KEYnote 36 English - Fall 2018 | Page 6

L I C E N S I N G Simpler License Delivery with Push Updates As of version 6.70, CodeMeter can now create Modified Context Files (*.WibuCmRaM) and combine Update Files (*.WibuCmRaU) for Universal Firm Codes. This sounds like a secondary technical change, but it is indeed one of the major features when it comes to using CodeMeter in the field. This deceptively minor feature allows CodeMeter License Central to cover two new use cases: Delivering licenses without new Context Files (*.WibuCmRaC) and delivering licenses when the Context File is outdated. Updating Licenses 101 A few weeks ago, I was invited to a medical device maker who is not yet using CodeMeter. The system currently used by the company works by sending the user a new USB dongle whenever he buys a new feature. If a user pays for two new features, he will receive two new dongles. One feature, one dongle, even if the user buys features in bulk. This makes it easy for SAP, because the prepro- grammed dongles can be delivered as usual. However, the approach does not scale easily, can be quite slow, and simply feels old-fashioned; for this medical device maker, cloud licensing was not an option, because not all of the devices were actually connected to the Internet. CodeMeter comes with remote programming capabilities on board, based on a file exchange system. The actual licenses are kept on hard- ware-based CmDongles or in software-based CmActLicenses and can be used without an active Internet connection. To change anything about a license, a Context File needs to come back from the user to you, the ISV. You then 6 create an Update File, which can get to the user through various, even offline channels. This file changes or removes licenses or adds new ones: Exactly as you need it. You Only Update Once Update Files are incremental updates, that is, each builds on the previous update. This means that the chain of updates cannot have a single link missing or added at the wrong time. There are also two other important security features: Every Update File can only be used with the PC or CmDongle that sent the original request. And every Update File can only be used once. This is important for incremental updates, in particular, because a user could otherwise get only one legitimate update and use it multiple times without license to do so. The solution is simple, but restrictive: It all works with one current Context File sent to you by the user. At least, that used to be the case before CodeMeter 6.70. Online – Offline No Longer Separate With CodeMeter License Central, you have a cloud-based solution for creating, delivering, and managing licenses with unparalleled comfort. You give your user a ticket that he can use either in your software or in a dedicated license portal like WebDepot. If your user is online, the Context File is created automati- cally and sent to CodeMeter License Central, which generates an Update File with the licenses defined for the ticket. The system sends that file back to the software or license portal, where the update is imported and a receipt returned to CodeMeter License Central in the form of a Context File. Back to our manufacturer who does not yet have CodeMeter on all of his devices. The online capabilities of the CodeMeter License Central cloud solution would make it easy to manage the licenses for all devices connected online. But what about offline devices? In this case, WebDepot allows you to upload the Context File and download the matching Update File; in most cases, the receipt, as the third link in that chain, is optional and can be skipped. For our medical device maker, this was still too unwieldy a process. Let us see how easy we can make it for him.