uses up all of his accounts, he can delete
obsolete accounts to recover space for new
users or buy more licenses.
In such cases, the maximum number of
registered users is entered as the license
quantity. The application on the server reads
this information and compares it regularly,
and whenever new accounts are created, with
the current number of accounts. If a license
has been breached, no new accounts can be
added. Alternatively, accounts above the paid
limit can be deactivated, or all users receive an
error message.
Single User License via a Portal
A common and simple form of implementation
is a single user license bound to a specific
machine. This is often used in combination
with a user portal. Every user of the client is
given his or her own account, and the license
administrator of the client allocates a license
to each user. The user can now activate the
license on his or her computer. If he or she
needs to move the license, e.g. to use it on
a second workstation, the user can deactivate
the license and reactivate it on the other
system.
This can be done with CodeMeter License
Central and a simple change to the WebDepot
license portal. A single user license is the
standard licensing model of CodeMeter and is
immediately available.
Software as a Service
Named User licenses are a popular option
when offering Software as a Service, with the
software developer providing cloud access to
the application in question. Since the system is
operated by the developer, he can effectively
control how the licenses are being used.
Nonsense names and group accounts can be
identified and the problem remedied with a
“quiet word” with the client.
ready-for-use licensing model. In this case, the
developer chooses whether the license is tied
to a user name, a user name and domain, or
a user name chosen by the developer himself.
accessing the last value and the date when
the value was changed. This makes it easy
to implement models like “Change every 30
days”.
When licenses are bound to a user name with or
without specified domain, CodeMeter handles
almost the entire process automatically. The
developer simply needs to add the right user
names and, optionally, domain. When the
license is used, CodeMeter Runtime checks
the user name and domain automatically on
the client PC. If a fitting Named User license
is available, it would be used first. Otherwise,
a Concurrent User license is chosen. If neither
a Named User nor Concurrent User license, an
error message is displayed.
Named User Licenses from the
Client’s Point of View
A user name from an existing database can be
used for binding the license to a user name.
The CodeMeter API informs the software in
the CodeMeter Runtime of the user name in
question.
But what happens to the process when user
names change? This can be defined with
entries in CodeMeter License Central that are
completed when the license is activated. An
adjustment to the WebDepot license portal or
the software activation assistant and gateway
allows the name to be overwritten upon each
activation. To change the user name, the
license is deactivated and reactivated with
a new user name. The developer can decide
how often this can be done, simply count the
instances, or enforce a hard limit. CodeMeter
License Central gives you the option of
There can be instances when a client wants to
use a Concurrent license like a Named User
license. For instance, two teams might want
to share ten licenses. The two team leaders
want to have a personal license reserved for
themselves, while the other eight licenses
should be at the disposal of their team
members.
The client’s administrator can do so by
configuring the settings in CodeMeter
WebAdmin. The administrator would allocate
one license each to the two team leaders,
which would behave like Named User licenses.
The administrator can also define the rules
for using the remaining licenses, for instance
reserving three licenses exclusively for each
team and leaving the final two up for grabs.
This type of setup is popular particularly for
accounting reasons. One team might have
paid for four licenses, the other for six. All
ten licenses are stored on a shared server,
but each team might want exclusive access to
the licenses it bought. To do so, both teams
need separate Active Directory groups, with
one team getting four and the other team
receiving six licenses.
Similar to when the license is bound to a
specific user name, CodeMeter can again
set the maximum number of accounts in the
license and monitor them in the software. The
special advantage of CodeMeter in this case is
that it can combine Software as a Service with
on-premise software or act as a token for the
reliable identification of a user.
Hard Binding to a User Name
Excellent controls are possible by binding the
license to the log-in name of the user. This
option has been completely remodeled for
CodeMeter 6.30 and is now available as a
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