CHARON-AXP for Windows licensing

1 General description
2 Parameters defined by CHARON-AXP license
3 CHARON-AXP technical licensing models
- 3.1 Regular Sentinel HASP keys
- 3.2 Network Sentinel HASP keys
- 3.3 Software licenses
4 Multiple licenses configuration
5 License installation
6 License management
- 6.1 Sentinel Admin Control Center
  - 6.1.1 General Description
  - 6.1.2 Disable remote keys access
- 6.2 License management utility
7 Removing CHARON-AXP software licenses
8 License Deinstallation
9 Special "backup" license keys

General description

The CHARON-AXP product is protected by licenses issued on a customer basis by STROMASYS Inc. The CHARON-AXP license defines all the specifics of a particular CHARON-AXP distribution and its usage.

The license is implemented in the form of a hardware dongle (a Sentinel HASP key) or a software license bound to the hardware. Please be careful with your license key, in case of loss or damage, the CHARON Virtual Machines (VM) will not run or start until the license key is replaced. For redundancy, STROMASYS recommends to use a backup license key (purchased separately) that can replace the main license key for a restricted period of time. It is possible to specify the backup license in the CHARON VM configuration file to prevent CHARON VM from stopping in case the main license dongle is no longer available.

The CHARON-AXP license being checked upon the start of CHARON VM and at a specified interval (defined by the license) during the emulated system execution (default is 1 hour). If CHARON VM detects the absence (or malfunction) of the license key or software license, CHARON VM will try to use a backup license (if specified in the configuration file). If the license is not available or not specified, CHARON VM displays a warning message in the log file requesting the license key reconnection or software license reactivation. If the license is not reconnected or reactivated within a given period of time (the check interval), CHARON VM exits.

The CHARON-AXP main license is time restricted or unlimited, the backup license is limited by the number of executions (1 execution = 1 interval check)

Note that if the time-restricted license is used and it expires, the CHARON VM tries to find its replacement automatically and, if found, proceeds using the replacement license.

The CHARON-AXP software license is not distributed for Proof-of-Concept and evaluation installations. Only hardware dongles are used in these cases.

It is important to keep the HASP license keys connected to a computer powered on even if the CHARON VM is not running because the keys contain a built-in battery that needs to be charged. If the battery is completely discharged, the license key can be irreparably damaged.

Update of the CHARON-AXP license can be performed on the fly without stopping the CHARON VM. The expiration date and execution counter can be updated, however the CHARON VM virtual hardware configuration should remain unchanged. At the next license check, the CHARON VM will use the updated license.

The following sections list all the main parameters of the CHARON-AXP licensing mechanism.

Parameters defined by CHARON-AXP license

The following table represents all the parameters defined by the CHARON-AXP license:

General	Products relevant	Optional

General	Products relevant	Optional
Physical key ID License Number End user name Master key ID License release date and time Update Number Purchasing Company name. In most cases the company to which the key was issued originally	Commercial product name Commercial product code Commercial product version and range of build numbers suitable for running Range of CHARON-AXP virtual models available for running Type of host CPU required Host operating system required Number of virtual CPUs enabled for virtual SMP systems Minimum number of host CPU cores required Minimum host memory required Maximum memory emulated. If not present the value defaults to the maximum memory possible for the particular virtual system. Note that the maximum memory may not be available to the virtual system if the host computer has insufficient physical memory. Maximum number of CHARON VMs that can be run concurrently Whether or not CHAPI (CHARON API) can be used with this product Product and Field Test expiration dates (if any) Product and Field Test executions counter (if any) Maximum number of hosts that may run CHARON VMs concurrently (in the case of a networking license) Level of support (if any), end date of any support contract, the "First Line" Service Provider Frequency of CHARON VM license checking during CHARON VM running	Parameter that reduces the maximum speed of CHARON-AXP (might be required for synchronization with legacy hardware systems) Parameter that enables the product to support additional serial lines through an option board from a company such as DIGI Parameter that prohibits use of Advanced CPU Emulation. If not present the Advanced CPU Emulation is enabled

CHARON-AXP technical licensing models

CHARON-AXP licensing models are divided into 3 groups:

Regular Sentinel HASP keys

This is the most common way of CHARON-AXP licensing.

The CHARON-AXP license is embedded in a Sentinel HASP dongle. This license is available only on the host where the dongle is physically installed.

The CHARON-AXP installation procedure takes care of the Sentinel HASP run-time (driver) installation. Once the CHARON-AXP product has been installed, it is possible to plug in the regular license key and proceed with using CHARON-AXP without additional configuration steps.

The number of CHARON VMs allowed to run on a particular host may be restricted by the license content (see above).

Network Sentinel HASP keys

The Network Sentinel HASP key (red dongle) can be shared between several hosts running CHARON virtual machines (including the host on which the network license is installed).

If CHARON-AXP is installed on the host where the network key is connected, no additional steps are required. The Sentinel driver is activated as part of the CHARON-AXP installation. If the host does not have CHARON-AXP installed, the host can still distribute the connected network license(s) to the CHARON virtual machines running on other hosts. In this case the Sentinel driver must be installed on the host manually.

The Sentinel run-time driver is distributed as a part of the CHARON-AXP kit. Please see the "License installation" section of this chapter for details.

Once the Sentinel run-time driver is installed and the network license is connected, the CHARON VM can be started on any appropriate host on the LAN network segment.

CHARON-AXP/VAX version 4.7 build 171-01 introduced a change with respect to network licenses. In previous versions of CHARON-AXP/VAX a network license controlled the maximum number of client host systems and CHARON instances per host system (station/instance mode).

In the current CHARON-AXP/VAX 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.

Software licenses

The CHARON-AXP Software License (SL) is a "virtual" key with exactly the same functionality as the hardware dongle. It does not require any hardware but the installation of the Sentinel run-time environment is required.

The Software Licenses (SL) are best suited for stable environments because their correct function depends on certain characteristics of the host system. Changing any of these characteristics will invalidate the license.

If the CHARON host runs on real hardware, the 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 Software Licensing restrictions or contact your Stromasys representative.

Software licenses are always network-wide on Windows, so they behave the same way as Network HASP keys.

Multiple licenses configuration

For any type of licensing, a CHARON VM can use only one valid ("active") license (of given vendor code) at a time.

The "HASP License details" utility (it can be started from CHARON Virtual Machines Manager) displays a range of available licenses but note that, by default, a CHARON VM may use any of them as the "active" one - unless it is directly specified by the "license_key_id" parameter (see below). The utility provides the license numbers and ID / IP addresses of the hosts where the licenses are installed.

The general recommendation is to avoid the usage of multiple keys in one network segment. Use only one locally installed license per host or one network license per local network segment containing several CHARON hosts.

When needed, it is possible to use a special parameter in the CHARON VM configuration files to specify exactly which license must be used by each particular CHARON VM: