Crimson 3.0 Security

Hi, I just finished a program and I would like put some protection, Is it possible lock my program to not make changes in it?
Maybe with a password... someone know How can I activate this protection?

You can keep your program from being uploaded from the HMI unit. Before you download the program Click on LINK on the menu bar and uncheck the Support Upload option. A user will then be unable to connect to the unit and upload your program to make changes to it.

There is nothing you can do to prevent a user from writing his own new program and clearing memory and downloading it.

That said, I strongly recommend against protecting the program from upload. One way or the other it will prove to be a major problem for either you or for your customer at some point in the future and it will cost one of you time and money. You may loose your copy of the program, or your customer may need to make a change only to discover you are unavailable and he can't have someone else do the work. In both cases you are the one that ends up looking bad.

It would be useful to protect the program with a password.
That would ensure that the program would only change by appropriate personnel.

Thanks.

Put the Crimson file in a folder on your network and only allow access by the appropriate personnel - that's more secure anyways because each person has their own network credentials instead of a single password that is shared by everyone (which gives you zero security). The HMI can't be programmed online so if you uncheck support upload then anyone would need to have the original file in order to change it.

In navigation pane, under "Security".

The Navigation Pane Security area is for the G3 users and access rights settings.

For protection of the source look under File, Protection...
It's done nicely right there, passwords and recovery methods.

Then you can leave "enable upload" turned on but that will not circumvent password protection of the database. You can upload it, but without the password you cannot open it.

The whole chapter on Protection in the Crimson Manual is shorter than this post. It is not clear to me if applying protection to the database will protect the cd3 file on your PC, but I would expect so.

Paul,
I completely forgot about that one. I saw it when I first started using Crimson but I never used it, out of sight out of mind. I have a generally low opinion of the practice of protecting code from upload except if a few limited circumstances so I don't do it.

Cano,
If you set protection for read only access then when you open the .cd3 file you get a prompt for a password and an option to open it as read only without a password. In read only a user can view the database but cannot make changes to it. If you set protection for no access then you must have the password to open the file.

I'm not completely sure what the private setting does. The manual doesn't cover it. When set to private I can open the DB and make changes without being prompted for a password. I can open on a different virtual machine and access everything. The only time I see a password prompt is if I try to make changes to the protection settings. My guess is its a setting that allows you to temporarily turn off the password without allowing any changes to what the password is unless you have the password. That could be useful during extended development or to let a subcontractor make changes without revealing to him what the password is. It could also protect an employer from a disgruntled employee maliciously locking up source code (yeah, we've never seen anyone have that problem before on the forum ).

Maybe one of the Redlion tech support people who frequent the forum can clarify this.

I like how they left 2/3 of the page blank in the manual. They are BEGGING me to pirate their book and finish it for them.

I despise passwords in all forms. I hate keys too. I think if someone does something they shouldn't do, train them 1st, fire them 2nd. For protection of intellectual property? That's an entirely legit thing.