A business requirement for 5 Limes was to provide a robust mechanism for their own clients to license bespoke software. The knowledge gained from this allowed 5 Limes to offer this as an integration solution to one of our clients.
This solution used an encrypted web service to communicate between a customised SharePoint data store for the client’s customers and the licensing data store held by the client. A customised Membership provider was implemented which checked the user’s validity, the licenses and role they held and the integrity of their data store.
Licenses were generated by the licensing client and made available to their customers for both online and offline modes. The online mode was handled by the encrypted web service and the offline mode was accomplished by using an encrypted physical file transfer.
The solution implemented used the following key components in its approach:
- Customised Membership provider to implement single sign on, user validity, user licenses and data store integrity.
- Encrypted Web service for online license transfer and encrypted license file for offline transfer.
- Customised customer SharePoint site with Web Parts for maintaining licenses and adding users to their own data store.
- Tracking of a user’s login attempts.
- Web application for the client to create, maintain and distribute their licenses.
- Web application integrated with Active Directory security.
- Exposure of the API to allow code relating to the licensing application to be utilised by external applications.
Some of the benefits which the client gained from this approach are:
- An internal, secure website to create and maintain licenses and their associated features.
- The ability to deliver licenses to their clients via online and offline capabilities.
- Seamless integration with their own SharePoint application.
- A sophisticated security mechanism for providing access to users at a granular level.
- Validation of client licenses to ensure data integrity.
- The ability to perform security and validation checks at any given point within the application.
Membership Providers
Membership providers implemented by 5 Limes use Forms Authentication in conjunction with a custom data store. This approach facilitates a tailored approach to the business requirement of the particular client.
Using this method for licensing meant that users could be restricted to a single sign on (with the option at log in to clear previous sessions), be associated with one or more licenses and any additional components within those licenses, and also to have site visibility granted or restricted in certain areas of the SharePoint site depending on their access rights.
Using a custom membership provider also grants the ability to perform data security operations as outlined below.
Security Models
As part of the custom membership provider, 5 Limes was also able to incorporate a security model to ensure data store integrity. As part of the login process, the license information held within the client’s data store would be compared against an encrypted file. Any mismatch between the two would prevent users from logging in and prompt them to contact the license distributor.
This was an important business requirement to prevent the license users from changing the license data such as the number of users allowed and the number of users given access to a particular license.
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