We're happy to announce that SOLO Server Automation build 1.20.1.0 has been released, with not one but two major new features! We have added support for dynamic license validation options and license grouping.
Dynamic License Validation Options
Periodic license validation with SOLO Server is an important feature to help you maintain control of your software.
Previously, the intervals controlling when an application would attempt and require validation with SOLO Server needed to be hard-coded into the application. This release introduces a new License Validation Options feature which allows these settings to be dynamically controlled from SOLO Server when also using Protection PLUS 5 SDK.
This allows you to more easily satisfy diverse customer licensing requirements, as not all customers always have or allow a connection to the Internet. By being able to update these validation parameters without the need to deploy a new build, you will have more flexibility to adjust to different intervals and better adapt to different validation use cases.
In SOLO Server, the following features have been added:
- A new configuration page is now available through the Configure License Validation Options entry in the Actions menu on the product listing page. Sets of options can be configured here which specify whether to always require validation, or if not, the validation attempt interval, the validation requirement interval, and the warning period prior to validation being required.
- The Product Option configuration now includes a new License Validation Options setting to specify which validation options the given option will use.
- To override the validation options at the license level, the license configuration also includes a new License Validation Options setting.
- The selected settings are now included in the Protection PLUS 5 license file and are available in the LicenseValidationOptions class.
License Grouping
In cases where you software needs to run in a disconnected environment, it is still possible to get updated license parameters from SOLO Server through a manual request and response process, but this can become inconvenient for customers if they need to do it often, or for a large number of devices.
To address this, and other advanced licensing scenarios, a new License Grouping feature has been introduced which allows linking multiple licenses into groups.
With License Grouping and the Protection PLUS 5 SDK, a fingerprinted primary license file can be activated on one or more ​disconnected computers, and license parameter updates can be performed in a mass deployment. Updates such as feature flags or ​updated maintenance expiration dates can be applied by the customer downloading a volume license file that has been assigned the same License Group.
You get the control of a fingerprinted license file, as well as an easy way to update that license file without going through a manual request and response process.
In SOLO Server, the following features have been added:
- The Product Option configuration now includes a new License Groups setting which controls where this feature is enabled or required when adding and editing licenses.
- When adding a license for a product option with this new setting set to Enabled or Required, a new License Group option is now available which allows specifying an existing group or creating a new group for the new license.
- On the customer details page, a new License Group listing is now included listing all of the customer's license groups and their included licenses.
Read the full release notes here. And as always we'd love to hear from you so feel free to reach out and contact us with your questions and feedback.