Each Charon emulator product requires a valid license to run. This license can be a HASP or a VE license. Different steps are required to configure the emulator to use the license depending on the license type:

Please note: when configuring the emulator, VE licenses and HASP licenses are mutually exclusive. If a configuration file contains the definition of a VE license, any HASP license definition is ignored (that is, the VE configuration takes precedence).

Initial License Configuration for VE Licenses

If you use a Charon VE license server and the matching Charon emulator packages (minimum version Charon-PAR 3.0.6), the following steps are required:

• Configure the license server address, the TCP port number (if license not offered on the default port 8083), and the passphrase in the license section of the emulator configuration using the following syntax:
  

  license_key_id "VE://<license-server-IP>[:port]/<passphrase>/"



• If this has not been done already:
  • Create a C2V (customer-to-vendor) file on the license server. Use this file to request a license from Stromasys.
  • The license received in response (V2C file) must be installed on the license server.
• If a backup license server is to be used, add a second license_key_id line for the backup server. The first line indicates the primary server, the second the backup server. Only one backup server can be configured.

Currently, the VE license server is available in supported cloud and VMware environments, and on physical servers.

Firewall considerations:

If the VE license server is not installed on the same system as the emulator, any intermediate firewall must allow at least the port on which the license is served. Optionally, the firewalls must allow the port on which the web-based GUI is available. These ports are configurable on the VE license server. The default values are the following:

• Default port on which licenses are served by the VE license server: TCP 8083.
• Default port on which the web-based GUI runs: TCP 8084.

Further information:

Please refer to the Licensing Documentation on the Stromasys documentation website and the section License Management Overview for Charon-PAR in this document for information about how to request and install a license on a VE license server.

Initial License Configuration for Sentinel HASP Licenses

To access a HASP license, the emulator needs the Sentinel runtime software. This software is part of the Charon-PAR for Linux installation kits. Refer to the software installation section for software installation instructions.

Please note: Charon-PAR version 3.0.0 and higher is incompatible with licenses of earlier versions. Earlier product versions are incompatible with licenses for Charon-PAR 3.0.0 and higher. Charon-PAR licenses with version 2.1.0 are not compatible with emulators running Charon-PAR version 2.0.0

If you have a hardware USB license dongle, simply connect it to the system after the Charon-PAR software has been installed and verify that the license can be read correctly by entering the following command:

Please note that the above command must be run from a local connection. If you are connected over a remote connection (e.g., ssh), you will receive an error. As a workaround, you can display the license contents with the following command (adapt the path of the command if your installation location is different):

Verify that the license contains the correct product, the correct number of emulator instances, and the correct expiration date (if applicable).

Example of a Charon-PAR/PA9-64 license:

If you purchased a software license or if you want to use a network license server, or if you need more information about licensing in general and how to handle licenses in Charon-PAR, please refer to the section License Management Overview for Charon-PAR and in the Licensing Documentation. The license chapter contains important information about security and more complicated use cases (for example, multiple license keys, software licenses, and network licenses).