Question
How is the Sentinel LDK license system checking for cloned virtual machines?
Answer
When checking the fingerprint for cloning, our licensing system is evaluating several characteristics. If one (or more) of these characteristics does not match the characteristics in the fingerprint of the license, the license prevents the protected software from operating. Thus, the combination of these parameters in the fingerprint provides protection against cloning:
| Comparison Results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics Compared | Virtual MAC Address | Identical | Different | Not relevant | Not relevant |
| CPU Characteristics | Identical | Not relevant | Different | ||
| UUID | Identical | Not relevant | Different | ||
| License Behavior: The software is... |
launched | disabled | disabled | disabled | |
In a typical business environment (where computers in a given location are on the same network), the requirement for a unique virtual MAC address make cloning impractical.
For server virtualization, or virtualized cluster where the cluster is typically managed by the virtualized management solution (such as VMware vCenter), UUID acts as additional deterrent to running a cloned virtual image.
For computers on different networks or computers that are not networked, the likelihood of a cloned virtual machine sharing identical CPU characteristics with the original virtual machine is low.
The method employed by this scheme to protect against cloning of virtual machines is effective for all types of virtual machine software commonly used by organizations.
In case you have a cloned license, please refer to the following article: How to deal with cloned license?