Node-Locking, Machine Leases & Capacity
How to eliminate software piracy, enforce seat capacity, fingerprint physical and virtual hardware, and run sliding heartbeat renewal leases.
Deterministic Hardware Fingerprinting
To prevent key sharing and enforce seat limits without collecting intrusive personally identifiable information, client applications compute a SHA-256 hash of immutable hardware traits:
macOS Devices
Query the hardware UUID via I/O Kit registry:
IOPlatformUUID
Windows Workstations
Combine OS MachineGuid and BIOS serial number:
MachineGuid + BIOS Serial
Linux & Cloud VMs
Hash standard system machine ID and CPU traits:
/etc/machine-id + CPU Model
Sliding Heartbeat Leases vs. Static Holds
Static activation models cause "ghost seats" — when a user formats their hard drive or abandons a computer, their seat remains permanently locked. Vyntech solves this using sliding renewal leases:
• Activation Window: When a device activates, it is granted a lease valid for a configurable window (e.g. 24 hours).
• Automatic Heartbeat: While the application is running, a background worker pings the heartbeat endpoint at 50% of the lease window (e.g. every 12 hours) to push the expiration forward.
• Instant Seat Reclamation: If a machine is decommissioned, its lease simply expires and the seat capacity is immediately restored for new machines.
POST /v1/public/licenses/heartbeatAuth
Seamless Device Migration & Deactivation
When an end user signs out or upgrades their computer, the client binary sends a self-deactivation request to immediately relinquish the seat: