New activation paradigm and more

The new Shadow server v2.00 is the first release to implement the new activation paradigm. Instead of activating each Shadow client individually, a single activation key related to the Shadow server itself has to be used. Currently, the only parameter “activated” is the number of user accounts (active and pending) provisioned on the server. It is important that this parameter is completely deindividualized in relation to usernames or client devices – only the total number matters. What is perhaps even more important, no activation at all is required if the number of accounts is three or less!

For a short transition period the two activation schemes (old and new) are run in parallel, but the old client-related activation will be phased out with the next release of the Shadow client. The old client activation API of the server will still be supported for some time for backward compatibility.

Another notable change in v2.00 is that the admin-side “soft deletion” is no more: a removed account is now removed from the server completely (and not simply inactivated).