Overview

Cloud Sign-In licensing is a CSI cloud-hosted licensing system that allows you to use a secure sign-in credential to access your CSI software. This offers greater security and flexibility in how you access and use your software.

Capabilities

Cloud Sign-In licenses provide the following advantages over other CSI license options:

Access CSI software using secure user credentials — no more activation keys
Licenses accessible from anywhere with internet access
Remotely terminate an active license session from within the CSI Customer Center (Advanced Feature)
Manage who has access to your licenses using Cloud Sign-In License Groups (Advanced Feature)
Sign in using your familiar company credentials via federated identity (Advanced Feature)

Basics

Features of Cloud Sign-In Licenses:

Hosted on the cloud by CSI
Internet access is required but option is available to check-out a license for offline use
Easily shared floating license (license automatically obtained when software begins and returned once software is closed)
No license server to be installed or managed locally
Real-time and historical license usage data available in the CSI Customer Center
Windows desktop applications installed on local machine - not SaaS (software-as-a-service) applications

Details regarding Cloud Sign-In License security can be found on the Cloud Sign-In License Security FAQ wiki page.

Supported Products

The following products use Cloud Sign-in licensing:

CSiBridge v25.1.0 and newer
CSiPlant v9 and newer
ETABS v21.2.0 and newer
SAFE v21.2.0 and newer
SAP2000 v25.1.0 and newer

Get Started

After purchasing, your license(s) is automatically added to your account and into your default Cloud Sign-In license group. The license is available for immediate use.
Software installation can be downloaded from the CSI Customer Center (www.csiamerica.com/signin)
Sign into the software with your individual secure sign-in credentials when prompted by the software

Customer Account Administrators should ensure their users have been assigned roles that allow the user access to the Cloud Sign-In licenses. Assigning roles, and managing permissions on the roles, can be done through the CSI Customer Center. Details regarding the User Management Dashboard, can be found on the User Management Dashboard wiki page.

Secure Sign-in Credentials

Each user in CSI’s database has a secure sign-in, which is their email address. Users can reset or change their password by using the “Forgot/Change My Password” link on the sign-in page when running the software or when signing into the CSI Customer Center.

In order to use your secure sign-in credential to sign into the software, you must be assigned a user role which allows access to Cloud Sign-In licenses. You need the "Software Access" permission checked on the role. By default, some of the template roles in your customer account will have this permission checked. Role assignment can be done by your Customer Account Administrator(s) through the User Management Dashboard in the CSI Customer Center.

Sign Into CSI Software

You will be prompted to enter your sign-in credentials once you start the software. Your sign-in information will be saved on the machine for future use when running CSI software with Cloud Sign-In licenses. For security reasons, you may be asked to enter your sign-in credentials again in future uses.

Sign Out

You can sign out of the software by clicking your name at the top right corner of the program and selecting the Sign Out option. Once signed out, the Sign-in window will appear, allowing the option to sign in with new credentials. If credentials are not entered, the program will terminate.

Advanced Features

Cloud Sign-In License Groups

CSI offers the option for users to create user-defined License Groups for their Cloud Sign-in Licenses. A license group is defined by a set of Cloud Sign-In software licenses and a list of users who have access to those specific licenses. This can allow customers flexibility and control over their licenses by limiting license access by user.

For information on creating and managing Cloud Sign-In license groups, please visit our wiki page: Cloud Sign-In License Groups

Check-out License

A license may be checked out for a period of time, for offline use. This license will not be accessible to any other user until the check-out period expires or the license is checked in. A license can be checked out from the Help > License Information menu option from within the program, at the bottom of the form. If the license checkout is successful, the License Information window will now show the option to check the license back in.

Check-in License

A checked out license can be checked back in prior to the checkout period expiring, which will make it available to other users again. A license can be checked back in from the License Information form, accessed from the Help > License Information menu option from within the program. If the license check-in is successful, the License Information form will refresh to show the option to check out the license again.

Remotely Terminate a License in Use

A Customer Account Administrator, and users with the given permission, can remotely terminate a license on a user’s machine through the CSI Customer Center from the Cloud Licensing Tools > License Monitor menu. Once terminated, the software will close on the user’s machine.

A user can terminate their own session if necessary, through the same menu option in the CSI Customer Center. The permission to terminate someone else session can be given through a User Role in the User Management Dashboard, which can be assigned to a user by their Customer Account Administrator in the CSI Customer Center. Checked-out licenses cannot be remotely terminated.

Federated Identity

Customers have the option to use their own familiar company credentials to sign into CSI software instead of using their CSI sign-in credentials. To implement, the company will have to federate their identity platform with CSI’s identity platform. Users with federated sign-ins will have received notification (by their company or CSI) to use their company credentials to sign in.

CSI supports federation with the following identity platforms/standards: Microsoft Active Directory (Azure Active Directory, Active Directory, ADFS, AD/LDAP), Google Workspace, OpenID Connect, Okta, PingFederate, and SAML.

If your firm is interested in federating its identity platform with CSI’s, please email us at identity@csiamerica.com for more information.

Network Connectivity Requirements

If your firm has network connectivity restrictions (proxy, firewall, VPN, etc.), please whitelist the following URLs:

Please note https connections use port 443.

Technical Knowledge Base

Cloud Sign-in Licensing