Licensing

Cenvero Stratum is licensed per node. A license is a digitally signed document that binds a plan and an expiry to a specific machine. The agent verifies it cryptographically on every boot and re-checks it continuously while running.

Plans

Stratum is licensed per node, billed on the term you choose (monthly or longer). The current plans, their features and rates are shown on the pricing section of the site — plans are configured in the management panel, so this page never carries stale numbers. For large-scale, air-gapped or bespoke arrangements, contact sales.

The self-service plans have no minimum node count. Large fleets, air-gapped, or custom-SLA deployments are arranged as bespoke agreements with sales.

Licenses are never issued automatically. You place an order — which immediately raises an invoice you can pay against — follow the payment instructions, and submit your payment proof; an admin verifies it, the invoice is marked paid, and your license is issued and appears in your account. There is no instant self-service issuance: every license is tied to a verified order.

Pre-release (beta/RC) licenses

Beta and release-candidate builds run on a separate pre-release track and require a special pre-release license. These are **issued directly by an administrator** — there is no order or payment flow for them — and may be bound to a customer account or left internal (for your own testing), with an admin-set expiry.

The gate is strict, both ways: a normal (stable) license can neither download nor run a beta/RC build, and a pre-release license runs only beta/RC builds — not stable. The channel is written into the signed license, so the agent enforces it offline and fails closed (refuses to operate) on a mismatch. See Upgrades → Release channels for the build/release side.

How a license is bound

When you activate, the agent derives a stable hardware ID that is unique to that physical server. Your license is cryptographically bound to it, so a license copied to a different machine simply will not work there. Stratum is licensed for bare-metal servers.

sudo cenvero-str-ctl license activate CNVR-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
cenvero-str-ctl license status

plan         enterprise
serial       7F3A-21C9-...
issued_to    acme-corp
hardware_id  9b2c… (matches this host)
valid_until  2026-07-04T00:00:00Z
state        active   (27 days remaining)

Tamper-proof by design

Every license is cryptographically signed by Cenvero and verified by the agent independently, on each node, both at boot and continuously while running. A license that has been altered, forged, or is not genuinely Cenvero-issued is rejected — there is nothing on the node you can edit to extend or fake a license. Verification happens locally, so it works even when the node is offline.

Enforcement: warn → grace → freeze

Stratum never hard-stops your network. Existing endpoints, forwarding, DHCP, DNS, and the firewall keep working regardless of license state. Enforcement only governs changes, and it escalates gently:

In the Frozen state, commands that mutate state (creating networks, attaching endpoints, editing the firewall) return exit code 4. Read-only commands and the data plane are unaffected.

Revocation

A license can be revoked by Cenvero — for example after a refund or a terms violation. The agent checks revocation status periodically, and a node whose license has been revoked moves to Frozen (existing traffic keeps running; changes are blocked until the license is restored or replaced). Revocation is honoured even offline, and a revocation cannot be quietly undone by a tampered or spoofed server.

Offline and air-gapped nodes

Nodes do not need continuous connectivity. The signed license is cached locally, so an isolated node keeps running on its cached license. Air-gapped operation with offline activation is available for bespoke deployments — contact sales.

Renewing

# After renewing in the panel, pull the refreshed license
sudo cenvero-str-ctl license refresh

A node in Warning, Grace, or Frozen returns to Active the moment it receives a valid, longer-dated license.

Coupons and invoices

If you have a coupon code, enter it when you place your order — the discount is applied to the order total once the code is validated (it must be active, in date, within its usage limits, and applicable to your plan). Each code can be percentage- or fixed-amount.

An invoice is raised as soon as you place an order, so you always have a numbered document to pay against and to give your finance team. You will find it under Invoices in your account, marked awaiting payment, with a Pay button that takes you to the payment instructions for that order.

Once we verify your payment the same invoice is marked paid — there is one invoice per order, and it keeps its number throughout. You can download the PDF at any time, whether it is still outstanding or already settled.

Next steps

• Installation — activation during setup.
• Upgrades — keeping the agent current.