API

Licensing API — Machine-Bound Software Licenses

A REST API that issues and validates AES-encrypted, machine-bindable license keys.

CATEGORY: API
STACK: ASP.NET Core 6
EF Core
Quartz.NET
AES
Swagger
SQL Server
NOTES: AES · machine-bound · rate limited

Desktop productlicense key
activate · validate
Licensing APIASP.NET Core 6 · AES · rate limiting
License recordsSQL Server · EF Core

FIG. 1A key is bound to a machine on first activation; mismatched machines are rejected.

01Problem

The company's desktop products shipped without license protection; there was no central system to prevent copying or manage the license lifecycle (issue / validate / renew).

02Solution

With ASP.NET Core 6 I built a REST API that encrypts license keys with AES (Rijndael + Rfc2898DeriveBytes), binds them to a machine on first activation and rejects mismatched machines.

03Technical Details

MachineBound / KeyOnly license types, concurrent-activation detection
Heartbeat reduced to a “last-seen stamp” (client period 5 min → 24 h)
Endpoint protection with AspNetCoreRateLimit
Scheduled maintenance jobs via Quartz.NET, Swagger documentation
Tax-ID validation and audit logging