ThinkVirt

I was recently asked by a colleague how to meter the use of VMware ThinApp packages.

What is metering?

Metering is monitoring ThinApp package usage for licensing, compliance, auditing or monitoring.

For example, if Organization_A is licensed for 50 copies of Notepad++ and Organization_A thinapp's Notepad++, how do they ensure they remain in compliance? Or, if someone us distributing ThinApp packages from a cloud service provider, how do they easily manage and monitor all of the application users?

I'm only familiar of one third-party solution built for this scenario specifically for VMware ThinApp, SoftwareKey Metering System by Concept Software.

How does it work?

Essentially, SoftwareKey places a wrapper around the executable to be metered from the VMware ThinApp package BEFORE the package is built.

The wrapper is configured by the SoftwareKey Metering Administrator to perform various levels of lock-down, license checks, et cetera. SoftwareKey Metering talks to a SoftwareKey SOLO Server.

There are two ways this can be done:

• Hosted SOLO Server (what I used for this test)
• Installing a SOLO Server in your environment

For this example, I took a pre-scan of a Windows XP machine, installed Notepad++ and then took a post-scan.

I HAVE NOT BUILT THE APPLICATION YET.

The next step is to install SoftwareKey Metering.

Next we will start a new project.

I signed up for a demo, so I'm good to go.

We are going to create a new application on the SOLO Server, which will build a catalog of all of the applications we are metering.

For this example, I'm only going to allow 1 activation of my VMware ThinApp package of Notepad++.

You will notice several IP Activation Modes:

• No restrictions - turn off IP activation limitations
• No restrictions (allow override) - No IP checking will be done exceptions can be configured
• First activation IP - the IP of the first activation request will be copied to the license record (used to track who activated what)
• Specified activation IP - The admin pre-configures what IPs get what license

Next we get a slew of Trigger Code options, the most common:

• 01 Perpetual use (no expiration date)
• 10 Active the app to run temporarily (e.g. 60 days)

Next we choose the application options, such as displaying a splash screen, and allowing users to activate from other machines (for example, if they don't have internet access on the machine they will be running their ThinApp'd package from).

A few application and activation options.

Next we need to define a license pool. For this example I'm defining a pool (named Serie A) with only 1 available license.

Next we will select the license pool Serie A to be injected into our yet-to-be-built ThinApp project.

Another option for periodic expiration, which is used when providing temporary or expiring licenses.

Tweak the splash screen (which likely will not be used in the real world).

Next we configure the background checking options.

I'm requiring the ThinApp package to validate with the server every time it runs (=1). Not only that, I'm requiring that the SOLO server validates our ThinApp package every 14 days and a warning will be sent provided to the user when they have 7 days or less to validate against the SOLO server.

On the wrapper settings screen we select the main entry executable for our ThinApp'd application. In this case we are selecting notepad++.exe within our ThinApp Capture folder. SoftwareKey Metering automatically selects the appropriate Output Folder.

Now our SoftwareKey Metering wrapper will magically be injected into our ThinApp project. I suggest clicking Run App a few times just to test it out.

Here's the splash screen that you will likely never use.

Next, click BUILD from within the VMware ThinApp Capture process.

To test out our License Pool with one measly license, I fired up the ThinApp package of Notepad++ on Machine_A.

I then went to Machine_B and fired up the ThinApp package of Notepad++.

NO SOUP FOR YOU!

After the warning dialog box, I am then greeted with the option of activating Notepad++ (you could also have this redirect to an internal corporate site to make a purchase).

To monitor license activity, simply login to the SOLO server. Here we see that there has been 1 license activation in the last 24 hours.

You can even generate PDF reports to send out to the powers that be.