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Uniconnect Licensing Server – Solution Design

1. Overview​

This document describes the design of the Uniconnect Enterprise Licensing Server and the license enforcement mechanism used exclusively by Uniconnect Enterprise (self-hosted / on-premise deployments).

This solution does not apply to Uniconnect Cloud, which uses centrally managed subscription enforcement.

The Enterprise licensing solution is designed to:

  • Support offline-first, air-gapped, and on-prem deployments
  • Securely distribute license entitlements
  • Enable controlled feature access via signed tokens
  • Allow license updates, renewals, suspension, and revocation

The design follows industry-standard enterprise licensing practices used by vendors such as GitLab, Elastic, and Atlassian Data Center.

2. High-Level Goals​

  • Bind licenses to customers, environments, and infrastructure
  • Prevent license forgery or tampering
  • Support grace periods and offline usage
  • Allow dynamic license upgrades/downgrades
  • Minimize runtime dependency on the license server

3. Key Concepts​

ConceptDescription
License KeyHuman-readable key issued to customer
License ServerCentral authority issuing and validating licenses
License TokenSigned JWT containing entitlements
Refresh TokenJWT used to obtain new license tokens
Installation IDUnique identifier generated per installation
Per-License Key PairEach license has its own signing key

4. Architecture Overview​

The Uniconnect Enterprise licensing architecture follows a control plane vs execution plane model.

  • Admin Portal acts as the system of record and control plane, managing customers, partners, packages, subscriptions, and license lifecycle decisions.
  • License Server acts as the execution plane, responsible only for cryptographic operations (key generation, token signing, validation, revocation).
  • Partner / Customer Portals never interact directly with the License Server.

16.2 Data Flow to Admin Portal​

The following data is synchronized:

  • Organization details
  • Partner association
  • Purchased license tier
  • Subscription status

Admin Portal capabilities:

  • View licenses
  • Suspend / revoke licenses
  • Adjust entitlements

17. Payments & Subscriptions​

17.1 Subscription Model​

  • Time‑bound licenses (monthly / yearly)
  • Auto‑renewal supported
  • Manual renewal for enterprise contracts

17.2 Payment Flow​

17.3 Payment Failure Handling​

  • License marked as pending suspension
  • Grace period countdown starts
  • Notification sent to customer and partner
  • Suspension enforced if unresolved

End of document