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 online activation, and offline (air-gapped) activation on Professional.

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 outbound HTTPS (port 443) from your SentriKat server to license.sentrikat.com, api.sentrikat.com and portal.sentrikat.com. All three names reach the same licensing service; allow all three in your firewall.

Steps¶

1. Get a license: request the free Community Edition on the sign-up form, or buy Professional (€4,999/year) in the Customer Portal or through our sales team at [email protected]
2. Receive your Activation Code - format: SK-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
3. Sent in the welcome email of the Community Edition (together with the license key) or in your purchase confirmation email
4. Also available in your portal dashboard, where you can issue a new one
5. Open SentriKat and navigate to Settings → License
6. Enter the Activation Code in the Activate Online box and click Activate Online. 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/>(bound 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. Air-gapped operation is part of Professional.

Steps¶

1. Get your Installation ID from SentriKat: Settings → 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. Paste the license key in SentriKat: Settings → License, box Activate Offline, field License Key, then click Activate License

License File Format¶

The downloaded file contains:

{
  "sentrikat_license": "base64(payload).base64(rsa_signature)",
  "license_key": "SK-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX",
  "edition": "pro",
  "installation_id": "SK-INST-<32 uppercase hex characters>",
  "instructions": [
    "Easiest: in SentriKat, Settings > License > Activate Offline: paste the License Key and click Activate License. It applies immediately, no restart",
    "Or set it as the SENTRIKAT_LICENSE env var: add SENTRIKAT_LICENSE=<signed_value> to your .env file",
    "Then apply with: docker compose up -d (NOT docker compose restart, restart does not reload .env)"
  ]
}

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
• The license is bound to your specific Installation ID
• A licensed installation checks in with the license server every 12 hours (counters, versions and timestamps; see What SentriKat sends home). Air-gapped installations send nothing, and Community Edition does not send the check-in (knowledge-base synchronization is separate: see What SentriKat sends home)

On-Premises License Types¶

The DORA, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001 and SOC 2 reports are the Compliance Pack, a paid add-on to Professional. Professional alone does not include them.

When a Professional license expires, the installation returns to the Community limits. Nothing is deleted, and paid features close for everyone except the installation administrator.

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. In the portal, open Downloads and use Rebind to new server with the new Installation ID. The previous installation is deactivated
3. Download a fresh license file, or use online activation with your code