KNOW-HOW
Activating Licenses on
Embedded Devices
Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things are a vision of all embedded devices being interconnected in the future.
In this future reality, the security that our devices ensure is key: when everything is connected with everything
else, entirely new forms of threats will arise. Hackers could hijack trains from the safety and comfort of their
living rooms or even sabotage the power supply of entire countries. CodeMeter’s ® encryption and identity /
permission checking mechanisms provide the backbone for the right response.
Apart from security concerns, the ability to
unlock features on demand is becoming
increasingly sought-after. However, different
devices might operate with similar hardware. Their features and price only differ as
a result of software settings or additional
software modules loaded onto the devices.
CodeMeter goes beyond security functions
and offers a complete system for software
protection and license management. But
how would a license reach an embedded
device?
A Connected World
The connected world of the future needs no
complicated solutions: the manufacturer of
the device simply provides a CmContainer
alongside it, which can be empty or already
equipped with activated licenses. Hardware dongles like the CmDongle are simply
hooked up to the device in the form of CF,
SD, or uSD cards or USB dongles. Purely
10
software-based solutions have CmActLicenses integrated in the system by means
of the CodeMeter API.
licenses. The ticket and the remote context
file are transmitted to the CodeMeter License
Central.
To activate a license, the manufacturer
creates a ticket in the CodeMeter License
Central (coming in the form of a sequence of
characters: NFGSX-VWNYJ-T74CD-48H5B7NEEJ) via SAP or a similar ERP system. The
relevant licenses are married to the ticket and
stored for retrieval in the CodeMeter License
Central, which is hosted either by the device
manufacturer or by Wibu-Systems. The end
user receives his or her ticket by mail or with
a physical delivery slip.
The CodeMeter License Central checks
whether the ticket is still valid and whether
it has not been used before. If the answer is
positive, a remote update file is created with
the waiting licenses. CodeMeter uses cryptographic means to make sure that this remote
update file can only be placed in the CmContainer it was meant for. The network sends
the remote update file back to the embedded
device. Creating and uploading the remote
context and update files is done with CodeMeter’s own API functions.
Once the end user has received the ticket, he
or she enters it on the embedded device as
planned by its manufacturer. A remote context
file is created by the CmContainer, which
includes the serial number of the dongle or
a fingerprint of the device in the case of soft
If the CodeMeter License Central is not used,
the remote update file can also be created by
means of the CodeMeter API or a command
line tool. This option is meant in particular for
trial and integration scenarios.