An open-source license server is a great solution if you are selling a software product to customers who run the application in an offline setting, where software licensing is otherwise an issue. Given the lack of internet connection in, for example, air-gapped networks, your application will not be able to communicate with the software licensing system, and you will lose the ability to manage the licenses.
In today’s blog, I will briefly cover how the open-source license server by Cryptolens helps you out in those situations so you can implement software licensing in an offline setting. Please read our full implementation guide if you want to implement our license server.
We have also made a YouTube video for this blog:
Open-Source License Server
First of all, let’s dig a bit deeper into the problem. Whether you are using an internal software licensing system or working with a Licensing as a Service (LaaS) provider, you most likely need an internet connection to verify a customer’s license key. Then what happens if you want to sell offline applications?
Let’s take the example that you sell your application to a large enterprise. The 3 employees who will use the application are working in an air-gapped environment. When they run the application without internet access, the connection between the application and the software licensing system is lost. That means that the license files cannot be kept up to date.
This is where a license server from Cryptolens comes into the picture. One computer, which is called the license server, is allowed internet access. Then, we let the 3 machines that run the application contact that license server when performing license verification. It is then the license server that contacts the software licensing system. Key verification can now proceed as normal, and we can keep track of this customer’s licenses, even though they are running our application in an offline setting.
Cryptolens is a Licensing as a Service (LaaS) provider that offers a customizable license server to suit your unique licensing requirements. Our implementation guide and customer support make it effortless to set up offline licensing!