Chapter 9: Software Feature Design Related to SWID/SWEID Tag Management for Tag Creators and Modifiers

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CHAPTER 9: SOFTWARE FEATURE DESIGN RELATED TO SWID/SWEID TAG MANAGEMENT FOR TAG CREATORS AND MODIFIERS

The software life cycle

Figure 49: Software/SaaS product life cycle

Figure 49 is a reminder of our life cycle. The first step in the cycle involves the process described in the following sections.

Product tagging and integration life cycle

Figure 50 is an example of the functional sequence that might be followed by a software publisher/OEM that is defining a new product.

Figure 50: Product tagging and integration sequence

A similar sequence might also be followed if the publisher/OEM has already released a product, but wishes to either:

simply offer an application patch that updates the installation with SWID tags; or
include application changes that require patching concurrently with updating the new patched version with SWID tags.

The example sequence shows the use of VTP and VeriTag Writer suite, but the implementer may use any set of SWID tag ISO-compliant management tools to perform the same.

How to analyse your product then design SWEID and SWID tags

The following provides an example of the analysis and design of basic static ISO SWID tags and their associated SWEID tags.

Sample software application – SoftPub Enterprise Firewall (SEF)

SoftPub is a fictitious software publisher that produces firewalls. The product contains many licensable features to which usage entitlement (a licensable for use) is offered and thus may be ultimately deployed and used. Keys are required in order to enable each feature. In order to be able to match entitlement with deployment, a unique SWID tag must be available with the deployed product in order to reconcile the deployment with licensable features.

While there are many licensing models and methods other than the one illustrated here, the approach outlined in this section may be applied to any system of entitlement and deployment.

Licence features and attributes

In the SEF products, a licence comprises several features that enable the various aspects of functionality that are available in the product. Each feature has a set of attributes that further defines the behaviour of the functionality. With the release of SEF 1.0, SoftPub provides a customer with a high degree of flexibility in ordering the SEF product features and attributes that best satisfy the needs of their organisation. Owing to the flexibility offered to the customer, the list of licensable features and their respective attributes is extensive and complex. The next few sections detail these features and attributes.

Features

The base feature for the SEF is the firewall; all other features are add-ons to the base firewall feature. Character strings that are known to both the product and the back-end configuration database represent each of the features within the SWID and SWEID tags. Tables 9 and 10 contain the lists of licensable SEF features and their respective feature strings.

Table 9: SEF base licensable features

SEF function	Licence feature name
Firewall	SEF1.0-FW
S2S	SEF1.0-S2S
Remote VPN	SEF1.0-RVPN
High availability/Load balancing	SEF1.0-HALB
Content filtering	SEF1.0-CF
Content filtering update subscription	SEF1.0-CFS

Table 10: SEF add-on licensable features

Add-on function	Licence feature name
Anti-virus	SEF1.0-AV
Anti-virus definition update subscription	SEF1.0-AVS
Intrusion detection	SEF1.0-IDS
Intrusion detection subscription	SEF1.0-IDSS

SWID tags

The feature for the SEF may be mapped directly on to a SWID tag (and by association, SWEID tag). The name of the tag is prefixed in this example by ‘swid’ in order to prevent confusion between a licensable feature name and a SWID tag. This is optional, however, and entirely up to the implementer to decide.

Table 11: SEF licensable features and corresponding SWID tag names

SEF function	SWID tag name
Firewall	Swid-SEF1.0-FW
S2S	Swid-SEF1.0-S2S
Remote VPN	Swid-SEF1.0-RVPN
High availability/Load balancing	Swid-SEF1.0-HALB
Content filtering	Swid-SEF1.0-CF
Content filtering update subscription	Swid-SEF1.0-CFS
Add-on function	SWID tag name
Anti-virus	Swid-SEF1.0-AV
Anti-virus definition update subscription	Swid-SEF1.0-AVS
Intrusion detection	Swid-SEF1.0-IDS
Intrusion detection subscription	Swid-SEF1.0-IDSS

Licensable feature attributes

Each of the features listed in the previous section has several attributes. All features share many of the attributes, but the details of the attributes often differ. For example, all features have a usage count, but the usage count (meter) available for the SEF1.0-RVPN feature is not the same as the usage count of the other features.

The attributes that are available for the SEF features are:

Usage count (meter):
- There are two types of user that are counted as part of the firewall usage count: user licences and server licences. A user licence is counted when the source IP address is from a protected interface (internal). An internal user is allowed to make as many different connections as they like, through many proxies, and this counts as a single user licence. This model is suitable for situations where internal users are trying to access the Internet. A server licence is counted when the source IP address is not from a protected interface (external).
- The type of VPN traffic is site-to-site traffic.
Start date: this is the start date of a licence feature. Content subscription features such as content filtering and anti-virus definition updates always have a start date. All other features may have a start date. Whenever a licensed feature has an end date, it must have a start date as well.
End date: this is the expiration date of the licensed feature. Content subscription features such as content filtering and anti-virus definition updates always have an expiration date. All other features may have an expiration date.
Trial: if this is set then the licence is a trial licence and has a start and end date. Trial licences have an unlimited user count.
Version: the current version of SEF is 1.0.

Table 12: SEF licensable feature attributes

Licence feature name	Feature attributes	SWID tag attributes
SEF1.0-FW	Usage count	25, 50, 100, 250, (unlimited)
	Start date	Start date or <empty>
	End date	Licence expiration date. Typically an empty string –
		unlimited
	Version	1.0
	Trial	1 if trial, 0 otherwise
	Accreditation	<empty> or <organisation>
SEF1.0-S2S	Usage count	(unlimited)
	Start date	Start date or <empty>
	End date	Licence expiration date. Typically an empty string – unlimited
	Version	1.0
	Trial	1 if trial, 0 otherwise
	Accreditation	<empty> or <organisation> (if site licence)
SEF1.0-RVPN	Usage count	5, 25, 100, 250, (unlimited)
	Start date	Start date or <empty>
	End date	Licence expiration date. Typically an empty string – unlimited
	Version	1.0
	Trial	1 if trial, 0 otherwise
	Accreditation	<empty> or <organisation>
SEF1.0-HALB	Usage count	(unlimited)
	Start date	Start date or <empty>
	End date	Licence expiration date. Typically an empty string – unlimited
	Version	1.0
	Trial	1 if trial, 0 otherwise
	Accreditation	<empty> or <organisation>
SEF1.0-CF	Usage count	25, 50, 100, 250, (unlimited)
	Start date	Start date or <empty>
	End date	Licence expiration date. Typically an empty string – unlimited
	Version	1.0
	Trial	1 if trial, 0 otherwise
	Accreditation	<empty> or <organisation>
SEF1.0-CFS	Usage count	25, 50, 100, 250, (unlimited)
	Start date	Start date
	End date	Subscription expiration date
	Hostid	<hostid> or <empty> (if site licence)
	Version	1.0
	Trial	1 if trial, 0 otherwise
	Accreditation	<empty> or <organisation>
SEF1.0-AV	Usage count	25, 50, 100, 250, (unlimited)
	Start date	Start date or <empty>
	End date	Licence expiration date. Typically an empty string – unlimited
	Version	1.0
	Trial	1 if trial, 0 otherwise
	Accreditation	<empty> or <organisation>
SEF1.0-AVS	Usage count	25, 50, 100, 250, (unlimited)
	Start date	Start date
	End date	Subscription expiration date
	Version	1.0
	Trial	1 if trial, 0 otherwise
	Accreditation	<empty> or <organisation> (if site licence)
SEF1.0-IDS		25, 50, 100, 250, SLIC_METERCOUNT_MAX (unlimited)
	Start date	Start date or <empty>
	End date	Licence expiration date. Typically and empty string – unlimited
	Version	1.0
	Trial	1 if trial, 0 otherwise
	Accreditation	<empty> or <organisation>
SEF1.0-IDSS	Usage count	25, 50, 100, 250, SLIC_METERCOUNT_MAX (unlimited)
	Start date	Start date
	End date	Subscription expiration date
	Version	1.0
	Trial	1 if trial, 0 otherwise
	Accreditation	<empty> or <organisation>

Design a SWID tag

Consider the single licensable feature SEF1.0-FW, the base firewall feature.

Table 13: SEF base firewall feature

Licence feature name	Feature attributes	SWID tag attributes
SEF1.0-FW	Usage count	25, 50, 100, 250, (unlimited)
	Start date	Start date or <empty>
	End date	Licence expiration date. Typically an empty string – unlimited
	Version	1.0
	Trial	1 if trial, 0 otherwise

In order to differentiate between the multiple meter values, the publisher may choose to create a separate tag for each meter, i.e. perhaps SEF1.0-FW-25, SEF1.0-FW-50 and so on. Alternatively, these values may be defined in an extended_information tag element as defined by ISO.

Consider the elements of a SWID tag.

Table 14: Elements of a SWID tag

SWID tag attribute	Comment	Proposed value
entitlement_r equired_indic ator	The licensing model description above confirms that a licence key is required.Therefore this can be set to true.	‘true’
product_title		‘SoftPub Enterprise Firewall V1.0’
product_versi on	Major, Minor, Build, Review, as selected by the product manager/engineering	‘1.0.0.0’
	team.
software_cre ator	This can depend upon whether TagVault registration has occurred or not. Assume at this point it has not.	‘SoftPub Corporation’ and ‘www.softpub.com’
Software_lice nsor	The licence in this case is issued by the creator.	‘SoftPub Corporation’ and ‘www.softpub.com’
software_id	Some ID, unique and generated by SoftPub Corporation.	‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c40’ and ‘www.softpub.com’
tag_creator	Assume here that the corporation is using an ISO-approved copy of VTP and is using this tool to create an ISO-compliant tag internally.	‘SoftPub Corporation’ and ‘www.softpub.com’
Below are some choices for optional attributes. While they may be ‘ISO optional’ they can be needed in order to understand the correct deployment and licensing model for the product.
abstract	This is the English language version of the firewall, so the component can also be English (LANG=en).	‘This is the base feature for the SEF and is the firewall; all other features are add-ons to the base firewall feature’
complex_of	Since this is the main, or base, component of a possible complex of pieces of licensable software, this element is made up of the list of unique identifiers that represent the licensable features or products that make up the complete bundled product. Assume for argument’s sake that all features mentioned above are included, a total of 10 components, including the base firewall component.	‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c40’ ‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c41’ ‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c42’ ‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c43’ ‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c44’ ‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c45’ ‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c46’ ‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c47’ ‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c48’ ‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c49’
installation_d etails	This element can be updated by the automatic installer process (assuming it is installed using a VeriTag Writer-enabled tool). This element is useful for comparison with any licence feature start date, which may be timed with the installation of the product. If the product entitlement is such that the start date coincides with the first time use of the product, the product can need to be enabled for the VeriTag Writer tool so that this element can be updated on first time use.
product_id	Product_id should be a unique reference, but this can be unique within the software manufacturer and does not need to be a globally unique ID. It is recommended that the Product ID is not the product name or other marketing term as these often change from release to release. Instead, the product_id should be an identifier that can follow products through their life cycle without requiring marketing changes. Product_id is used to define a lineage between products for identification of allowed upgrades.	‘fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c40’
serial_numbe r	Assume here that the corporation is using an ISO-approved copy of VTP which means a tag may be created more than once, but can contain a unique identifier for each creation. This is useful for a publisher that wishes to uniquely identify each SWID, perhaps with each distribution pack generated. In order to achieve this with automation, the VTP must be integrated into the publisher infrastructure so that a tag may be generated automatically as required (on build, on ESD generation, on CD-ROM generation, on entitlement generation, etc.) VTP may be integrated in this fashion. For more information, see the VTP Technical Reference Manual.
sku	In this particular case, there is a very clear licence linkage with an entitlement that is named, i.e. SEF1.0-FW. Assuming that the publisher maintains mappings of named licence types to SKU(s) (assuming any single licence may be offered through multiple SKUs) in some database, then when reconciliation occurs, the entitlement type can be reconciled against this element by SKU.	‘SKU Value’

A tool such as VTP might be used to define the elements within the SWID tag as shown in Figure 51.

Figure 51: VeriTag Publisher screenshot

This allows input of element data, generation of a SWID tag and subsequent validation of the SWID tag to the level required:

no certification
basic certification
TagVault.org SAM certification.

The resulting SWID tag might look as shown in Figure 52.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<swid:software_identification_tag id="idvalue0"

xmlns:ds= "http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"

xmlns:swid="http://standards.iso.org/iso/19770/-2/2009/schema.xsd"

xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

xsi:schemaLocation= "http://standards.iso.org/iso/19770/-2/2009/schema.xsd
swid.xsd">

<swid:entitlement_required_indicator
id="idvalue1">true</swid:entitlement_required_indicator>

<swid:product_title id="idvalue2" xsi:type="swid:Token">SoftPub Enterprise
Firewall V1.0</swid:product_title>

<swid:product_version id="idvalue3">

<swid:name id="idvalue4" xsi:type="swid:Token">token</swid:name>

<swid:numeric id="idvalue5">

<swid:major id="idvalue6">1</swid:major>

<swid:minor id="idvalue7">0</swid:minor>

<swid:build id="idvalue8">0</swid:build>

<swid:review id="idvalue9">0</swid:review>

</swid:numeric>

</swid:product_version>

<swid:software_creator id="idvalue10">

<swid:name id="idvalue11" xsi:type="swid:Token">SoftPub
Corporation</swid:name>

<swid:regid id="idvalue12">www.softpub.com</swid:regid>

</swid:software_creator>

<swid:software_licensor id="idvalue13">

<swid:name id="idvalue14" xsi:type="swid:Token">SoftPub
Corporation”</swid:name>

<swid:regid id="idvalue15">www.softpub.com</swid:regid>

</swid:software_licensor>

<swid:software_id id="idvalue16">

<swid:unique_id id="idvalue17" xsi:type="swid:Token">fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c40</swid:unique_id>

<swid:tag_creator_regid
id="idvalue18">www.softpub.com</swid:tag_creator_regid>

</swid:software_id>

<swid:tag_creator id="idvalue19">

<swid:name id="idvalue20" xsi:type="swid:Token">SoftPub
Corporation</swid:name>

<swid:regid id="idvalue21">www.softpub.com</swid:regid>

</swid:tag_creator>

<swid:abstract id="idvalue22" lang="en">This is the base feature for the SEF

and is the firewall; all other features are add-ons to the base firewall
feature</swid:abstract>

<swid:component_of id="idvalue23">

<swid:software_id id="idvalue24">

<swid:unique_id id= "idvalue25"
xsi:type="swid:Token">token</swid:unique_id>

<swid:tag_creator_regid id="idvalue26">token</swid:tag_creator_regid>

</swid:software_id>

</swid:component_of>

<swid:complex_of id="idvalue27">

<swid:software_id id="idvalue28">

<swid:unique_id id="idvalue29" xsi:type="swid:Token">fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c40</swid:unique_id>

<swid:tag_creator_regid
id="idvalue30">www.softpub.com</swid:tag_creator_regid>

</swid:software_id>

<swid:software_id>

<swid:unique_id>fc3cc419-b5a1-9f16-ed203e537c41</swid:unique_id>