Licensing & Activation¶

SentriKat has two licensing models depending on your deployment:

• SaaS: Subscription-based, managed entirely through your sentrikat.com account. No license keys or activation steps needed — your plan and limits are tied to your account.
• On-Premises: RSA-signed license key, activated via portal.sentrikat.com. Supports both online and offline (air-gapped) activation.

The sections below cover on-premises licensing. SaaS users can manage their subscription from the account settings page at app.sentrikat.com.

On-Premises Activation¶

SentriKat on-premises supports two activation methods: Online Activation (recommended) and Offline Activation (for air-gapped environments).

Online Activation (Recommended)¶

The fastest way to activate your SentriKat license. Requires internet access from your SentriKat server to portal.sentrikat.com.

Steps¶

1. Purchase a license at sentrikat.com or through your sales representative
2. Receive your Activation Code - format: SK-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
3. Shown in your purchase confirmation email
4. Also available in your portal dashboard
5. Open SentriKat and navigate to Administration > License
6. Enter the Activation Code in the "Online Activation" section
7. Click Activate - SentriKat contacts the portal and receives a signed license key automatically

How It Works¶

sequenceDiagram
    participant SK as SentriKat Instance
    participant P as portal.sentrikat.com

    SK->>SK: Generate Installation ID (SK-INST-...)
    SK->>P: POST /api/v1/license/activate<br/>{activation_code, installation_id, app_version}
    P->>P: Validate code, check expiry
    P->>P: Generate RSA-4096 signed license key<br/>(hardware-locked to installation_id)
    P-->>SK: {license_key: "base64(payload).base64(signature)"}
    SK->>SK: Verify RSA signature with embedded public key
    SK->>SK: Save license locally

Troubleshooting Online Activation¶

Offline Activation (Air-Gapped)¶

For environments without internet access, use the manual activation flow.

Steps¶

1. Get your Installation ID from SentriKat: Administration > License - copy the SK-INST-... value
2. Log into portal.sentrikat.com from any browser
3. Go to Downloads and enter your Installation ID
4. Download the signed license file (.json)
5. Upload or paste the license key into SentriKat's Administration > License page

License File Format¶

The downloaded file contains:

{
  "sentrikat_license": "base64(payload).base64(rsa_signature)",
  "license_key": "SK-PRO-XXXX-XXXX",
  "edition": "pro",
  "installation_id": "SK-INST-abc123...",
  "instructions": [
    "Paste in SentriKat Admin > License, or set as SENTRIKAT_LICENSE env var"
  ]
}

You can also set the license via environment variable:

# In your .env or docker-compose.yml
SENTRIKAT_LICENSE="base64(payload).base64(rsa_signature)"

License Verification¶

SentriKat verifies licenses using RSA-4096 digital signatures:

• The license server signs each license with a private key
• SentriKat validates signatures using the embedded public key
• No internet required for ongoing validation after activation
• The license is hardware-locked to your specific Installation ID

On-Premises License Types¶

Managing Licenses¶

Portal Dashboard¶

Log into portal.sentrikat.com to:

• View your activation code and license status
• Download signed license files
• Manage installation bindings
• View subscription details and renewal dates

Rebinding a License¶

If you need to move SentriKat to a new server:

1. The new Installation ID will be different
2. Go to the portal and re-bind to the new Installation ID
3. Download a fresh license file, or use online activation with your code