Activation, the licence and the trial window

How activation works

• The device code is derived from the operating system's machine id, so it is the same every time the console runs and different on every machine. It carries a check, so a typo is caught on the design page before a licence is signed against it.
• The licence is signed by this site and names the device code as the machine it belongs to. The runtime verifies it against the public key compiled into the binary and against its own device code; a licence for another machine is refused.
• A trial is bound to the design as well and ends seven days after the first activation of that design on that device. A new bundle for the same device and design, for example after editing, gets a licence that ends at the same moment: a new bundle never extends a trial. A device whose window has ended runs the design only with a purchased licence.
• A purchased licence is bound to the machine only, so the design under it can change freely. Its seats are devices. A device that already holds a seat is re-issued for free; when every seat is taken you move one from a device you name, twice a year on your own, beyond that by writing to support.
• The device is never online for this. No request leaves it during activation, and every start and every reboot runs from the local licence file and the design files, verified against the public key in the runtime. No phone-home, no licence server, nothing that stops when the site is unreachable.
• When a trial ends the running gateway stops publishing to its outputs and says so in its log; polling and the diagnostics keep working so the plant keeps its visibility. A bundle with a purchased licence, given to the console, brings publishing back.

Questions that come up

• Can I run a design on two machines? Each machine has its own device code and gets its own bundle, and each trial has its own seven-day window.
• Can I change the design during the trial? Yes. Edit, download a new bundle for the same device, and give it to the console; the runtime is already there and the window is unchanged.
• Does the device need internet? No. The bundle can arrive on a USB stick. The device only needs to reach its field devices and its outputs.
• I lost the bundle. Download it again from the design page; it is the same bytes. Only that device can open it.
• What does a purchased licence change? The licence inside the bundle: no design binding and no seven-day end. The mechanism is the same, offline.