Cloud Licensing - Overview

Cloud licensing is a method for granting access to licenses hosted on a license server machine in the cloud or on the organization's network. Each authorized user is provided with a unique client identity. The user installs this identity on one or more machines. The user can then consume a network seat for the relevant protected application from the license server machine or detach a network seat from the machine.

Cloud licensing uses this identity-based access to give you granular control over who can access a network seat from an SL AdminMode license with concurrency.

NOTE Cloud licensing is only available when it has been enabled in the SL license.

Cloud licensing can be implemented at either of two levels:

>Vendor-level implementation: A software vendor can set up a license server machine and grant access to cloud licenses over the Internet for their customers.

Cloud licensing provides an alternative model for distributing licenses for protected applications to customers. Rather than providing SL protection keys to the customer, the vendor hosts the SL licenses on their own license server and provides client identities for each end user. Each client identity is represented by a unique identity string that the end user installs on their machine.

The client identity entitles the user to execute an instance of the protected application, detach a network seat that can be used offline, or both. The user can install the identity string on multiple machines (if permitted by the vendor), but can only execute a single instance or detach a single network seat at any point in time.

Among the benefits of using client identities are the following:

•Software can easily be used on different machines using a single identity.

•Client identities are not affected by operating system upgrades or hardware upgrades.

•The vendor can easily disable a client identity if necessary.

Client identities can be assigned an expiration date. This provides the following additional benefits:

•The software vendor can easily manage trial by providing users with expiring identities that consume the same license. This eliminates the need to generate a new key and a new license for each trial.

•The vendor can easily provide customers with an emergency cloud license in case they face issues with their local HL or SL key.

•The IT administrator can manage which users can access a concurrency license and for how long.

Client identities are managed using Sentinel Admin Control Center. The vendor uses the Client Identities tab of the Configuration page to create and manage client identities.

For more information on the benefits of cloud licensing, see Sentinel LDK Software Protection and Licensing Guide (for Sentinel EMS or Sentinel LDK-EMS) .

>Customer-level implementation: A customer who has purchased an SL license can set up a license server machine and grant access to cloud licenses for authorized end user within their organization. Access can be granted either over the Internet or over the company network (or both).

A vendor can enable their customers to implement cloud licensing at their site to control access to network seats from SL licenses on their license server machine. This provides a simplified method of controlling which end users are able to consume network seats from a license.

Many of the benefits of working with client identities described above for the vendor-hosted implementation are also applicable for the customer-hosted implementation.

NOTE For either level of implementation, cloud licensing is only available if the vendor has the Cloud Licensing module on their Master key at the time that they generate the SL licenses.

Client identities are managed using Sentinel Admin Control Center. The vendor's customer uses the Client Identities tab of the Configuration page to create and manage client identities.