Glossary
Active License
The license(s) that form the feature node in the license table for a feature-version combination. The feature node may or may not be serving the license requests.
See also: The License Table
Additive License
An additive license appends changes to an existing additive license of the same feature and version in a restrictive manner, so that only a single set of all the license properties is maintained. While the hard and soft limit of the two licenses are summed up for the entire duration of the license, only one set of start date (the latest of the two start dates) and expiry dates (the earliest of the two end dates) is maintained.
Click here to see what happens to the license properties for two additive licenses.
Aggregate License
An aggregate license co-exists with multiple aggregate licenses of the same feature and version. The hard and soft limit of the aggregate licenses are aggregated, yet the start and expiry dates of the individual licenses strings are maintained in an independent manner. In active state, the combined hard limit helps in meeting short term spurts in license demand (termed as peak usage licensing).
When considering other license models, an aggregate license has a lower priority than an exclusive license, but a higher priority than an additive license.
API
Application Programmer Interface
Auth Token
Auth token contains an access token which is used to authenticate the APIs communicating with RMS Cloud License Manager. Refer to Authorization (Auth) Tokens for details.
Base Licenses
Refers to the license generated using a Full license template in WlscGen or by using lscgen.
Broadcast
The mechanism used to find a License Manager with available license(s) in a subnet. Under broadcast, only v9.8.1 (or later) RMS License Managers will respond to licensed applications licensed using 9.8.1 (or later) version of licensing libraries. However, if the License Manager Compatibility-Mode Library is being used by the v9.8.1 (or later) clients, then even previous version of RMS License Managers will respond.
Capacity
Defines the number of operations that can be executed by a token user (per hard limit). The license capacity also allows the customer to use an extra flag, along with hard limit, to control the number of applications that can be run simultaneously.
Challenge-response Mechanism
A technique used for authenticating the License Manager. The challenge strings (secrets) you define are encrypted within the license code, with only the License Manager knowing how to decrypt them. The License Manager will then compute an authentication response when challenged by a client to confirm its identity.
Refer to the WlscGen Help for details on defining secret strings.
Checking out license
A commuter license specific term. Refers to the process of issuing a license code for usage on a local system (such as when the user is commuting or not connected to the network).
Checking in license
A commuter license specific term. Refers to the process of returning the license back to the License Manager.
Client-locked License
Refer to License Locking Criteria.
Cloud Connected Licensing
“Cloud-connected licensing” is software licensing managed from cloud to serve both on-premises or cloud-based software. It offers the ability for software vendors to have connectivity into the customer's software usage, which translates into better control and sustained monetization.
Computer ID Key
The hardware key (in parallel or USB form factors) used for locking a license to a system.
Connected (Cloud LM) Mode
Connected (Cloud LM) mode refers to a license deployment scheme in which a Sentinel RMS license is deployed on RMS Cloud LM upon activation. The standalone and network configurations are not applicable to this mode.
Encrypted License
Exclusive License
An exclusive license code completely replaces the old license with a new license.
Exhausted License
A trial license-specific term. Refers to a trial license, whose trial days/hours are used-up.
Expired License
A license whose end date (a fixed calendar date) has been reached.
Feature
Any functionality of your software that can be controlled independently via a license. It can be a complete application, a file, or distinct functionalities, like Print or Save.
Feature Name
A feature name identifies a license. All licensed applications must have a name by which they will be identified. The maximum characters for long code is 24, short code is 11, and predefined-single and multi-feature is 6 numeric digits.
Feature Version
An additional field that can be used with the feature name for uniquely identifying your application. For example, with feature name “Print,” the associated version can be 1.0. An upgrade of this feature can be identified with the 2.0 version.
This field is only available with long codes and the maximum characters allowed are 11.
Fingerprint
Floating License
Refers to a network license.
Grace License
Under network licensing, the grace period allows running a licensed application even when the network is temporarily inaccessible. It provides continuity to use the application under unprepared circumstances such as network downtime or disconnection.
GUID
Stands for Global Unique Identifier—a unique 128-bit number that is produced by the Windows operating system or by some Windows applications to identify a particular component, application, file, database entry, and/or user.
Holdtime
The grace period for which the license can be held after releasing.
Inactive Licenses
The licenses loaded in the memory for a feature-version, but are not serving the license requests. Only active licenses serve the client requests.
IPv4
Internet Protocol version 4 is the fourth replication of the Internet Protocol (IP) and it is the first version of the protocol to be widely-deployed. IPv4 is the dominant network layer protocol on the Internet and apart from IPv6 it is the only protocol used on the Internet.
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a network layer protocol for packet-switched internet networks. It is designated as the successor of IPv4, the current version of the Internet Protocol, for general use on the Internet.
IPX
IPX stands for Internetwork Packet Exchange. It is a networking protocol used by the Novell NetWare operating systems. Like UDP, IPX is a datagram protocol used for connectionless communications.
Leader (License Manager)
The operating License Manager with the highest priority indicated in the lservrlf file.
Lease Mode
Lease mode refers to the license deployment scheme on which a Sentinel RMS license is deployed on a standalone machine or a License Manager host machine. These machines have SCP. In the standalone lease, an SCP-integrated licensing library is used. In the network lease, SCP is installed as a service on the same machine where the RMS License Manager is installed.
License
Also referred to as the license code in this documentation. A license is a string of encrypted characters that embody the terms defined in the license agreement for using the licensed software.
License File
A license file can contain one or many license codes, of different vendors. The License Manager reads a license file to load licenses. The default name is lservrc.
License Meter Key
Refers to the hardware key that is shipped by Thales to authorize license generation. It must be attached to the system on which licenses are being generated (using WlscGen, lscgen, or custom license code generator).
License Manager
Refers to the Sentinel RMS license manager that centrally manages the licenses in a network.
License Sharing
Allow multiple instances of the licensed feature/application to share a single license token/key based on a common user name, host name, X-display ID, or custom sharing criteria.
License Vendor Information
This field is used for license aggregation by specifying different software vendor data, however, it does not participate in license aggregation. It has been introduced in RMS v9.4.1 for version 19 licenses and above. License vendor information is the additional information that you can include as a part of the license code for identification. License vendor information remains encrypted in all types of licenses (readable or encrypted), however, if the license string is decoded, the encrypted information will become readable.
License Version
A license version is always associated with the RMS licenses. It maps to the SDK version in which it was introduced. If a new feature or license property is introduced in the SDK, then the license version would be upgraded as the new feature would not be available with the earlier SDKs. For example, the aggregate licenses are introduced in SDK v8.5.x and cannot be generated with the previous version RMS SDKs. See the table below for the recent license versions and the corresponding SDKs:
| Sentinel RMS SDK Version | Major Functionality Introduced | License Version |
|---|---|---|
| 10.2 | Named user licensing added in Connected (Cloud LM) deployment mode | 23 |
| 10.0 | Connected (Cloud LM) deployment mode added | 22 |
| 9.7.0 | Offline usage | 21 |
| 9.5.0 | Support higher value of hard limit and soft limit up to 4,294,967,294. | 20 |
| 9.4.1 | Aggregation in Lease mode | 19 |
| 9.2.x | Enhanced license security | 18 |
| 9.1.x | Updates in the license structure | 17 |
| 9.0.x |
Changes in the License Generation module: >Added new members in the license structure to support SCL - Add on for Sentinel RMS >Support for License Start Time and End Time |
16 |
| 8.6.x | Deprecate PIII Processor ID locking attribute | 15 |
| 8.5.x | Aggregate Licenses | 14 |
| 8.4.x | Increased size of private vendor information, VM detection, and VM specific locking criteria | 13 |
| 8.2.3 | Support for real hard disk serial number-based locking | 12 |
| 8.1.x, 8.2.0, 8.2.1, 8.2.2 | Miscellaneous features including volume transaction licenses | 11 |
| 8.0.x | Grace licenses, repository licenses (earlier named as perpetual licenses), and license revocation | 10 |
| 7.3.0.1 | The maximum number of features allowed in multi-feature licenses was increased to 63 from 11 | 9 |
| 7.3.0 | Capacity licenses | 8 |
| 7.0.0 | Introduction of multi-feature licenses, redundant License Managers, commuter licensing, and usage log encryption levels, The maximum number of License Managers increased from 8 to 11. Also, in this release the Elan licenses were converted to Sentinel LM licenses | 7 |
License Table
Refers to the arrangement of active licenses for the various feature-version combinations. The license requests are served from the license table.
Licensed Application
A general term used to refer to the software licensed using Sentinel RMS.
Lifetime
Refers to a unit of time specified for the license to send updates to the License Manager. After the 80% of this time period is elapsed, the licensed application sends an update call to the License Manager to notify its alive status. A license must be renewed by the application on a regular schedule or the license will be reclaimed.
Local License Request Locking Criteria
See License Locking Terminology
Locking Code
See License Locking Terminology
Long Licenses
Long license codes allow use of more licensing features and contain more information when compared to short-numeric license codes.
Majority Rule
When a majority (over half) of the redundant License Managers must be up and running for a request for that active license to be serviced. For example, if you have defined five redundant License Managers and majority rule is in effect, at least three of them must be up and running or a request for that license will fail.
Multi-feature License
When a single license code licenses a range of features. The multi-feature license code is typically used to license a set of applications with a single license code.
Network License
A license meant for networked environments, such as in client-License Manager architecture when centralized license management is desired. Here, the license management functions are moved out of the licensed application to an external component—the Sentinel RMS License Manager (License Manager). The License Manager can run on any computer on the network, including a computer on which the licensed application is run.
New Style Locking Code
The locking code format for the version 11 and later licenses. The Wechoid and echoid utilities allow generating both the new style and old style locking codes.
NIC
Network Interface Card.
Normal License
A license that does not have restricted usage, like in a trial license which expires after certain time period—days/hours/date. A normal license can have other properties associated with it. For example, it can be locked or unlocked.
Old Style Locking Code
The locking code format for the version 10 and older licenses. The Wechoid and echoid utilities allow generating both the new style and old style locking codes.
On-premises Mode
On-premises mode refers to a license deployment scheme in which a Sentinel RMS license is deployed on a standalone machine or a License Manager host machine. These machines do not have SCP. Upon activation, the license generated needs to be deployed manually on the machine.
Peak Usage Licensing
A licensing solution to fulfill license demands during peak periods.
Perpetual License
Since the v8.5.0 release, perpetual license is renamed to Repository License.
Persistence Data
Refers to the licensing data that is retained on the local computer in the non-volatile storage.
Precedence
A numeric value that decides the priority of a license compared to others. As of now, only trial licenses can have precedence associated with them.
Primary Locking Criteria
Private Vendor Information
Additional information that you can include as a part of your license code for identification. The private vendor information will remain encrypted in all license models (whether readable or encrypted).
Properties (License)
Refers to the various attributes a license can have.
Public Vendor Information
Additional information that you can include as a part of your license code for identification. The public vendor information will remain encrypted in encrypted licenses and readable in readable licenses, respectively.
Queuing
License queuing allows a licensed application to wait for a license if a license is present on the network, but not available. The License Manager maintains all queued requests pertaining to the License Manager in a "first in, first out" basis. Once a license becomes available within a pre-determined time interval, the application can retrieve the license and the licensed application starts.
Readable License Codes
Redundant License Managers
Refers to a pool of License Managers that provide failover and back-up in case one License Manager goes down. This is to provide uninterrupted service to the network users as they seamlessly switch over to using a new License Manager.
Registration Token
Registration token is a means to generate the auth token. For details refer to: RMS Cloud LM REST API—Basic Concepts.
Repository License
A network license that it is checked out automatically from the License Manager (unlike the manual check out of a commuter license) after the first successful license request. However, it needs be checked in to the License Manager after use in the same manner as a commuter license.
RMS
Stands for Rights Management System. Refers to Sentinel RMS.
SDK
Software Development Kit.
Secondary Locking Criteria
Sentinel RMS Envelope
Sentinel RMS Envelope provides automatic IP protection for your software. It wraps your programs with a protective shield and also allows you to configure protection features to enhance the overall security of your software. Implementing Sentinel RMS Envelope does not require you to alter your software's source code.
Sentinel System Driver
The device driver for accessing the hardware keys used by Sentinel RMS, that is, the Computer ID key and license meter key. The Sentinel System Driver includes drivers for both the parallel port and USB port keys.
Serial Number
A unique software vendor-specific identifier that is shipped along with the SDK. You need to enter the serial number during the installation. As a result, all the SDK components, including libraries, are customized for the software vendor.
Server-locked License
Short-numeric Licenses
Refers to all-numeric short license codes. For version 11 licenses, these can only be generated using the predefined license templates in WlscGen and lscgen.
Signing Key Index
The software vendor’s public/private key pair for license generation with default version of 1 is referred to as Signing Key Index. Likewise, 0 is the Signing Key Index for the older version unsigned licenses (v17 and below).
Standalone License
A license typically meant for non-networked or single user environments (such as home users). The various license management functions, including the License Manager, are embedded within the licensed application.
Token
A unit of license associated with a running instance of the protected application.
Trial License
A temporary license that allows software usage for fixed days or hours, beginning from the day/hour it is first used.
Unlocked License
Upgrade Licenses
A license that allows version and/or capacity upgrades for existing license users.
UUID
A Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) is an identifier standard used in software construction, standardized by the Open Software Foundation (OSF) as part of the Distributed Computing Environment (DCE). UUIDs enable distributed systems to uniquely identify information without significant central coordination.