Getting Started with Sentinel LDK—Generating a Software-Based License

Sentinel EMS combines with Sentinel LDK to provide a powerful, centralized, role-based solution for handling all of your software protection, licensing, and entitlement needs.

Sentinel EMS has a straightforward design that walks you through the process of defining the various features and products that match the features and products in your back office system (ERP, CRM, billing system, or sales system).

Sentinel EMS Workflow

Typically, the product owner defines the features and products in the catalog, the order taker defines the entitlement, and the vendor generates the license.

The Basics

The following are the foundation of Sentinel LDK enforcement.

Features

Features are the basic building blocks of products and licenses. Each feature can represent anything from a functional component to an entire application. Learn MoreClosed  This means that you can create separate features for specific functionality, such as "Print" or "Add to Cart", or you can create a feature for each module or for an entire application.

After you define at least one feature, you can add that feature to a product. This enables you to sell a product with one or more licensed features.

Feature ID. The feature ID is a unique identifier. During runtime, the Sentinel Licensing API call uses the feature ID. Always ensure that the feature ID is the same in both Sentinel EMS and the Sentinel LDK application you are using to protect your application (Sentinel LDK Envelope or Sentinel Licensing API).

Products

A product represents a saleable item in your organization—such as a software application—usually with a SKU or similar unit. You can package products with individual features and memory files. Learn MoreClosed  Both features and memory files are optional.

License models and terms. Sentinel LDK enforcement provides configurable, out-of-the-box license models.

You assign a license model and license terms to a feature when you add the feature to a product.

Setting license terms per feature occurrence lets you vary the license terms as needed. This flexibility gives you full control over feature usage whether you include one feature per product, the same feature in multiple products, or multiple copies of a feature in a single product.

Product ID. A product typically has a unique ID. However, multiple products can share the same product ID. This lets you replace one product with another. For example, you might want to create an "upgrade" product for a saleable item to enable customers to pay the price difference and upgrade from a subscription license to a perpetual license. In this case, both the original and upgrade products would need the same product ID.

When ready, you add products to entitlements so that the vendor can generate licenses for distribution to customers.

Entitlements

A customer order for one or more products. Similar to orders in your back office system (ERP, CRM, billing system, or sales system), an entitlement can specify the customer that is entitled to use associated products. Learn MoreClosed  It also includes contact details, the products ordered, the features and memory files bundled in the products, licensing terms, the number of copies of your product that are available to that customer (quantity), and the entitlement ID (EID). Each entitlement can also be mapped to an actual order or other reference ID in your system using the External ID or Ref ID fields in Sentinel EMS.

When an entitlement is ready to be processed, you mark it as complete. That enables the next step, which is generating a license via Activation or Burning a Key.

ClosedKey Concepts

Let's review the following concepts and terminology that you need to know to work with Sentinel LDK enforcement in Sentinel EMS.

Activation | Burning a Key | Catalog | C2V and V2CP Files | Customers and Contacts | Devices | Enforcement | License Model | Locking Type | Memory | Namespace (Batch Code) | Unlocked from Device (Product)

Concept Description

Activation

(License Generation)

The process of generating a license file for a product. The license can be locked to a specific device, or it can be unlocked, as described in Unlocked from Device (Product).

Batch Code See Namespace (Batch Code).
Burning a Key

Activates an entitlement by burning the license file directly on a Sentinel HL key (dongle).
Catalog

A container for all of your Sentinel EMS assets, including products, features, memory files, license models, and namespaces.
C2V and V2CP Files

C2V (Customer-to-Vendor). A file containing data about deployed Sentinel protection keys or data about the customer's device, such as its fingerprint. The customer sends the C2V file to the vendor, often by email. The vendor then uses the C2V file to generate a license for the customer when activating an entitlement.

V2CP (Vendor-to-Customer Package file). A file that contains a license package from the software vendor. A V2CP can contain one or more V2C files to a Sentinel protection key on the customer's device.

Customers and Contacts

A customer can be an organization that owns an entitlement or a current or potential buyer of an entitlement. Typically, you generate entitlements for a customer who has placed an order. A customer can have a single or multiple contacts.
Devices

In Sentinel EMS for Sentinel LDK, a device is anything on which customers can install your licensed application, including, but not limited to, computers, tablets, phones, and watches.

Enforcement

Licensing technology, such as Sentinel LDK, that controls and secures your software application.
License Model

The license terms for a feature. You set the license model when adding a feature to a product, or when modifying a feature in an entitlement. License models:

•Define in Entitlement. Enables the order taker to define the license type when each individual order is processed. (Available only when creating a Product.)

•Execution Count. The maximum number of times the feature may be used.
(Not relevant for products that are not locked to a device. See Unlocked from Device (Product).)

•Expiration Date. The date on which the license for the feature will expire.

•Perpetual. Default license model. The license can be used an unlimited number of times and for an unlimited period of time.

•Time from First Use. The number of days until the license expires. The number of days is counted from the date on which the licensed feature is first used.

•Time from License Generation. The number of days until the license expires. The number of days is counted from the date on which the license is generated.
(Not relevant for products that are not locked to a device. See Unlocked from Device (Product).)
Locking Type

The level of protection for a product according to the type of Sentinel protection key supplied with the product. You set the locking type when defining a product. Locking types can be hardware-based (Sentinel HL keys) or software-based (Sentinel SL keys).

Locking Type options:

•HL. Use for burning licenses on physical, Sentinel HL keys (dongles).

•SL User mode. Use for activating licenses on Sentinel SL UserMode keys (software).

•Does not require the installation of Sentinel Run-time Environment (RTE).

• Provides a lower level of security for products that are not locked to a device than SL Admin mode.

•Provides the highest level of compatibility with future operating system updates.

•SL Admin mode. Use for activating licenses on Sentinel SL AdminMode keys (software).

•Requires the installation of Sentinel Run-time Environment (RTE).

•Supports all license terms, including concurrency and detachable licenses.

•Provides a similar level of security for both locked and unlocked products.

•Provides a high level of compatibility with future operating system updates.

•HL or SL Admin mode. Use for either Sentinel HL keys or Sentinel SL AdminMode keys.

•HL or SL AdminMode or SL UserMode. (Default) Use this locking type if the decision on which type of Sentinel protection key is to be shipped with the product is made when each order is processed, or if you plan to use Cloud Licensing.

Memory

Memory files let you store sensitive data in the Sentinel protection key. For example, you might want to store user data or homegrown license code.

You create memory files from the Memory tab. You associate memory files when creating a product.

Namespace (Batch Code)

Namespace is known as batch code in Sentinel LDK.

A namespace (batch code) represents your company's unique vendor code. When you order Sentinel protection keys from Thales, you specify your namespace, which is both written to the keys before dispatch and printed on the outside of each Sentinel HL key. Your company can have one or more namespaces. The namespace for Sentinel protection keys with a demo vendor code is DEMOMA.

In Sentinel EMS, a namespace also acts as a workspace, differentiating between separate storage locations. If you have multiple namespaces, the features, memory files, and products in each namespace are available only to those users who have permissions for that namespace. Users with roles that have entitlement-related permissions (such as order takers) can access these items from all namespaces.
Unlocked from Device (Product)

A product that is distributed with a license that is not locked to a specific device and can therefore be installed freely by any user on any device. Typical uses include:

• Trial licenses (free for up to 90 days), which can start from the date of license generation or first use, depending on the License Model. (The Execution Count license model is not relevant for products that are not locked to a device.)

•"Unlimited" products that or may not have licensing restrictions. For example, you might apply a Perpetual license, you may decide to limit the time period, you may use a different mechanism to license the application, or you may decide not to impose any licensing restrictions at all.

When you create an entitlement, you can include products that are either locked to a device or unlocked from a device, but not both.

ClosedWhat's not included?

Your business plan.

This guide assumes that you know your products, their features, and how you package them. You know who your customers are and what license terms you want to provide for them. Understanding your own business objectives will help you understand how the various components in Sentinel EMS can be mapped to your system.

Information about other Sentinel LDK components.

This guide assumes that you are already familiar with Sentinel LDK and its various components, including:

•How to install Sentinel LDK. For details, see the Sentinel LDK Installation Guide.

•How to use the Sentinel LDK Master Wizard to download API libraries and introduce your Sentinel Vendor keys. For details, see Running the Sentinel LDK Master Wizard in the Sentinel LDK Installation Guide and the Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide.

•How to use the Sentinel Licensing API to perform the licensing and protection functionality available in the Sentinel LDK Run-time Environment. For details, see the Sentinel Licensing API Reference:  C   |   .NET   |   .NET Standard   |   Java

•How to use Sentinel LDK Envelope to encrypt your application and wrap it in a protective shield. For details, see the Sentinel LDK Envelope help system provided with Sentinel LDK.

•How to use any of the following to fetch a device's fingerprint and save it as a C2V file.

•Sentinel Remote Update System (RUS) tool. For details, see Collecting Computer Data in the Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide.

•Sentinel Admin Control Center. For details, see Sentinel Keys.

•Sentinel Licensing API. For details, see:   
C   |   .NET   |   .NET Standard   |   Java  

•How to use any of the following to retrieve Sentinel protection key license data and generate C2V files.

•Sentinel Remote Update System (RUS) tool. For details, see Collecting Sentinel Protection Key License Data in the Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide.

•Sentinel Admin Control Center. For details, see Sentinel Keys.

•Sentinel Licensing API. For details, see:   
C   |   .NET   |   .NET Standard   |   Java  

•How to use Sentinel Admin Control Center to manage licenses and keys. For details, see Sentinel Admin Control Center in the Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide.

To learn more about any of the components in the Sentinel LDK Vendor Suite, see Major Components of the Vendor Suite.

The Steps

Follow the steps below to generate a license using Sentinel EMS with Sentinel LDK enforcement.
  

•Review the Key Concepts for the Sentinel EMS components.

•Prepare a C2V file from your computer using any of the following methods:

•Sentinel Remote Update System (RUS) tool. For details, see Collecting Sentinel Protection Key License Data in the Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide.

•Sentinel Admin Control Center. For details, see Sentinel Keys.

•Sentinel Licensing API. For details, see:   
C   |   .NET   |   .NET Standard   |   Java  

In this step, you connect to the Sentinel EMS Portal using the credentials shared by your Thales representative.

1.Navigate to the URL shared by Thales.

2.Log on using the user name and password provided by Thales.

The first step in creating a catalog is defining features.

1.From the navigation pane, select Catalog > Features.

2.In the Features page, click Add Feature Add Feature.

3.In the Add Feature page, in the Name field, enter a feature name, such as Add to Cart.

4.In the ID field, leave the default ID for now.

When you create your own features, you can use the default ID or apply another ID to match an existing feature in one of your company's products.

The ID must match the feature ID in the Sentinel LDK application you are using to protect your application (Sentinel LDK Envelope or Sentinel Licensing API) as described in Features.

5.Click Save.

You've created your first feature. Next, you will add the feature to a product.

Now that you created a feature, you can add it to a product. This is known as associating a feature with a product. You can also associate a memory file, but we are not going to cover that here.

1.From the navigation pane, select Catalog > Products.

2.In the Products page, click Add Product .

3. In the Add Product page, in the Name field, enter any product name, for example, MyShoppingApp.

4.In the Product ID field, leave the default ID.

You can also manually change the ID and use the same product ID in multiple products, as described in Products.

5.In the Available Features area of the Associate Features pane, click the feature you created to add it to the Associated Features list.

6.In the Associated Features list, for the feature you added, either select the check box and click the Configure License Model button, or, under Actions, click Configure License Model .

7.Set the license model.

Let's apply an annual subscription license that starts when the license is generated.

a. Click the Name arrow and select Time from License Generation. Notice that the displayed attributes change to reflect the selected license model.

b. Expand License Terms and, in the Number of Days box, enter 365.

c. Click Save.

8.In the Add Product page, click Save (not shown). The product is created as a draft.

9.In the Products page, for the product you created, in the Actions column, click the Complete button.

10.In the confirmation box that opens, click Complete (not shown). This makes the product available for distribution.

You've successfully created your first product. Next, you will create an order, known as an entitlement, for the product.

Image of a draft product

In this step, you are creating an entitlement. First, you will add the customer and contact details. Then you will add the products that the customer is entitled to use. Lastly, you will set the number of licenses that can be generated for that customer.

1.From the navigation pane, select Entitlements.

2.In the Entitlements page, click Add Entitlement .

3.Associate this entitlement with a new customer.

a. In the Add Entitlement page, next to the Customer field, click Add Customer .

Tip: You can also define customers directly from the Customers tab.

b. In the Add Customer dialog box, in the Name field, enter any customer name, for example, My Customer.

c. In the Identifier field, you can either enter an alphanumeric value or leave the field blank to enable Sentinel EMS to generate the ID automatically.

d. Click Add to finish creating the customer.

4.Add contact details to the customer you just created.

a. In the Add Entitlement page, next to the Contact Email field, click Add Contact to open the Add Contact dialog box.

b. In the Email field, add the email address to which the entitlement certificate will be sent.

c. Click Add. The contact is created and the contact email address is associated with the customer you just created.

5.In the Associate Products / Product Suites pane, under Available Products, click the product you created to add it to the Associated Products / Product Suites section.

6.Specify the number of product licenses purchased by the customer.

Let's suppose that the customer ordered 10 copies of your product.

In the Available Quantity field, change the value to 10.

7.Click Save to save the entitlement as a draft. (If you skip this and go to another tab, your input will be lost.)

8.In the Entitlements page, in the Actions column, click Mark as Complete to complete the entitlement.

(The image shows the Draft status prior to confirmation.)

9.In the confirmation box, click Complete (not shown). The entitlement details are saved. An Entitlement Certificate email is sent to the contact email address you entered earlier.

(The image shows the Completed status post-confirmation.)

In the next step, you will generate the license.

In this step, you generate the product license using the C2V file you created (or downloaded) in Step 1: Before You Begin.

1.In the Entitlements page, expand the entitlement you just created. Select the checkbox for the product you created and click Activate.

2.Under Generate License, add the C2V file to the Upload C2V field. (You can drag and drop, or navigate to the file.)

3.Click Complete Activation to generate the license string.

4.In the Actions column, click Download to download the V2CP file that contains the license.

5.Click Done.

Congratulations! You generated your first product license.