Serial Numbers are distinct from other "codes" in the GameShield System and should not be confused with Authorization Request Codes or Activation Codes.

A Serial Number is a token of ownership of one or more copies of some aspect of your software.  By itself and before it is activated, it is not associated with any particular user or machine and itself represents the ownership.  

Before the Serial Number is activated - it is the ownership. In other words, it is like a cheque made out to "cash" - anyone can use it.

This "aspect of your software" can be either the right to use the entire software package or as detailed as a single use of a single function within that software.  Each Serial Number is connected to exactly one Authorization Definition in your license which in turn, when activated, will "turn on" or "release" this aspect of your software.  A Serial Number can be attached to any Authorization Definition type (except "Deactivate License" and "Reactivate License" types).

Serial Numbers are an alphanumeric, case-insensitive code in the following format:  "XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX", where allowable characters are: "ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRTUVWXY1234567890" (Note that "I", "O", "S" and "Z" are omitted because of their possible confusion with "1", "0", "5" and "2").

You can pre-generate or dynamically Generate Serial Numbers.  Pre-generation happens when you know at design time how many and what precise behaviour you need from your Serial Numbers and/or need to include them in boxed software.  Dynamically generated Serial Numbers are created as a result of a real-time e-commerce sale.

You can use Serial Numbers to produce commercial off the shelf software (COTS) that is pre-packaged, boxed and sold at a retailer.  The Serial Numbers you pre-generate for this purpose would be stored inside the box and used during customer activation to "turn on the software" on their machine. This allows you to get the benefit of making a sale to an arbitrary customer at a retailer, but still have the benefit of machine locking / FingerPrinting ensuring that the software can only be activated as many times as you permit.

You can use Serial Number to sell "bulk licenses" or "seats" in enterprise installations of your software.  By generating Serial Numbers that have a number of Activations associated with them, you can effectively sell a set of seats to your application using a single Serial Number. This is referred to as the Total Activations Permitted for a Serial Number. When end-users receive a Serial Number you sent them, they will be able to activate the provided number of seats (machines) - but no more.  These Serial Numbers can be pre-generated with a set number of seats or can be dynamically generated with an arbitrary number of seats from either a simple HTTP GET call or a SOAP web-service.

As mentioned, every Serial Number has a number of "permitted activations".  A Serial Number can also have a number of "permitted overflow activations".  Overflow activations allow you to let your client activate more copies of the software than they had originally anticipated.  This allows you to differentiate these additional (overflow) activations from normal ones so that you can bill them for added usage or discuss changes to their license agreement.  You do not have to allow overflow activations if there is no need for it in your situation.

As users activate their copies of your software, their activations are "consumed" in the CheckPoint database. You will be able to access the database to determine how many activations have been consumed and by whom (if that data is available).   

You can also Check In Serial Numbers when you wish to provide a "move license" feature in your software.  This will allow the user to effectively "de-activate" their copy of the software, simultaneously checking-in the activation they previously consumed, then subsequently (on another machine) re-consume that activation.  Check-in is currently only available through the automated mechanism.

Serial Numbers are normally stored in the CheckPoint License Server for activation later.  When pre-generating Serial Numbers, you can also choose to output them to a CSV text file for import to a spreadsheet program or directly printed to labels. You can use these different output formats to deliver the pre-generated Serial Numbers to your duplication service for inclusion with a boxed software product.

More Information

For more information about pre-generating Serial Numbers, see: Generate Serial Numbers.

For information about building COTS software, see: Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) Licenses

For information about setting Total Permitted and Overflow Activations see: Generate Serial Numbers Permitted Activations.

For information about Checking In Serial Numbers see: SNCheckInCopyProtection, SNCheckInByID, and SNCheckInBySN.

For information about actually consuming activations for Serial Numbers on your clients machine see: CheckPoint Automated Activation and CheckPoint Manual-Activation.