Account Based Licensing (Identity-based licensing)

Account Based Licensing is the process of managing users’ accounts and giving users access to software or an application, typically via a username and a password or an external identity management solution such as Microsoft Azure AD, Okta, OneLogin, Ping Identity, ForgeRock, Auth0, and Oracle Identity Manager.

Account—or Identity-based licensing allows you to activate an entitlement using the end user's login credentials (Username/password) instead of the more "on-premise" based license key/code/activation code.

Zentitle2 enables both types of application access and also allows you to choose the best-of-breed identity provider you or your customers are using.

• Accounts replicated from the vendor's authentication platform are called "OpenID Token authentication."

• Accounts created and managed within Zentitle2 are called username/password authentication.

How OpenID Token Authentication Works

Source: Auth0

Our platform needs a reliable way to determine and verify the identity of users who successfully sign into the application, which requires license/entitlement activation.

Nowadays, most identity provider services use the OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication protocol, where the user identity is encapsulated inside the JWT access/identity token obtained during the authentication process.

The server-side resources like APIs then use the token to verify the user's identity and access rights. With proper configuration done on the identity provider's side, the same JWT token can also be used for the license activation.