License Manager Usability Enhancements
Enhanced C/C++ Platform Support
Upgrading From Previous EasyLicenser Versions
Upgrading eCommerce Key Generation System
Upgrading Applications For The New Runtime Library
The purpose of this document
is to describe the new features in EasyLicenser 2.5.11, their benefits,
how to use them, and where to look for detailed information. Note that although
it is possible to directly upgrade from EasyLicenser 2.0 to EasyLicenser 2.5.11, this
document is focused on features that are new in EasyLicenser 2.5.11. EasyLicenser 2.0
users should first review
What's New In EasyLicenser 2.5 for information
on new features that were introduced in EasyLicenser 2.5.
Target audience: existing EasyLicenser 2.5 administrators and developers upgrading to 2.5.11.
Note that there is no visible impact on end users.
The key themes behind EasyLicenser 2.5.11 are:
Security enhancements.
Usability enhancements to the License Manager console, in particular for the management of license keys.
Enhanced C/C++ platform support.
The new security features are intended to make it more difficult to reverse engineer the license keys for all platforms and languages and to make it more difficult to reverse engineer the Java runtime library that are used by protected Java applications.
In addition to bug fixes, the most significant improvements to the License Manager UI console are:
Platform support for the C/C++ runtime libraries has been expanded to include 64-bit versions of the currently-supported platforms, as well as Mac OS X and an expanded set of Linux distributions. Base versions for the operating system, compiler and IDE have also been revised upward, and obsolete platform versions are no longer supported. The complete list of supported platforms is now:
For complete details on platform and compiler support, please refer to the C/C++ Runtime Library Platform Specifications document.
There are three types of upgrades: upgrading the license manager installation itself, upgrading an eCommerce web site or other back office system that uses the EasyLicenser key generation API's, and upgrading your application to use the EasyLicenser 2.5.11 run time libraries.
You can upgrade your existing EasyLicenser 1.1, EasyLicenser 2.0 or EasyLicenser 2.5 installation to EasyLicenser 2.5.11 without affecting your balance production license units or existing data as follows:
Download a fresh copy of the EasyLicenser upgrade package from the EasyLicenser web site at http://www.agilis-sw.com/ezlm/anondownload/ezlicmgrupgrd.zip or other URL provided by Agilis.
Position to within the existing product installation root directory (that is, in the ezlic1.1, ezlic2.0 or ezlic2.5 subdirectory).
Unzip the downloaded file into the directory. Your existing data and configuration files are preserved and are compatible with the current release.
Performing an upgrade of an existing production installation to EasyLicenser 2.5.11 has its limitations and constraints:
If you are upgrading from EasyLicenser 1.1, the upgrade will not automatically enable you to generate Orion server license keys. For this functionality, you will need to obtain a new Orion-enabled production EasyLicenser key from Agilis.
If you are upgrading from EasyLicenser 1.1 or 2.0, the upgrade will not automatically enable you to clone license keys or generate chained keys. To enable this functionality, you will need to obtain a production EasyLicenser 2.5+ level EasyLicenser key from Agilis.
If you are upgrading from EasyLicenser 1.1 or 2.0, the upgrade will result in an EasyLicenser 2.5.11 installation that has "ezlic1.1" or "ezlic2.0" as its root directory, and a combination of EasyLicenser 1.1 / 2.0 and 2.5.11 libraries. Although this does not impact its functioning, it is nevertheless disconcerting. You can clean up the files ending in "11" or "20" (except for the files in the cpp directory since the shared library naming convention for C/C++ runtime libraries has been frozen); however, the installation root directory cannot be renamed, otherwise the EasyLicenser configuration will no longer be usable.
You can upgrade your existing EasyLicenser 1.1, 2.0 or 2.5 based eCommerce site to EasyLicenser 2.5.11 without affecting your balance production license units or existing data as follows:
Download a fresh copy of the EasyLicenser eCommerce package from the EasyLicenser web site at http://www.agilis-sw.com/ezlm/anondownload/ezlicmgrecom.zip or other URL provided to you by Agilis.
Position to within the existing EasyLicenser eCommerce product installation root directory (which may not necessarily be the ezlic1.1, ezlic2.0 or ezlic2.5 subdirectory).
Unzip the downloaded file into the directory. Your existing data and configuration files are preserved and are compatible with the current release.
Performing an upgrade of an existing eCommerce production installation to EasyLicenser 2.5.11 has the following implications:
If upgrading from EasyLicenser 1.1, or upgrading from an EasyLicenser 2.0 installation that does not have an Orion-enabled production key, the upgrade will not enable you to generate Orion server license keys. For this functionality, you will need an Orion-enabled production EasyLicenser license key from Agilis.
If upgrading from EasyLicenser 1.1, note that as of EasyLicenser 2.0, the upgraded key generation library allows you to programmatically recharge your license units directly from your web application, so you no longer have to use the License Manager GUI for this purpose. If upgrading from EasyLicenser 2.0, the upgrade also provides you with the recharge command line utility that enables you to recharge your license units from a command line or shell script.
Subject to meeting minimum platform requirements, you should upgrade your existing EasyLicenser 1.1, 2.0 and 2.5 based applications to the EasyLicenser 2.5.11 run time libraries even if you do not take advantage of the new features, in order to benefit from bug fixes and internal functionality improvements. Perform the upgrade as follows:
Java applications:
In your product packaging, replace ezlicrun11.jar,
ezlicrun20.jar, or ezlicrun25.jar, as well as ilscrypt10.jar,
with the two libraries:
ezlicrun25.jar located at the lib subdirectory of the product installation.
ilscrypt10.jar located at the extlib subdirectory of the product installation.
The classpath also needs to include the directory containing the jar libraries.
The directory path containing the jar libraries cannot contain URL-encodable characters, in particular white spaces. All directory names are required to consist of alphanumeric characters, '-', '_' and '.'.
C/C++ applications:
In your product packaging, replace your
platform-specific ezLicenserlib11.so/dll/a or ezLicenserlib20.so/dll/a shared library with the
ezLicenserlib20.so/dll/a shared library located at the platform-specific
subdirectory under the cpp/lib subdirectory of the product installation.
Note that the shared library versioning is frozen at "20" and will not change
in future versions.
Modify your application's makefiles to refer to the new shared library (Windows:
import library ezLicenserlib20.lib) instead of the current library.
It is recommended (but not required) that you upgrade your end customers' keys with
replacement 2.5.11 secure keys in order to benefit from the new secure key mechanism.
The license key checking API's that accept product name and application passwords are
required to be used if you will be generating application password protected keys.
See below for a full discussion of key compatibility considerations.
Performing an upgrade of your application to the new EasyLicenser 2.5.11 runtime libraries has the following implications:
When upgrading from EasyLicenser 1.1 or 2.0, if the API's new to EasyLicenser 2.5 are used, the upgraded application will work with all EasyLicenser keys including legacy (1.1) keys.
When upgrading from EasyLicenser 1.1, if the application source code is unmodified and therefore continues to use the existing API's, the application will work with EasyLicenser 1.1 keys and keys generated with EasyLicenser 2.0 as well as EasyLicenser 2.5 and EasyLicenser 2.5.11 based on product definitions for which an application password is not specified.
When upgrading from EasyLicenser 2.0, if the application source code is unmodified and therefore continues to use the existing API's, the application will work with keys generated with EasyLicenser 1.1, 2.0, 2.5 and 2.5.11.
When upgrading from EasyLicenser 2.5, if the application source code uses the EasyLicenser 2.5 API's, the application will work with keys generated with EasyLicenser 1.1, 2.0, 2.5 and 2.5.11.
Backward compatibility is preserved between the four versions: EasyLicenser 1.1, 2.0, 2.5 and 2.5.11. In addition, forward compatibility is maintained to the maximum extent possible. The specific rules governing compatibility between the versions are enumerated below.
Key compatibility has two aspects: the License Manager user interface and the run time libraries.
License Manager backward compatibility: The EasyLicenser 2.5.11 License Manager GUI can be used to import, export, publish, view details and otherwise process existing keys that were generated with EasyLicenser 1.1 through 2.5.
License Manager forward compatibility: The EasyLicenser 1.1 License Manager GUI can be used to import, export, publish, view details and otherwise process keys that are generated with EasyLicenser 2.0 through 2.5.11 provided the keys are not based on product definitions having application passwords defined on them.
Runtime library backward compatibility: The Java and C/C++ EasyLicenser 2.5.11 runtime library will correctly process keys that were generated with EasyLicenser 1.1 through 2.5.11.
Runtime library forward compatibility: The Java and C/C++ EasyLicenser 1.1 runtime library will correctly process keys that are generated with EasyLicenser 2.0 through 2.5, as well as 2.5.11 in backward-compatibility mode, provided the keys are not based on product definitions having application passwords defined on them, and the keys are not Orion server keys.
For information on considerations in upgrading from
EasyLicenser 1.1 that are pertinent to EasyLicenser 2.0, refer to the What Was New In EasyLicenser 2.0 document.
For information on considerations in upgrading from
EasyLicenser 1.1 or EasyLicenser 2.0 that are pertinent to EasyLicenser 2.5, refer to the What's New In EasyLicenser 2.5 document.
For information on how to use the new License Manager
user interface, refer to the License Manager User Guide document.
The C/C++ runtime library platform, compiler and build specifications are described in
C/C++ Runtime Library Platform Specifications.