ProtectFile Licensing Model
ProtectFile is offered through the following licensing models:
Trialware
Provides the fully-functional ProtectFile solution for 90 days with pre-installed trial license. After the trial period expires, ProtectFile configurations on the CipherTrust Manager become read-only.
Time-limited Rental
Provides the fully-functional ProtectFile solution for a prepaid charge for a specific period of time, for a specific number of clients.
This license comes with a grace period of 90 days. After the license period expires, the grace period starts. During the grace period, ProtectFile continues working normally. However, after the grace period is over, ProtectFile configurations on the CipherTrust Manager become read-only. Policy changes are not allowed, and you can only decrypt the data.
The CipherTrust Manager console starts showing a notification about the remaining license time. The license renewal can be ordered before the license expires.
Note
The number of clients that can be registered with the CipherTrust Manager is limited by the number of licenses purchased.
For example, if 1-year licenses are purchased for 1000 clients, then only 1000 clients can be registered with the CipherTrust Manager.
Perpetual Licensing Model
Provides the fully-functional ProtectFile solution for a prepaid charge with no time limit, for a specific number of clients.
Note
The number of clients that can be registered with the CipherTrust Manager is limited by the number of licenses purchased.
For example, if perpetual licenses are purchased for 1000 clients, then only 1000 clients can be registered with the CipherTrust Manager.
A CipherTrust Manager appliance administrator can install the ProtectFile license.
Activating ProtectFile Licenses
Activating a ProtectFile license requires a license string for the CipherTrust Manager with which the clients will be registered. This string is generated when a license is activated on the Sentinel EMS License Portal.
Refer to Activating a Connector License for details.
After the ProtectFile license is activated, its state becomes Active on the Features tab of the Licensing page of the CipherTrust Manager GUI. The license is displayed with the feature name ProtectFile.
License Enforcement
CipherTrust Manager appliance has activated Connector licenses: When Connector licenses are activated and uploaded to a CipherTrust Manager, you can register clients to the license capacity. The number of clients that you can register cannot exceed the Connector license count.
Reaching license capacity: If you attempt to register additional clients, registration fails because the license count has been exhausted. In this case, users can delete currently configured clients or buy additional licenses to register new clients.
If you have many existing clients, and later apply a new license which allows for fewer client registrations, a warning is displayed and a system banner appears across all pages. This banner persists as long the number of Used Clients under Client Usage exceeds the number of Total Clients. No clients are deleted, but you cannot register more clients.
License expires: The CipherTrust Manager GUI displays a red banner to inform the administrator of expired licenses. At this time, no new client registration is allowed. However, the users can still manage currently registered clients for 90 days from the license expiry. After 90 days, changes on currently registered clients are restricted and only decryption of data is allowed.
Registering CTE_UserSpace Clients with ProtectFile License
A CTE_UserSpace client honours both ProtectFile and CTE_UserSpace feature activations on the CipherTrust Manager. If both features are active, you can register clients equivalent to the aggregate capacity of the ProtectFile and CTE_UserSpace licenses.
