New Features and Enhancements
Service Pack: 6.1.100
The following features and enhancements are included in the Sentinel EMS 6.1.100 service pack:
>Registered Machine Management for User-Based Licensing
>Revocation Support for Sentinel LDK
>Search Features by Identifier in the Vendor Portal
>Grid Configuration in Customer Portal
>License Certificate Email Template Updates
>Created By and Modified By Parameters for Catalog and Activation Entities
>End Date in Entitlement Search
>Increased Custom Entity Attribute Size
>Sentinel Virtual Assistant Chatbot
Registered Machine Management for User-Based Licensing
When implementing user-based licensing, Sentinel EMS now allows configuring the maximum number of registered machines for a customer, and managing the machines. This helps enforce machine limits and restrict password sharing, preventing unauthorized application access. Vendor administrators and standard users with the edit customer permission can configure the limit. Customer administrators can manage the machines, such as disable, enable, or delete registered machines as needed. End users can access the application only from the registered machines, up to the predefined limit.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for Sentinel LDK.
Revocation Support for Sentinel LDK
Sentinel EMS now supports revoking Sentinel LDK licenses using the Custom Revocation API endpoint for use cases, such as to take a machine out of service or replace one product with another. The process removes products and any dynamic memory files associated with the products, but does not affect the default memory files. Additionally, all revocation operations are recorded in the Sentinel audit log. Revocation can be performed by only vendor administrators or standard users with the delete activation permission.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS REST API Reference.
Search Entitlement by Key ID
Sentinel EMS now enables you to find activations and entitlements by searching for the corresponding Key ID. This enables entitlement activation and updates for a specific Key ID, making it easier to locate and manage entitlements.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for Sentinel LDK.
Search Features by Identifier in the Vendor Portal
Sentinel EMS vendor portal users can now search for features using their identifier, in addition to existing search parameters, such as feature name, description, and external ID.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for All Enforcements.
Grid Configuration in Customer Portal
Sentinel EMS now allows customizing the customer portal pages by configuring the visibility of columns. This enables software vendor administrators to show or hide specific columns to control the information displayed to customers.
For details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for All Enforcements.
License Certificate Email Template Updates
Sentinel EMS now supports including the following useful information in the license activation certificates:
>Locking Code: The customer's device locking code, a key parameter for license generation and activation.
>Product Key Custom Attributes: Additional license generation parameters that are stored in line item custom attributes.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for All Enforcements.
Created By and Modified By Parameters for Catalog and Activation Entities
You can now track who created or modified catalog and activation entities. This information is available in REST API responses and vendor portal views for better traceability.
>Catalog Entities: The Created By and Last Modified By parameters are now available for catalog entities, such as namespaces, products, product suites, features, and license models.
>Activation Entities: The Created By and Last Modified By parameters are now available for activation entities.
End Date in Entitlement Search
Sentinel EMS now supports searching for entitlements by end date, enabling you to retrieve entitlements expiring on or before a specified date. This enhancement is available in both the vendor portal and REST API.
Increased Custom Entity Attribute Size
The size of the string-type custom entity attributes has been expanded from 100 to 2000 characters, allowing for more extensive data size and providing additional flexibility in storing string custom attributes.
Sentinel Virtual Assistant Chatbot
Sentinel EMS now features the Sentinel Virtual Assistant Chatbot in the vendor portal to help you get quick answers to your questions without searching through documentation. You can access the chatbot by clicking the icon at the bottom right of the page after logging in. This feature provides instant responses to specific queries, enhancing efficiency and the overall user experience.
Release: 6.1
The following features and enhancements are included in the Sentinel EMS 6.1 release:
>Support for Product Version in Sentinel LDK
>Support for Start Date in Sentinel LDK Expiration Date License Models
>Support for Copying Line-Item Dates to Sentinel LDK Expiration Date License Models
>Support for Multiple Memory Segments in Sentinel LDK
>Support Partial and Full Activation Methods for Sentinel LDK
>Support for Locating Sentinel Keys by Entering Sentinel Key ID
>Improved Webhooks Retry Mechanism
>Recalculate License File Name During Update Activation
>Activation Without License Generator
>Add Activation API Endpoint Enhancement
>Lightweight APIs for Managing Entitlement and Line-Item States
Authentication Enhancements
Sentinel EMS enhances its authentication features to provide a more secure and user-friendly login experience, including:
>OIDC and SAML Support for Sentinel EMS Portals
Sentinel EMS portals now support OIDC and SAML authentication protocols, enabling single sign-on (SSO) for improved security and efficient login process. This eliminates the need for multiple login passwords and improves security over session-based database authentication. Both Sentinel EMS vendor and customer portals support Sentinel IdP and Vendor IdP allowing flexibility in authentication.
>Login Page Changes
The following are the updates in the login pages of Sentinel EMS portals:
•Remember Me: The new Remember Me option allows users to stay logged in across sessions for quicker access.
•Forgot Password: The Forgot Password functionality now uses a more secure method for resetting a password. Instead of sending the password in an email, it sends a secure link to reset the password.
•Look and Feel: The login page is redesigned for a cleaner, more user-friendly interface.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for All Enforcements.
Support for Product Version in Sentinel LDK
This release introduces support for product versions in Sentinel LDK products, enabling efficient catalog management. The product version is stored in the Sentinel EMS database. It is not tied to a license and is not used to enforce any restrictions.
The product version is optional for all enforcements. When creating a product, the default version is set to 1, but you can modify or remove it as needed.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for All Enforcements and Sentinel EMS User Guide for Sentinel LDK.
Support for Copying Line-Item Dates to Sentinel LDK Expiration Date License Models
The Expiration Date license model now includes a Copy Dates from Entitlement Line Item property, enabling Sentinel EMS to automatically update the start and/or expiration dates in a feature's license models, when the line item's start date and/or expiration date are set. If the Allow Overwrite checkbox is selected, the dates can be modified when creating the entitlement.
This enhancement improves the customer experience by automatically inheriting line-item start and end dates, eliminating the need for manual updates in the associated license model.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for All Enforcements and Sentinel EMS User Guide for Sentinel LDK.
Support for Start Date in Sentinel LDK Expiration Date License Models
This feature enables entitlements and activations to begin on the commercial subscription start date rather than the customer deployment date, providing you with more predictable revenue recognition. The Start Date can be defined in the Expiration Date license model only if Copy Dates from Entitlement Line Item is set to No.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for All Enforcements and Sentinel EMS User Guide for Sentinel LDK.
Support for Multiple Memory Segments in Sentinel LDK
Sentinel EMS now supports multiple memory segments within the default memory file. To achieve this, you can associate the same memory file with a product multiple times, defining the offset and size for each associated memory file to segregate the memory data. This enables order takers to easily modify content in individual memory segments, without the need to manually calculate offset and size of the memory files.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for All Enforcements and Sentinel EMS User Guide for Sentinel LDK.
Support Partial and Full Activation Methods for Sentinel LDK
With the support of Partial and Full activation methods for Sentinel LDK, Sentinel EMS provides an easy method for your customers to dynamically allocate network seats and/or counters on demand. Enterprise customers can also reduce the number of entitlements created in Sentinel EMS by allowing for bulk quantity entitlements with flexible activation options.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for All Enforcements and Sentinel EMS User Guide for Sentinel LDK.
Support for Locating Sentinel Keys by Entering Sentinel Key ID
Sentinel EMS now allows for easier retrieval of Sentinel LDK keys for activation by allowing you to enter the Key ID directly.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS User Guide for All Enforcements and Sentinel EMS User Guide for Sentinel LDK.
Improved Webhooks Retry Mechanism
Sentinel EMS now attempts failed webhook deliveries up to four times, increased from three. Additionally, the Sentinel EMS REST API introduces a new endpoint, Retry Failed Events, to reschedule webhook deliveries.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS REST API Reference.
Recalculate License File Name During Update Activation
Previously, the dynamic license file name remained the same as during the initial activation call when performing an update activation. In certain scenarios, it is necessary to regenerate the file name based on values from the update activation. The enforcement API endpoints are enhanced to include the evaluateFileNameAtUpdate input parameter, allowing you to reevaluate the license file name during an activation update for custom or third-party enforcements.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS REST API Reference.
Activation Without License Generator
Sentinel EMS now supports activating licenses for custom or third-party enforcements without the need for a license generator, by using the new bypassLicenseGeneration input parameter in the enforcement API endpoints.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS REST API Reference.
Add Activation API Endpoint Enhancement
The Add Activation API endpoint is enhanced to support both id (GUID) and identifier (UI Product Identifier) in the variantIdentifier object, in addition to the existing productId support. This enhancement ensures that variants for versionless products can now be activated correctly.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS REST API Reference.
Lightweight APIs for Managing Entitlement and Line-Item States
Sentinel EMS now provides new API endpoints for enabling, disabling, and closing entitlements and line items. These endpoints simplify lifecycle management and serve as foundational components for future subscription entitlement capabilities.
For more details, see Sentinel EMS REST API Reference.
Channel Partner Enhancement
In the Sentinel EMS vendor portal, the Channel Partners page is enhanced to introduce pagination for the Associated Users grid to handle large number of partner users associated with a single channel partner.