Sentinel HASP Licensing Overview
Charon emulator products are protected by licenses issued for every customer by Stromasys Inc. A Charon product license defines all the specifics of a particular Charon product distribution and its usage. Charon emulator products cannot be used without a valid license.
Please note: this document does not cover the new Virtual Environment licensing product offered by Stromasys. For details about VE licenses and the VE license server, please refer to the Virtual Environment (VE) License Server Documentation.
This section provides a short overview of important aspects of Sentinel HASP licenses for Charon products. In particular, it covers the following topics:
Sentinel HASP License Types
For more information about the advantages and disadvantages of the different licensing options based on Sentinel HASP licensing, please refer to Charon licensing options on the Stromasys website.
Local Hardware License Key
Local hardware license keys are USB keys (dongles) connected to the Charon host system.
Hardware License Types
All Stromasys hardware license options are from Sentinel (now owned by Thales). The current hardware licenses are distributed as USB dongles. Two of the most frequently used versions are the Sentinel HASP HL and the Sentinel HL USB keys. In general, the keys are backward compatible.
Examples of the dongle variants most frequently used by Stromasys:
Hardware license type | Sentinel HASP | Sentinel HL |
|---|---|---|
Network license |
 |
|
Time limited local license | Somewhat longer shape | |
|
Sentinel offers more variants for hardware keys than are displayed in the examples above. Please refer to the Sentinel web page (https://cpl.thalesgroup.com/software-monetization/all-products/sentinel-hasp) for up-to-date and complete information.
Newer Charon emulator versions (e.g., Charon-AXP/VAX 4.9 and higher, Charon-PAR 3.x, Charon-SSP 4.x and higher) also support the HL-MAX dongle without a battery.
Local Hardware License Characteristics
Local hardware licenses are USB dongles and work on the system they are physically connected to. For Windows systems supporting AnywereUSB®, hardware licenses can also be connected over the network (similar products are available for Linux). They can easily be moved to a different system, if required. The content of the dongle can be updated if a change to the license or an extension of a time-based license is required. The necessary steps are described later in this document.
Please note:
Hardware dongles require the Sentinel HASP run-time (driver) installation before the dongle can be connected to and used by the system.
Hardware dongles, apart from HL-MAX dongles, are equipped with a battery and a clock, which makes them independent of the host clock. The battery is not rechargeable. However, the dongle can use the power provided by the host system while it is plugged in. By doing this, the depletion of the battery can be slowed down. Check the dongle at regular intervals if it is not permanently connected to a system. If the battery becomes completely depleted, the dongle will be permanently unusable and must be replaced. See also: How long does the license USB dongle battery last upon a full charge.
Hardware dongles are not suited for running Charon emulator products in cloud environments. Stromasys provides other licensing solutions adapted to virtual environments (Charon VE licenses) for selected products. See Virtual Environment (VE) License Server Documentation.
Local Hardware Licenses in Virtual Environments
A hardware license can be used by a Charon host system running as a virtual machine for example in VMware. The prerequisite is that the USB dongle must be passed through to the virtual machine, so it can be accessed by the host system running inside the virtual machine. If such a virtual machine is to be moved between different physical hardware (for example, vMotion), provisions must be made to maintain access to the hardware license.
Please refer to the following articles on the Stromasys page for more information: How-to configure a VMware virtual machine to make the dongle follow migration to another ESX server and Charon licensing options.
USB dongles can also be served over the network using network connected IP USB servers. However, not all such devices available will work without problems. Please contact your Stromasys representative or Stromasys VAR if you consider such a solution.
Software Licenses
A software license is a "virtual" key with functionality very similar to a HASP network-enabled hardware dongle.
A software license does not require any special hardware but it still requires installation of the Sentinel runtime environment.
Important information:
To avoid unexpected problems, do not use any Sentinel runtime software that was not provided by Stromasys without being advised to do so by your Stromasys representative.
Software licenses are best suited for stable environments, because their correct function depends on certain characteristics of the host system. Changing these characteristics will invalidate the license.
If the Charon host runs on real hardware, software licenses are by default tightly bound to the hardware for which they were issued. If major hardware characteristics of the system are changed, the license will be disabled.
If the Charon host runs in a virtual environment (e.g., VMware), software licenses are normally bound to the virtual machine ID and a set of additional characteristics of the virtual machine. If any of these parameters are changed, the license will be disabled.
For a more detailed description of the restrictions, please refer to HASP Software Licensing restrictions or contact your Stromasys representative.
Software licenses are very sensitive to even small changes on the host system. Therefore, it is especially important to provide for a backup license that will ensure continued operation should there be a problem with the software license. See Handling Multiple License Keys and Product Licenses for details.
Standard software licenses are not suited for running Charon emulator products in cloud environments. Stromasys provides other licensing solutions adapted to virtual environments (Charon VE licenses) for selected products. See Virtual Environment (VE) License Server Documentation.
Network Licenses
The network Sentinel HASP key (red USB dongle) can be shared between several hosts running a Charon emulator product (including the host on which the network license is installed).
Please note: all software licenses are also network licenses.
If the Charon emulator product is installed on the host where the network license is connected, no additional steps are required. The Sentinel driver is installed as part of the Charon product installation. If the host does not have a Charon emulator product installed, the host can still distribute the connected network license to emulator instances running on other hosts.
The Sentinel HASP runtime software must be installed on such a license server and on the client system. For details regarding the installation, please refer to the software installation section in this document. Once both the Sentinel runtime software and the network license are installed, the Charon emulator product can be started on any appropriate client host on the LAN, provided access to the license is enabled.
The network license will be visible to all hosts that can access the license server over IP. Access to the license server must be possible on port 1947 via UDP (discovery process) and TCP (actual access to license). Further information (e.g., use of additional UDP ports) can be found in the section Firewall Considerations.
The license server and the client must both allow access to the network license using the appropriate management tools.
The maximum number of concurrently active Charon instances is determined by the parameters of the license.
Please note:
In current Charon software versions, a network license controls the maximum overall number of active instances, which can be distributed across client host systems according to the preference of the customer.
In old versions of the Charon software (e.g., Charon-AXP/VAX before version 4.7 build 171-01, Charon-SSP before version 1.4.1), a network license controlled the maximum number of client host systems and Charon instances per host system (station/instance mode).
License Content
Emulator Requirements and Behavior
The emulator needs some license-related components to use a HASP license. They are briefly described below.
Sentinel HASP Runtime Environment
Sentinel HASP Runtime Environment Overview:
The Sentinel HASP runtime environment is a lightweight software package provided by license vendor and customized by Stromasys.
Important note: to avoid unexpected problems, do not use any Sentinel runtime software that was not provided by Stromasys without being advised to do so by your Stromasys representative.
The Sentinel HASP runtime software is part of Charon product installation kit (on both Windows and Linux). It is installed with the respective Charon products. The installation of the Charon products is documented in the respective users' guides (see Documentation).
If you do not want to install a full Charon product (for example when running a dedicated license server), you can install just the license driver:
Linux: use the license driver RPM(s) of a current Charon emulator product. The relevant parts are described later in this document.
Microsoft Windows: use the Charon License Utility which is available free of charge from Stromasys.
The HASP runtime software must be installed on every system handling licenses – be it as a Charon host server, a system for license updates, or a (non-)dedicated license server. Depending on the Charon product version the HASP runtime software may not always be required on a client system to find remote network licenses provided by a license server. However, the HASP runtime software must always be installed to take full advantage of all product features and to avoid unexpected problems.
Sentinel HASP Runtime Environment Additional Information:
A web-based management tool – Sentinel Admin Control Center – is installed as part of the HASP runtime software. After the installation, this management interface can be accessed using a browser and opening the URL http://servername:1947/_int_/devices.html, where servername points to the system running Sentinel HASP runtime software (localhost for the local system). Using this management application, licenses can be displayed and updated.
The image below is an example of the web-based GUI (prior to HASP runtime version 7.60).
The image below shows an example of the web-based GUI starting with version 7.60.
You can also go to the main page of Sentinel ACC by using the URL http://servername:1947. From there, you can display the key list by selecting the option Sentinel Keys on the left.
Details about the Sentinel Admin Control Center (ACC) are described later in the document.
Emulator Behavior
This section describes the behavior of the emulator when identifying licenses and checking license validity.
Identifying the License
The Charon emulator does not check the type of license available. It only verifies if a license is present and has the necessary characteristics that allow the emulator to run.
If more than one license is available, Charon will take the first one discovered. As this may lead to undesirable behavior, newer versions of the Charon emulator products have configuration parameters enabling a more deterministic license selection.
Charon production licenses are typically time restricted or unlimited. Backup licenses are typically limited by the number of license check executions (1 execution = 1 interval check). The initial check during the startup of the emulator counts as one execution. The default interval is 1 hour.
The management of multiple keys is described in the section Handling Multiple License Keys and Product Licenses.
Checking the License and Detecting Removed or Invalid Licenses
A Charon emulator product will not run without a valid license. For Sentinel HASP licenses (the topic of this guide) this license can be provided on a USB hardware dongle (a Sentinel HASP key) or as a software license bound to the hardware of the host system or the network license server. A loss or defect of a license will cause the emulator to stop.
To check the validity of a license, Charon performs the following steps:
The Charon emulator checks the text block of the license to determine if it is allowed to run (if there is a product section which corresponds to the emulator).
Then Charon checks the feature associated with the product to see if the feature is valid - that is, not expired, not counted to 0, and if there are still some instance-slots available to run the emulator.
If there is no matching product section or if the feature is not valid, Charon reports the problem in the log and shuts down.
Charon products check the availability of a valid license at different points in time:
1. At startup:
If no valid license is found, an error message will be written to the emulator log file and the emulator will not start.
In some emulator products it is possible to configure the number of retries and the waiting time between them by adding parameters to the emulator configuration file. Please refer to the product documentation for the details regarding the relevant parameters:
Charon-AXP/VAX:
license_key_lookup_retryparameterCharon-PAR:
license_retry_periodandlicense_retry_countparameters (obsolete starting with version 1.10)For current Charon-SSP versions, a startup delay can be configured if the emulator is configured via the Charon Manager to be started with the host operating system start.
2. At regular intervals during the runtime of the emulator (the default license check period of 1 hour can be changed by Stromasys using the appropriate license parameters):
If the previously used valid license has been removed, has disappeared, is defect, or has become invalid, the emulator will report the loss of the license in the log file and continue operation for a limited amount of time as described below.
If there is another valid license, for example a backup license defined in the configuration file, it will be used.
Starting with Charon-AXP/VAX 4.9 and Charon-PAR 1.10, Charon allows for a grace period of 12 hours during which the software checks for the presence of a valid license every 10 minutes until a valid license is found. If no valid license is found after the grace period has expired, the emulator will stop. Starting with version Charon-AXP/VAX 4.12-21014, a longer grace period can be provided by Stromasys depending on contractual agreements.
Earlier versions of the above products and other emulator products: should there still be no valid license at the next regular license check (this default interval may be changed by individual Charon products), the emulator will stop.
If a time-restricted license is used and it expires, the Charon instance tries to find its replacement automatically and, if found, proceeds using the replacement license.
Important note for Windows installations: any running emulators will be stopped if the license service is forced to stop despite existing service dependencies (i.e., running emulators). So any running guest systems must be cleanly shutdown before restarting the license service in order to avoid data loss. This is the behavior at the time of writing. It may change in future versions.
See Monitoring Licenses for more information about log file entries related to licensing problems.