License Templates

License templates are a fundamental component of the Babel Licensing system, serving as blueprints for generating licenses with consistent configurations. These templates streamline the licensing process by defining standard configurations that can be reused across multiple license instances, ensuring consistency and reducing manual effort.

Advantages of Using Templates

Using license templates in the Babel User Interface offers several advantages, making it a valuable feature for efficient license management. Here are some of the advantages:

1. Consistency and Efficiency: License templates allow you to define standard configurations for floating licenses or license activation. By using templates, you ensure consistency in the licensing process and avoid manual entry of the same information for each license. This saves time and minimizes the risk of errors or inconsistencies in license creation.

2. Streamlined License Generation: With license templates, generating licenses becomes a streamlined process. Templates pre-fill the relevant information, such as product details, license fields, features, and restrictions. This eliminates the need to manually enter repetitive information and speeds up the license generation process.

3. Customizability: License templates offer flexibility and customization options. You can create multiple templates with different configurations based on your specific licensing needs. For example, you can have templates for different product editions, license types, or feature sets. This allows you to cater to various licensing scenarios and easily adapt to changing licensing requirements.

4. Reusability: License templates are reusable assets. Once you create a template, you can use it as a blueprint to generate multiple licenses with similar configurations. This is particularly beneficial when issuing floating licenses or activation licenses to multiple customers or users. You can quickly generate licenses based on the template, reducing manual effort and ensuring consistency across licenses.

5. Simplified Updates and Maintenance: License templates make it easier to update and maintain licenses. If there are changes in licensing terms, product details, or restrictions, you can modify the template accordingly. This automatically applies the changes to all licenses generated from that template, ensuring that the updated information is consistently reflected across licenses.

6. Standardization and Compliance: License templates help enforce standardization and compliance in license creation. By defining specific fields and configurations in the template, you ensure that all licenses adhere to the required licensing rules, restrictions, and compliance regulations. This promotes license standardization and helps maintain compliance with licensing agreements and legal obligations.

7. Centralized Storage: The Babel database provides a centralized store for license templates. This eliminates the need for scattered template files stored across different systems or folders, ensuring a repository for managing and organizing templates.

Overall, the use of license templates in the Babel User Interface streamlines the license creation process, ensures consistency and accuracy, and provides flexibility in adapting licenses to various scenarios. By leveraging the advantages of license templates, you can efficiently manage and generate licenses, saving time and enhancing the overall licensing experience for both licensors and licensees.

Template Structure and Components

A license template in Babel Licensing consists of several key sections that define various aspects of the license:

Basic Template Information

• Name: A descriptive name for the template that identifies its purpose or the type of license it generates.

• License Type: Defines the category of license (e.g., Standard, Professional, Enterprise).

• Mode: Specifies the licensing model:

  • Activation: Licenses that are activated and bound to specific machine

  • Floating: Licenses that can be shared among multiple users with concurrent usage limits

  • File: Traditional license files that are distributed to users

License Configuration

• User Key Format: Defines the format for generating unique user keys (e.g., STD-{TOKEN:5}-{TOKEN:5}-{TOKEN:5}).

• Issue Date: Toggle to include the date when the license is issued.

• Expire Days: Number of days after which the license will expire.

• Support Days: Duration of provided support in days.

• License File Name: The default filename for generated license files.

• Format: The format of the license (XML, XML DSig, ASCII, BASE32).

• Description: Additional information about the template's purpose or usage.

Product and Signing

• Product: Associates the template with a specific product in the Babel Licensing Database.

• Sign Keys: Cryptographic keys used to digitally sign licenses generated from the template, ensuring their authenticity and integrity.

License Properties

The License Properties section contains four main tabs:

1. Assemblies: Lists the .NET assemblies that the license applies to, including details such as:

   • Assembly Name

   • Version

   • Culture

   • Public Key Token

2. Components: Specifies components within assemblies that are licensed.

3. Fields: Custom license fields that can store additional information.

4. Features: Defines specific features that are enabled by the license.

Restrictions

Templates can include various restrictions that control how the license can be used:

• Trial: Limits usage based on time or number of executions, including:

  • Expire Days: Duration of the trial period

  • Run Instances: Maximum number of concurrent instances

  • Run Count: Total number of allowed executions

  • Run Time: Maximum allowed runtime

  • Terms: Additional terms and conditions

• Hardware: Restricts the license to specific hardware configurations.

• Domain: Limits license usage to specific network domains.

• Beta: Designates the license for beta or pre-release software.

• Usage: Defines specific usage scenarios or environments.

License Models and Template Configuration

Each licensing model requires specific configuration within the template:

Activation License Templates

Activation license templates are designed for licenses that are tied to specific machines. Key configurations include:

• Mode set to "Activation"

• User Key format definition

• Allowed sites (number of activations permitted)

• Hardware restrictions (optional)

Floating License Templates

Floating license templates enable license sharing across multiple users or machines. Important settings include:

• Mode set to "Floating"

• User Key format definition

• Allowed sites (maximum concurrent users)

• Heartbeat interval (implicitly defined by the service)

File License Templates

File license templates generate traditional license files that can be distributed to users. Key aspects include:

• Mode set to "File"

• License file name

• Format (XML, XML DSig, ASCII, BASE32)

• Sign keys for digital signature

Managing Templates in Babel UI

The Data Navigation item in the Babel User Interface (UI) serves as a central hub for managing various data-related aspects of the Babel Licensing system. This feature provides users with convenient access to different data management functionalities, including license template management.

To access license templates, click the Data button on the navigation panel of the Babel UI, then select the Templates item.

This will show the License Template grid, a list of license templates in a structured table format. Each row in the grid represents a specific license template, while the columns present key information associated with the templates. This includes details such as the template name, product association, license format, and any additional attributes or settings defined for the template.

Babel UI License Templates

Within the license template grid, you can:

1. Viewing License Templates: The grid view allows users to quickly browse and view the existing license templates. It provides a consolidated view of all templates available in the system, making it easy to assess the overall license template landscape.

2. Filtering and Searching: The grid view offers filtering and searching capabilities to help locate specific license templates. Users can apply filters based on different criteria, such as template name, product association, or license format, to narrow down the list and find the desired template quickly.

3. Sorting and Ordering: The grid view allows users to sort the templates based on specific columns, such as template name or product association. This helps in organizing the templates in a preferred order for better visibility and management.

4. Editing and Modifying Templates: Users can edit and modify the properties of license templates directly from the grid view. This includes updating the template name, product association, license format, and other attributes. By making changes in the grid view, users can efficiently update the templates without navigating to separate edit screens.

5. Deleting Templates: If a license template is no longer needed, users can delete it from the grid view. This removes the template from the system and ensures that it is no longer available for generating licenses. However, caution should be exercised while deleting templates to avoid unintended removal of critical or in-use templates.

6. Exporting: The license template grid view includes options for exporting the template file. This allows users to extract the template information for sharing purposes.

Create and Edit Templates

To create a new license template in the Babel UI, navigate to the "Templates" section under the Data navigation group. Click on the "New template" button in the License Templates header to initiate the creation process. The template panel will be displayed, prompting you to associate the template with a specific product, enter relevant information, and select a license format. Fill in the necessary details such as product name, version, allowed features, restrictions, and any custom fields required.

Babel UI New License Template

After inputting all the necessary information for the new license template, you can proceed to generate and save it within the Babel Licensing Database. Simply click the "Generate" button, and the system will use the provided details to create the new license template based on the selected options and settings. This ensures that the template is tailored to your specific requirements.

Once the license template has been generated, you can save it by clicking the "Save" button. This action stores the template securely in the Babel Licensing Database, making it easily accessible for future use. The License Template Grid will then be presented, displaying all the license templates available in the database, including the newly created template.