Abstract
Currently, the ability to protect and license the i4scada software is facilitated by the use of flexible protection and licensing tools together with a protection key. To understand licensing and software protection, the individual components are described in detail below. Essentially, licensing consists of 2 main components.
The software license and the software protection.
The software license regulates the use and availability of the individual software modules, such as the runtime license, the MessengerPro license, the number of licensed data points etc. Software protection is used to detect unauthorized use of the software, e.g. by cloning.
Licensing
Licensing Architecture
An i4scada license is the combination of several i4SCADA software modules under a unique license number.
The Product Key identifies the purchased software package. A software package can contain different software modules.
The Product Key is in the format 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012 and contains numbers and letters.
The Product Key is required to activate and unlock the software license on the corresponding i4SCADA server.
Examples:
Activating the license
Activation of the i4SCADA license on the i4SCADA server is mandatory. Activation generates a unique Key ID for the i4SCADA server and activates all purchased software modules. The Key ID is a numeric value and can be read by calling http://localhost:1947 at the i4SCADA server installation. Read the licensing tutorial at i4scada Licensing tutorials
Licensing Variants
Depending on the license purchased, several i4SCADA servers can be licensed with a single product key. Unique key IDs are generated for each i4SCADA Server.
License Loss
In the event of damage or loss of the license on the i4SCADA server, a new license can be activated by the customer. The number of available licenses for an existing Product Key can be extended for this purpose. It is not necessary to completely regenerate a new i4SCADA license. Contact sales or technical support in case of a lost or damaged license.
License Management
Every change to a created license, e.g. expansion of the data points, renewal of the SLA, is recorded in internal License Management. Each change is given a unique identifier, namely EID = Enhancement ID. This means that all changes to an i4SCADA license can be tracked seamlessly. The EID is irrelevant for the customer.
License handling by Sales or Customer Service
In the case of a sales order or a support request, the Key ID must be known. This is the only way to clearly assign the license information to the corresponding i4SCADA server. See also chapter “License Activation”. If the Product Key and Key ID are uniquely assigned, the Product Key can also be used to identify the license.
Software Protection
The i4SCADA software is protected against unauthorized copying. You can find a detailed description here: https://help.ewon.biz/i4/i4scada/en/i4scada-licensing-tutorials.html.
The detection of an unauthorized copy is called “Clone Detection”. In this case, the i4SCADA server runtime CANNOT be started. Clone Protection" is independent of a valid i4SCADA license and is performed before the license data is checked by the i4SCADA server.
A cloned license can be detected via the i4SCADA LicenseViewer or directly via http://localhost:1947 -> Sentinel Keys menu or via the trace in the i4ActivityAnalyzer.