KEYnote 32 English - Fall 2016 | Page 4

K N O W   H O W Switching to CodeMeter When you are a newcomer to software licensing, you have the great opportunity to design the perfect solution for your needs from the ground up. However, many developers have been using some form of software protection for many years already, be it our own legacy product WibuKey, a solution from a competitor, or even a custom technology made by themselves. When thinking about switching to CodeMeter, one question will be on their minds: “What about the old licenses?” Knowing Your Requirements Migration One important criterion before making the switch is knowing your requirements. Security is a key pillar in this respect: How important is it for you to protect your software against reverse engineering? How important is copy protection? Another key principle to consider is the integration of licensing in your established processes: Does it matter whether the processes are the same for all products? Do you have to be able to create new licenses for older versions of your products? The third and equally important criterion is the budget you have available. Picking the Right Migration Scenario Once you know your requirements and priorities, you need to find the right migration scenario for your needs. A popular strategy for moving forward from this point is to allow a transition period in which parts of the old 4 Maintain Old Device CodeMeter Extension CodeMeter CodeMeter Binding Extension Runtime Extension Use New Device in Parallel Two APIs in Prarallel Without Protection Suite CodeMeter as Secure-ID Replace Old Device No Support of Older Versions Patch of OlderVersions With Protection Only License system continue to be used, while the installed CodeMeter base is slowly expanded until it is ready for a complete switch-over in the second phase. Another strategy is to migrate individual products to CodeMeter, while the bulk follows later. keep their old devices, but new clients receive a CmDongle or CmActLicense. CodeMeter Binding Extension You can also start to use CodeMeter License Central immediately and optimize your license creation and management processes. You can use Protection Suite, but without the added benefit of being able – at least not without major limitations – to lock down licenses with traps in your code. With CodeMeter Binding Extension, you can bind a software-based CmActLicense to an old dongle or other device. This puts the entire CodeMeter functionality at your disposal without having to replace dongles or retrofit older machines. Existing users can In this scenario, the strength of your copy protection depends on your old protection hardware’s ability to provide a securely readable and unique ID. CodeMeter 6.30 introduced the option of linking a We will take a look at typical scenarios: