System and method for extracting device uniqueness to assign a license to the device

• US 9,614,678 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2011
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Brundridge, Michael, Mothukupally, Sruthi, Rosser, Darrell, Liu, Gang, Dale, Jason C., Savage, Marshal F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Georgandellis, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): FABBRI, ANTHONY E
• Application Number:
  US13/157,714
• Publication Number:
  US 20120317418A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,125 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/68 Special signature format, e.g. XML format
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/103 applying security measure for protecting copy right protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment, e.g. protection the software providers copyright G06F21/10; data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; secrecy systems or subscription systems H04N7/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

An information handling system includes a device, a controller, and a license manager subsystem. The controller is configured to determine whether the device has a license assigned and to extract a unique identification for the device in response to a request for information about the device. The license manager subsystem is configured to send the request for information about the device to the controller, to send the unique identification for the device to a license server as a request for the license for the device, to receive the license from the license server, and to assign the license to the device when the license is received.

Claims

1. An information handling system comprising:

a device;

a baseboard management controller in communication with the device via a peripheral component interconnect bus, the baseboard management controller configured to determine that a license is unassigned to the device and to extract a peripheral component interconnect identifier associated with the device in response to a request for information about the device; and

a license manager subsystem in communication with the baseboard management controller, the license manager subsystem configured to send the request for information about the device to the baseboard management controller, to receive the peripheral component interconnect identifier in response to the request, to send the peripheral component interconnect identifier to a license server via the baseboard management controller as a licensing request for the license, to receive the license from the license server with the license based on the peripheral component interconnect identifier, to assign the license to the device in response to receipt of the license, and to display, via a licensing graphical user interface, one of a plurality of icons, wherein each icon is associated with a message associated with a status of the device communication via the peripheral component interconnect bus with the baseboard management controller, wherein each icon is associated with one of a warning message, a healthy device message, and an error message, to determine whether a delete action in the licensing graphical user interface is selected, and if the delete action is selected to determine whether the license is to be removed or all licenses associated with the device are to be removed, in response to only the license being selected, to remove the license from the device and un-assign the license, and in response to all of the licenses being selected, to remove all of the licenses associated with the device and un-assign all of the licenses at once.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the license manager subsystem is further configured to verify an encrypted signature of the license, to determine whether the license is bound to the device, and if the license is bound to a unique identification, to verify the device by comparing the unique identification of the device with the peripheral component interconnect identifier associated with the license.

3. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the license manager subsystem is further configured to determine a restriction associated with the license.

4. The information handling system of claim 3 wherein the restriction is associated with a time constraint.

5. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the licensing request is sent via an application programming interface.

6. The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising a network interface to a communications network.

7. A method comprising:

sending a request for information associated with a peripheral device from a license manager subsystem to a baseboard management controller of a server communicating via a peripheral component interconnect bus with the peripheral device;

extracting, by the baseboard management controller, a peripheral component interconnect identifier associated with the peripheral device in response to the request for the information;

determining a license is unassigned to the peripheral device based on the peripheral component interconnect identifier;

displaying, on a licensing graphical user interface, an icon indicating a status associated with the peripheral device that is determined to be unassigned the license;

returning the peripheral component interconnect identifier to the license manager subsystem, sending the peripheral component interconnect identifier from the license manager subsystem via the baseboard management controller to a license server as a licensing request, receiving the license from the license server with the license based on the peripheral component interconnect identifier, and storing the license in a memory in response to a receipt of the license, wherein the license has restrictions including that the license is bound to a specific platform, and wherein binding the license to the specific platform causes the license to be valid only for a specific platform generation;

determining whether a delete action in the licensing graphical user interface is selected;

if the delete action is selected, determining whether a single license is to be removed or all licenses associated with the peripheral device are to be removed;

in response to only the single license being selected, removing the single license and un-assigning the single license; and

in response to all of the licenses being selected, removing all of the licenses and un-assigning all of the licenses at once.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

receiving an import action via the licensing graphical user interface; and

importing the license to the peripheral device.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

receiving a replace action in the licensing graphical user interface; and

exporting the license to an external memory.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

generating, by the license server, the license based on the peripheral component interconnect identifier;

signing, by the license server, the license with an encrypted signature;

including the peripheral component interconnect identifier within the license; and

including the restrictions in the license based on licensing requirements.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising calling an application programming interface.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising assigning a time constraint to the license.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising receiving the license via at least one of an email, a web portal interface, and a license management tool.

14. A method comprising:

connecting with a license manager subsystem associated with a baseboard management controller;

parsing, by the license manager subsystem, a license template to determine a peripheral device communicating via a peripheral component interconnect bus with the baseboard management controller;

locating the peripheral device by matching a peripheral component interconnect identifier associated with the peripheral device with a unique identification in the license template;

determining that the peripheral device communicating via the peripheral component interconnect bus with the baseboard management controller is unassigned a license;

displaying, on a licensing graphical user interface, an icon indicating the peripheral device is unassigned the license;

sending the peripheral component interconnect identifier associated with the peripheral device to the license manager subsystem;

sending the peripheral component interconnect identifier from the baseboard management controller to a licensing server;

generating, by the licensing server, the license based on the peripheral component interconnect identifier associated with the peripheral device, wherein the license has restrictions including that the license is bound to a specific platform, and wherein binding the license to the specific platform causes the license to be valid only for a specific platform generation;

sending the license to the baseboard management controller;

assigning the license to the peripheral device;

determining whether a delete action in the licensing graphical user interface is selected;

if the delete action is selected, determining whether a single license is to be removed or all licenses are to be removed;

in response to only the single license being selected, removing an association between the single license and the peripheral device and un-assigning the single license; and

in response to all of the licenses being selected, removing and unassigning all of the licenses associated with the peripheral device at once.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

generating a hash and signing the license with an encrypted signature; and

validating, by the license manager subsystem, the license based on the hash and the encrypted signature.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising selecting the peripheral device from a group consisting of a controller, a redundant array of independent disk, a network interface card, and host bus adaptor.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising determining at least once of a type associated with the license, a time period for the license, and a binding associated with the license.