With the release of RLM v9 in December 2010, there are now three basic ways to generate licenses for your customers.  Let’s examine your options in order from the simplest to the most comprehensive.

RLMgen program

RLM v9 introduces a new graphical, web-based program for generating RLM licenses called RLMgen.   RLMgen simplifies license generation by allowing your staff to interactively define products in terms of the kinds of licenses you want to enable them. Separate definitions can be created for eval/trials, periodic pricing models, and permanent licenses. License parameters that are common to most licenses can be defined to apply to all license definitions. Once defined, licenses can be generated by entering the number of licenses, an expiration date, and the customer’s hostid.

RLMgen is especially useful for simple products were there is only one feature per product.

RLMsign Utility

If your products consist of multiple features per license, or if you need to incorporate license generation into your existing automated processes, then using the standard license generation tool provided with RLM could be right for you. This utility program called RLMsign, parses stored license templates then inserts a digital signature into each license that it finds.  The result is a license file that is ready to send to your customer.

Since RLMsign can handle arbitrarily complex licenses in each template, it is particularly well suited to support modular products that are sold in an array of different configurations.

API call rlm_sign_license()

RLM also offers a call in the standard RLM SDK called rlm_sign_license() that signs individual licenses in memory. This call is useful when you need to create a custom application that generates licenses, or to integrate license creation into your existing back office infrastructure, when access at the source code level is required.