Air-gapped Activation Example

Important

Looking for a way to activate node-locked licenses offline, without human interaction? Take a look at Keygen Relay, a small on-premise licensing server we developed for distributing crytographically signed and encrypted license files to nodes in an air-gapped network.

This is an example client/server implementation for air-gapped license activation. Essentially, the client displays a QR code which is read by the server, and the server will perform an activation request on behalf of the air-gapped client. The server will validate, activate, and finally check-out a license file. Lastly, once the license file is distributed to the client, the client can cryptographically verify and decrypt the license file.

Here's a detailed outline of the entire air-gapped licensing flow:

1. The client will prompt for the end-user's license key.
2. The client will fingerprint the air-gapped device.
3. The client will generate a QR code containing the license key and fingerprint.
4. The end-user, using the server app, will scan the QR code and extract the license key and fingerprint.
5. The server will perform a license validation request for the license key, scoped to the fingerprint.
6. The server will activate the fingerprint when required.
7. The server will checkout a machine file, containing an encrypted license and machine object.
8. The end-user will download the machine .lic file and transfer it to the client.
9. The client will cryptographically verify the file using Ed25519.
10. The client will decrypt the file using AES-256-GCM.

This example application is not 100% production-ready and only serves as an example implementation.

Running the example

First up, configure a few environment variables:

# Your Keygen account's Ed25519 verify key
export KEYGEN_VERIFY_KEY="e8601e48b69383ba520245fd07971e983d06d22c4257cfd82304601479cee788"

# Your Keygen account ID
export KEYGEN_ACCOUNT_ID="1fddcec8-8dd3-4d8d-9b16-215cac0f9b52"

You can either run each line above within your terminal session before starting the app, or you can add the above contents to your ~/.bashrc file and then run source ~/.bashrc after saving the file.

Next, install dependencies with yarn:

yarn

Then start the air-gapped client and the activation server:

yarn start

Services

Service	Port
Client	1234	Represents the air-gapped client. None of the client code requires an internet connection.
Server	5678	Represents an activation portal. The server will communicate with Keygen on behalf of the client.

Testing the activation server

To access the activation server from a mobile device, create an ngrok tunnel for the server:

ngrok http 5678

Then visit the resulting ngrok HTTPS-enabled tunnel URL on your mobile device.

Testing the air-gapped client

Visit http://localhost:1234 and follow the on-screen instructions. Use your mobile device to scan the QR code. You may perform the client operations while disconnected from the internet. Upon successful activation, you will see a new machine resource created in your Keygen account, and both the activated machine and mobile device will let you know that the activation was a success.

Looking at your account's request logs, you should see a license validation request, an activation request, and a check-out request.

Questions?

Reach out at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns!