end user and must be associated with a customer. When you create an account, you select the customer and add the name and email address of the user that receives email notification. By default, an account inherits the cloud licensing permissions defined for the associated customer. You can modify these settings for an end user if needed.

Prerequisites for Creating an Account

A role that includes Customer Management permissions. At minimum, the user needs Add permissions. For details, see Roles.

(On the Sentinel EMS customer portal, the administrator contact can also create accounts.)

Cloud Licensing Flow

The following diagram illustrates the unique steps that comprise the cloud licensing flow. This diagram assumes that you already set up your catalog with products and features for your protected applications.

Diagram of the Clould Licensing Flow

1: Vendor - One-Time Setup

Step 1A

Define the default, global cloud licensing permissions

The global cloud licensing permissions specify the default usage permissions for all customers using CL keys. For details, see Cloud Licensing Permissions.

If needed, you can modify the default cloud licensing permissions for specific customers. These permissions, known as service-hosted cloud licensing permissions, are inherited from the global cloud licensing permissions, and are available only after at least one CL key is generated for a customer. For details, see Customers.

(Later, after you activate an entitlement using Produce and Push, you can modify the service-hosted cloud licensing permissions for specific accounts if needed. By default, accounts inherit the permissions defined for the associated customer. For details, see Permissions.)

Step 1B

Vendor: Customize the license notification email template

Sentinel EMS provides an out-of-the-box email template that is sent automatically to a customer's end user when an account is created. We recommend that you review and customize this email template. For details, see Sentinel LDK Account Certificate.

2: Vendor

Step 2A

Create administrator contacts for customers

If you plan to delegate account management to customers via the Sentinel EMS customer portal, an administrator contact must be associated with the customer. Add an administrator contact if one does not exist and associate that contact with the customer. For details, see Contacts.

You can create an administrator contact before (or after) you create the entitlement, or you can create administrator contacts for one or more customers in advance if you already have the relevant details.

Step 2B

Create an entitlement

When you create an entitlement, you must:

>Assign a customer. For details, see Customers.

>Select products that include:

One of the SL-AdminMode locking types. For details, see Locking Type.

Features whose license model supports concurrency on a network and specifies the maximum number of concurrent instances. For details, see Configure License Model and Sentinel LDK Enforcement - License Models.

Depending on your configuration, you may also need to set some attributes in the Additional Attributes section of the Define Entitlement Attributes pane.

For details, see Entitlements for Sentinel LDK CL Service (Produce and Push).

Step C

Activate the entitlement

To enable cloud licensing, you must use Produce and Push to activate the entitlement. Activating an entitlement generates a CL key for the relevant products.

In addition, when you use Produce and Push for the first time, a new Service-Hosted Cloud Licensing Permissions tab is added to the customer details on the Customers page as described in Define the default, global cloud licensing permissions. You can modify these permissions, if needed.

3: Vendor or Administrator Contact

Step 3A

Create an account

If Send Notification is enabled, then, when you create an account, an email notification is automatically sent to the email address defined in the account. The email informs the end user that they can start using the protected application by clicking a link in the email. The link installs the end user identity credentials for the protected applications that are already installed.

Therefore, make sure to share the protected application with the end user before creating an account, so that they can install the protected application on the device (known as a registered machine) where they plan to run the protected application. For details on distributing protected software, see Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide.

For details on creating an account, see Creating an Account.

The administrator contact manages accounts in the Sentinel EMS customer portal.

Step 3B

Maintain the registered machines

The vendor or administrator contact can manage registered machines for accounts as needed. For example, the administrator contact may need to enable or disable a registered machine.

The administrator contact manages registered machines in the Sentinel EMS customer portal.

For details, see the section on registered machines in the Guide to the Sentinel EMS Customer Portal.

4: End User

Step 4A

Install the identity credentials for the protected application

The end user can click the link in the email that was received for the account. This automatically installs the end user identity credentials for the protected application that is installed on the end user's device. The customer must ensure that the protected application includes Sentinel Run-time Environment and is already installed on the device where the end user plans to run the protected application. For details on distributing your protected applications, see Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide.

Alternatively, the customer might share instructions with the end user describing how to install the identity credentials manually. The end user does this by updating the configuration .ini file for the protected application with the unique, personalized identity string received from the customer. In this case, Sentinel Run-time Environment is not required. For more details on the identity string and to view an example, see Copy Identity String. For details on manually installing a client identity on an end user's machine, see Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide.

For details on identity credentials, see Identity Code.

Step 4B

Start using the application to automatically register the machine (device)

The first time that the end user runs the protected application, the machine is automatically registered on the service-hosted, cloud license manager server.

Exception: If the Maximum Number of Registered Machines is set to Unlimited, then the machine is not registered.

Account Status

The Status attribute available on the Accounts page specifies the status of an account:

>Enabled: The end user can access the protected application that was shared by the customer when creating or updating the account. You can disable an account when needed.

>Disabled: The end user cannot access the protected application that was shared by the customer when creating or updating the account. You can enable a disabled account when needed.

>Out-of-Sync: Displayed only when the most recent change to the account does not yet exist on the service-hosted, cloud license manager server. This may occur if the connection to the service-hosted, cloud license manager server is slow or not available. If synchronization fails, then contact Thales Customer Support for assistance. After successful synchronization, the status is updated accordingly.

Creating an Account

You create an account from the Accounts page.

To create an account:

1.From the navigation pane, select Customers > Accounts to view the Accounts page.

2.Click the Add Account button.

3.Fill in the account attributes and modify the cloud licensing permissions if needed.

4.In the Permissions area, if you set Allow Access to All Associated Keys/Products to No, associate at least one Sentinel key or product with this account.

NOTE   If your customer has multiple Sentinel keys that contain the same product, and you want to set this option to No, Thales recommends that you select the relevant Sentinel key, not the product. Otherwise, the account will be associated with only one of the Sentinel keys instead of all the keys containing this product.

5.Click Save.

Account Attributes

The following table explains the attributes that are used to create an account:

Attribute Description Required/Optional Valid Values
Customer

Customer for whose end user you are creating the account.

Start typing and select the customer from the list of suggestions. If the customer does not yet exist, you must first create the customer as described in Creating a Customer.

Required

An existing customer

Customer ID

Unique identifier for the customer. Automatically displayed when you select a customer.

Required

Read-only value for the selected customer

Name

Unique name of the end user of the protected application. This is the user for whom you are creating this account.

The name is used in the greeting of the Sentinel LDK Account Certificate email, described in Sentinel LDK Account Certificate.

Optional

1 to 64 characters

Email Email address of the account. Used to send email notifications to the end user of the protected application when the account is created and updated. Required

>A valid email address

>Up to 100 characters

>Cannot contain: spaces and \ () [] : ; “ <>

>Cannot start with a '.'

>Cannot contain double ..

>Cannot contain double @@

Send Notification

Send a notification to the account email address after the account is created.

If you set this value to No, then you must provide the identity link to the end user in some other way, as the end user must install the identity string on their machine to use the protected application provided by the customer. The identity link is available by clicking Copy Identity Link for the relevant account in the Accounts grid.

Required

Yes OR No

Default: Yes

Identity Code

An identity code is a unique 7-character string. The read-only identity code is part of the full identity string that specifies the client identity for the account as defined in the cloud licensing service database. When the end user clicks the link in the email notification that is sent when you create an account, the identity string is installed on the end user's machine. If you disable Send Notification, then you must provide the identity string to the end user in some other way, as the end user must install this identity string on their machine to use the protected application provided by the customer.

NOTE    If the end user clicks the URL link from the email that notifies them that they can access the protected application, then Sentinel Run-time Environment version 8.51 or later must be included with the protected application.

When the end user runs a protected application, the local license manager uses the identity string to consume a license from the relevant protection key on the service-hosted, cloud license manager server. If the end user has the appropriate permissions, the end user can use the identity string to detach a license from the service-hosted, cloud license manager server and then run the protected application offline.

See also: Copy Identity Link and Copy Identity String

N/A Automatically generated when an account is created successfully.

Permissions

You can retain the default, service-hosted, cloud licensing permissions, as described in Cloud Licensing Permissions, or you can modify these permissions for this account.

The permission values are displayed as read-only until you select a customer. When a customer is selected, you can modify the permissions.

Attribute Description
Maximum Number of Registered Machines

A client machine may be automatically registered with the account when a protected application runs for the first time.

Possible values:

>1-10. The maximum number of remote machines that are allowed to use this account to access the license server machine. Each machine is automatically registered the first time it accesses the license server machine. When the maximum number of machines are registered, no additional machines can use the account.

>Unlimited. An unlimited number of remote machines are allowed to use the account to access the license server machine. The machines are not registered.

Default: 5

Expiration Date

Date on which the client identity (represented by the identity code) expires for the account.

Possible values:

>An expiration date

>Never expires

To set an expiration date:

a.Clear the Never Expires check box.

b.Do one of the following:

Set the date.

Click the calendar icon to display a calendar. Use the calendar to select the expiration date.

In the Days field, specify the number of days the client identity should remain active.

Regardless of which field (calendar or days) you use to specify the duration of the client identity, the other field is automatically updated so that the two fields remain synchronized.

If you set an expiration date, the selected date cannot exceed the expiration date of the CL key.

When using a second-level license server with a detached license, the expiration date for the detached license cannot exceed the expiration date of the CL key or of the client identity on the second-level license server.

Allow Online Connection to Licenses

Enables a remote machine with an installed identity string to consume a license from the service-hosted, cloud license manager server.

Possible values: Yes or No

Allow License Detaching

(Relevant for both automatic and on-demand detaching)

Enables a client machine to detach a license (a network seat) for a protected application from the service-hosted, cloud license manager server whenever a license is required.

>Automatic detaching. Detached licenses are deducted from the pool of available networks seats on the CL key. The client machine retains the license up to the number of hours specified even if the connection to the license server is interrupted. This enables the protected application to continue to operate without connection to the license server machine. When the detached license expires, it automatically returns to the pool of network seats on the CL key and is disabled on the machine.

Maximum offline duration: 2 hours

>On-demand detaching. End users can access a manually detached license from a CL key for a specified number of days. This is useful if they want to work with a protected application and expect to be disconnected from the company’s network for an extended period. On-demand detaching works only in offline mode.

To use a manually detached license:

On the machine where the CL key is located, an administrator can generate an H2R file that contains a detached license. The administrator transfers the file to the recipient (for example, the end user) who then applies the H2R file on the machine.

Maximum duration: 14 days

Possible values: Yes or No

Allow Concurrency for Detached Licenses

(Relevant only for on-demand detaching and visible only if Allow License Detaching is set to Yes)

Enables a machine with the identity string to detach one or more network seats with concurrency from the license server machine. These seats can then be accessed concurrently on the machine that receives the detached license.

A detached license with concurrency can be used to:

>Set up second-level license servers. These can be used to provide greater control over the distribution of network seats within an organization and to minimize the overhead of license administration. For more information, see the Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide.

>Control the number of local hardware resources used by an application. For example, a protected application can be limited to use 4 out 8 CPUs. This requires a detached license with 4 seats, where access to each CPU is granted after the application logs in to the license. In this example, the fifth login will be denied, ensuring that only 4 CPUs are in use.

Possible values: Yes or No

Allow Access to All Associated Keys/Products

When set to Yes, enables a machine with the identity string to access licenses for all products.

When set to No, enables you to select the Sentinel keys or products for which the identity string can access licenses.

Possible values: Yes or No

To associate Sentinel keys or products with the account:

In the Available Keys / Products area, do one of the following:

>Click the Add buttonAdd button in the Actions column to move a specific key or product to the Associated Keys / Products area.

>Select one or more check boxes and click the Add button below the grid to move the Sentinel keys or products to the Associated Keys / Products area.

Registered Machines

Client devices may be registered automatically when an end user opens a protected application. Vendors and administrator contacts can view the list of registered machines for each end user.

Attribute Description
Status

The status of the registered machine.

Enabled The end user can use the machine to access protected applications
Disabled The end user cannot use the machine the access protected applications. This can occur only if the vendor or administrator contact disables the machine.
Machine Name The name of the device as defined in the system settings.
IP Address

The IP address of the client machine.

Host User Name The name of the end user that logs in to the machine to use the protected application.
Registration Date The date that the machine was registered, which is usually the date that the end user logged in to the protected application for the first time.
Actions The actions that you can perform for this registered machine. (On the customer portal, administrator contacts can perform these actions only for the accounts that they manage.)
Disable button Disable

Opens a confirmation box that enables you to change the status of an enabled machine to Disabled. This prevents the end user from accessing protected applications on the registered machine.

Enable button Enable

Opens a confirmation box that enables you to change the status of a disabled machine to Enabled.

Delete button Delete

(Not recommended) Opens a confirmation box that enables you to permanently remove the machine from the service-hosted, cloud license manager server.

To enforce the Maximum Number of Registered Machines, Thales recommends that you disable a registered machine instead of deleting it.

Synchronize button Synchronize

Connects to the service-hosted, cloud license manager server to synchronize an account.

account If synchronization fails, then contact Thales Customer Support for assistance. After successful synchronization, the status is updated accordingly.

Actions for Accounts

The following table lists the actions available for accounts:

Action Description
Edit button Edit

Updates information for an existing account.

  Copy Identity String

Copies the identity string to the Clipboard. This is useful if Sentinel Run-time Environment is not included with the protected application, and the end user needs to update the API .ini file with this identity string to use the protected application.

Example of identity string: FFSTQYU:oBWAAQCBEFPxvWKzIBicixs/v0rerEA@licenseserver.example.com

Example .ini file path on Windows: %LocalAppData%\SafeNet Sentinel\Sentinel LDK\hasp_<vendorId>.ini
For details on adding the identity string to the .ini file, see Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide.

  Copy Identity Link

Copies the identity string and the link to the protected application to the Clipboard. This is the same link that is included in the email that is sent to end users using the Send Notification option to notify them that they have access to a protected application.

This is useful if you want to share this link directly with the end user instead of using the Send Notification option. Make sure to share the Sentinel Run-time Environment together with the protected application, as described in Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide.

Example of identity link: https://cloudportal.example.com/_int_/install.html?identity=FFSTQYU:oBWAAQCBEFPxvWKzIBicixs/v0rerEA@licenseserver.example.com

Disable button Disable Prevents the end user from using the protected application. You might disable an account if you want to temporarily prevent the end user from accessing the protected applications or to transfer the account to another end user.
Enable button Enable Re-enables an account that is marked as disabled, enabling the end user to use the protected applications that are available for that account.
Delete button Delete

Permanently deletes an account. The end user can no longer access the protected applications. You might delete an account when an employee leaves your organization.

Synchronize button Synchronize

Connects to the service-hosted, cloud license manager server to synchronize an account.

account If synchronization fails, then contact Thales Customer Support for assistance. After successful synchronization, the status is updated accordingly.