Can a database FE / BE be configured for licensing?

[isladogs]

Yet now you ARE Blings?

Perhaps Blings hopes to make a fortune out of selling his Access apps.

[Blings]

Yeah, I thought "OwenMedia" as a nickname here was actually a bit to formal. I'm happy to hang around as my informal online nickname .

Haha, I wouldn't say a "fortune" but I would like to enter into the industry of SaaS.

Colin, thank you for your earlier post #14. I plan to work through your particle as suggested this coming week, finish off my website and build a 15 - 30 minute YouTube video demonstrating the CRM Access app. I hope to target a small business segment to add value to their business.

[CJ_London]

Something else to consider. A user might log in from different machines….

Another way may be to host the fe and be on a terminal server. Users log in to the server to use the app.benefits are you maintain control for updates, users can login from anywhere and from any device that supports Remote Desktop

[Blings]

Thank you Mike.

I'll contact them to see if their software can integrate with MS Access.

I'll post the outcome here in case anyone else has a query like this in the future.

Some good news...

If it's possible to have a macro run when the database is opened, then yes. Their licensing software can protect an Access application. Since it's possible to call a macro before start, we can implement a license check and secure the application. We have a .NET library that could be called from a VBA script to perform the license verification. To verify a license, Key.Activate needs to be called.

My investigation continues.

[isladogs]

How would it prevent users bypassing the autoexec macro it would use at start up for verification purposes?

[Blings]

Technical response from Cryptolens:-

"There is no way to prevent them to do that I think. It would be more secure if they would install an Addin-in (that you have developed) that is necessary to open the database. It's easier to protect an Add-in than the startup macro."

Colin, your guidance would be much appreciated.

[isladogs]

Hmm.
I had a very quick look at the CryptoLens website but was unclear from that quick check whether it is a commercial app with license costs or not!

If they cannot protect from anyone re-enabling the shift bypass, then the process is definitely not secure.
In which case, I'm really not sure its worth using their services for security purposes...though it may well be worthwhile for convenience.

It took a lot of time/effort both to write my own code and then test it thoroughly to make it secure enough for my purposes.
AFAIK mine hasn't yet been hacked successfully...but, if it had, I doubt anyone would tell me!

IMHO, add-ins are a separate issue and would significantly add to the complexity. I think that is a red herring

Perhaps someone who has used the services of CryptoLens could give a more informed response based on personal experience

[Blings]

Cryptolens' response:-

"I'm not aware of any of our clients who use it to protect an Access application. The closest is an Add-in for Excel. From our end, we focus on providing an API for verification of licenses; obfuscation is a separate issue and we don't provide a solution for it. From my experience, having a license verification process will stop most of the people, especially if you target B2B. In the end, a person who really wants to bypass the verification will be able to do so, regardless of if it is obfuscated or not."