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User Guide

Licensing

LuceDev Syslog is licensed per server. Every install starts with a 7-day free trial. After the trial expires you'll need a license key to keep ingesting logs and accessing the dashboard.

Lifecycle

The server tracks one of six license states:

State Dashboard Syslog ingestion Triggered by
trial ✓ ✓ Fresh install, days 1–7
trial_expired Blocked* ✗ Trial ended, no license key
active ✓ ✓ Valid license key, recently validated
grace ✓ ✓ License server unreachable, ≤ 7 days
expired Blocked* ✗ License server says key is invalid
unlicensed Blocked* ✗ No key + can't reach server on first run

* Blocked means everything except the License, Settings, and Auth pages — so you can always get back in to enter a key.

Trial

Every install gets a 7-day trial that begins on first run. On Windows the start date is anchored in the Registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\LuceDev\Syslog\InstallDate so it survives uninstall, reinstall, and migration of the data directory. On Linux it's stored in license_state.json.

The dashboard shows a banner during the trial: N days remaining in trial. Activate a license key.

When the trial ends:

  • Syslog ingestion silently stops (incoming messages are dropped at the receiver — the license check runs once per minute to avoid disk reads per message).
  • The dashboard blocks access to all pages except License, Settings, and Auth.

Activating a license

  1. Purchase a key at lucedev.com/products/lucedev-syslog.
  2. Go to Settings → License.
  3. Paste the key and click Activate.

The server posts the key to https://lucedev.com/api/validate along with a stable machine ID (hostname + platform + arch, hashed). On success:

  • The state moves to active
  • license_state.json records the validation timestamp
  • The dashboard banner clears

If the server says the key is invalid, the error message is displayed inline and the state moves to expired.

Re-validation

The server re-validates every 7 days automatically. A background thread runs the check; in addition, the next request after the 7-day mark triggers a fresh check.

If validation succeeds → state stays active.

If validation fails:

  • License server unreachable → state moves to grace for up to 7 more days. The dashboard banner reads: License server unreachable. N days of grace remaining. Syslog ingestion continues.
  • License server says invalid → state moves to expired. Ingestion stops; dashboard blocks.

Forcing a re-check

If you've renewed a license and want to clear a grace or expired state without waiting, click Re-check License on the Settings → License tab. The server clears the cached validation timestamp and immediately calls the license server.

Deactivating

Click Deactivate to remove the current key. The server clears the key from settings.json and clears the cached validation state. The trial start date is preserved — deactivation doesn't reset the trial.

What happens to your data when unlicensed

  • Syslog ingestion stops, but existing logs are not deleted. Your database, archives, and audit trail remain intact.
  • The dashboard blocks navigation away from the License page, but you can still see the License page itself.
  • Settings remain editable so you can fix a misconfiguration without re-activating.

Re-activate with a valid key and ingestion resumes immediately.

Audit events

License changes are recorded in the audit trail:

  • LICENSE_ACTIVATE — with a redacted prefix of the key
  • LICENSE_DEACTIVATE

The full key is never written to logs.