UniKey Console Tool

Introduction

UniKey console version is a powerful tool to help software vendors manage their software development, license software and track their software sales performance. It can be integrated into your ERP, CRM and Financial system seamlessly.

The UniKey console is designed to follow the waterfall software development procedure, which helps software vendors manage their different products along its whole lifecycle. The feature based license management method is an innovative way to protect your software away from intruders and to license efficiently.

To administrate all software, check the sales history and gather information to prepare for the following software development, UniKey console employs a database to record information. It supports almost all database techniques available in today’s market, such as SQL, MySQL and Oracle.

Additionally, this Console supports multiple users to logon the system. Different operators in different roles can logon and operate the console utility within their personal level of permission. For example, employees from product department can logon the Console system, and submit product orders, but they cannot see any other information about the sales department.

Deployment

This section will introduce how to deploy the UniKey console on your system. The console has two parts, the front is a GUI which is a green software and does not need any installation. Users simply copy the folder to their computer.

The next step is to install a database and create tables. In the SDK, we provide a MySQL package. Double click on the mysql-5.5.15 icon, and follow the install wizard to finish the MySQL installation. After installing database, click on “Start”, and open the MySQL command line client.

Logon to the database by entering your password.

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To create tables, input “<source file directory>\createconsoletables.sql” and press enter. After the database has been successfully built, open the console GUI by double clicking on the Console icon.  

Working Mode

The UniKey Console provides two different modes for users, Manage Mode and Device Mode. The Manage Mode is mainly used to manage the whole lifecycle of your software, and allows multiple operators to logon the system to implement their operations with their own levels of permission. Device mode provides a quick way to configure parameters or generate an update file for a UniKey device.

Manage Mode

The UniKey console Manage Mode is closely follows the software lifecycle, from the beginning of software design to the end of software development. At the design stage, software designers will separate the software into different blocks according to their functions. We highly recommend those medium to large software vendors use the manage mode to manage and license your software.

Logon

This system supports remote login. Users can set up the server’s IP via the GUI, and logon the server remotely to finish their operation.

To start using the Console, double click on the UniKey Console. The logon interface will pop up.

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Input the user name and password to logon the system.

• If it is the first time you logon the system, the user name is administrator, and password is admin.

• The administrator shall logon the system and change their password first, and then he/she can create other accounts for different operators.

• If you try to logon to a server remotely, click on “Network Setting” and in the pop-up window, input the server IP address and port number.

Product

The product panel provides a series of interfaces for product related operations, including creating license features and generating product license strategies by combining one or more license features together.

Feature Setting

The feature setting is the most basic element to form a license for a product. For example, if the software requires a license based on expiration time, a time module shall be selected and the expiration time shall be set. This will form a license feature. If more license strategies are going to be used, more license features can be created.

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Click on “Add” to add a license feature in the pop-up window.

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As you can see from the above picture, lots of license features can be used to build up a single product license, such as license module, memory, arithmetic, SID, max connection, partition information and etc.

License Module

This feature limits access to the software based on rules. When the correct UniKey is connected, the software bound to the UniKey is activated.

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There are two ways to use the license module. First is to bind a module to the software, once the module is enabled, the software will start working; second is to set the execute count, every time when the software is started, the count will decrement until the value reaches 0.

Memory

UniKey has 4K memory which allows developers to store any information, such as software abstract, version information, buyers or developers’ information, etc.

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In the feature setting:

• Input the encoding in the left column;

• Input the start address, which refers the start point where the content will be stored;

• Input the length, which refers the length of contents that will be stored in the memory.

Arithmetic

To protect your software safely, it is a good idea to write a block of code inside the UniKey device itself, therefore without the device, the software cannot run. The arithmetic option is designed for this purpose.

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In the feature setting:

• Input your custom arithmetic.

• Input the start address, to set the start point of the arithmetic;

• Input the length, so that the arithmetic will end at the start address plus the length.

SID Range

SID is another important property in UniKey that can provide effective license management and software protection. Developers can use this feature to set it so that only one key or several keys can launch a specific copy of software.

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Feature setting:

In the SID generation mode, which will generate a rule for how UniKey SID codes are created, there are 4 different methods of generation:

• All same: all SID burned to UniKey devices will be the same

• Increment: the SID value of every UniKey device will add 1 from the initial value, when been produced

• Decrement: the SID value of every UniKey device will decrease by 1

• Time/date: the SID value will be the producing time/date

The initial value gives a starting SID value/position/number.

Update Tag

The update tag is mainly used to update related issues. It can be used to record the number of times the software has been updated, or protect an update file from being used by other UniKey devices with a different update tag.

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Max Connection

Some software may employ a floating license strategy, where people on the network will share a license. The maximum number of connections can restrict the total number of users who share the same license simultaneously on the local network.

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Seed

For every UniKey device, the password cannot be customized, but developers can generate their own password by themselves. The method to generate passwords is by entering a seed value in the seed setting, and when the license is been produced, the password of the device will be changed to the value calculated by the UniKey system based on this seed value.

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the feature setting, input the seed value.

• Each UniKey dongle can only generate a new password TWICE! It cannot generate new passwords any more.

• When generating a new password, the dongle is formatted.

Partition information

Each UniKey Drive device has four partitions:

• Virtual CD-ROM emulation drive

• Public partition

• Password protected partition

• Hidden partition

Customers will assign space for each partition and this page is used by the customer to set the space for each partition on the UniKey Drive device.

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Files in hidden partition(UniKey Drive)

UniKey Drive has a unique hidden partition which allows users to store files. Each file stored on the hidden partition is invisible and inaccessible to the end users. Vendors could integrate UniKey Drive APIs with their software and then that software will be able to access the files stored on the UniKey Drive’s hidden partition.

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The files stored on the hidden partition should have the filename as 8.3 format, for example, 12345678.123

Product setting

Product setting is used to combine the basic license elements in features together to form a product license strategy, to meet the different requirements of customers, businesses and selling strategies. For each software package, decision makers can set several license strategies by selecting different license features which have been set in the feature setting, to maximize their market share and revenue, and for some special requirements for customers, a customized license can be generated quickly.

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The above picture shows the panel of the product setting, and to add a license for a product click on “Add”.

After clicking on Add, this window is displayed

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Input the name for the product. A comment can be added in the comment box and please choose a compatible device.

In the feature setting area, you can reset the update tag, max connections, seed, and SID generation mode by checking the option items respectively. This provides a quick interface to modify the license settings.

From the feature list choose the preferred features from the list and click on “>” to move them to the desired features on the product to the right. These features will combine together to form a product license.

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Based on the current product, you can create a new license quickly by using the “Customize” function, the current license policy of the product will be listed in the product current feature column directly, and you can input a new name and reset values or add more features to create another license.

The product can be changed by clicking on “Edit”, and can be deleted by “Delete”.