Licensing third party software

Question

Hi

We are in the process of deploying a cloud service that needs a third party software in shape of executable files.

The software vendor needs to take care of licensing which has traditionally been serial number + hardware id + activation key.

I understand that Mac Address etc cannot be used because they would vary in case of VM start/stop, redeployment etc.

Questions:

1 - What is the best way to base the licensing on ?

2 - If this is Azure VM Unique ID, is the ID changed instance-wise?

(when multiple instances of web-role/worker-role are deployed due to scaling)

3 - How does the executable determine whether it is running on-premise or in Azure and then how does it get the unique ID ?

Best Regards

Abhishek

Answer 1

Hello Abhishek,

We are researching on the query and would get back to you soon on this. I apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your time and patience in this matter.

Regards,
Somashekar

Answer 2

Hi,

 According to the link below the VM ID should not change upon reboot, shutdown(either planned or unplanned), start/stop de-allocate, service healing or restore in place. However, if the VM is a snapshot and copied to create a new instance, Azure VM ID will get changed.
 http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/10/13/accessing-and-using-azure-vm-unique-id/
 
 You can determine if its Azure or On-Premise with the DNS name of the VM.
 You can refer to the above link on how to query the VM ID.
 if you need REST API access to retrieve VM ID, please request/vote for the feedback here: http://feedback.azure.com/forums/216843-virtual-machines/suggestions/6750343-retrieve-vm-internaluuid-from-rest-api
 
Regards,
Nithin Rathnakar

Answer 3

Hi Nithin

Many thanks.

What happens if the web-role has been configured to scale and another instance is instantiated by azure ?

Will the VM-ID remain same ?

Can you provide some pointer on determining on-premise/azure through DNS query ?

Best Regards

Abhishek

Answer 4

Hi Abhishek,

If Web-role is configured to scale and another instance get scaled up, then VM id will be different for the another instance and existing instance will have the same VM ID.

To query VM unique ID you can refer this link

http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/10/13/accessing-and-using-azure-vm-unique-id

Best Regards

Prasandhi Kumar

Answer 5

Hi Prasandhi

So this means the software will behave as if it is not licensed on the new instance.

Is it possible to obtain beforehand the VM IDs that will be assigned when the new instances are instantiated. So for example if I set the the number of instances as 5, I can provide the software library vendor with 5 VM IDs that they can issue licenses for.

Also, kindly provide more information on following:

1. How to determine on-premise / azure environment through dns query

2. how to determine VM IDs in code

Best Regards

Abhishek

Answer 6

Hi,

Yes. (as upon auto scale operation, the software would act from another virtual machine for which if he has not added the VM on his configuration, it would say as not licensed).

No, it's not possible to obtain beforehand the VM IDs that will be assigned when the new instances are instantiated.

The Azure environment would have <<cloudservicename>>.cloudapp.net as the DNS query.

How to get it using code

$computerSystemProduct  = Get-WmiObject -class Win32_ComputerSystemProduct -namespace root\CIMV2

'BIOS GUID: "{0}"' -f $computerSystemProduct.UUID

you can refer here for same

http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/10/13/accessing-and-using-azure-vm-unique-id/

Best Regards,

Prasandhi Kumar