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Dongle Monitoring

Overview​

With Dongle Monitoring you can track USB devices (Dongle License Keys) connected to your PCs using Workstation Agent. This way, license managers can monitor location and usage frequency of dongle-based licenses.

The Dongle Usage view showing dongle connection sessions with filters for device, user, and connection time

Finding this in the app

Open the OpenLM Platform app launcher (grid icon, top-right) and select Agents → Dongle Monitoring.

Before you start: Activate Dongle Monitoring in OpenLM Products, then install Workstation Agent via Agent Activity Manager.

Related: Alerts · Notifications

The app has three views, grouped in the left sidebar:

  • Dongle Usage (Reporting) — the connection history of monitored dongles. Each row is one connection session of a device on a workstation.
  • Vendors (Management) — the list of USB vendors you want to monitor. Only devices that match a registered vendor are recorded.
  • Blacklisted Devices (Management) — device IDs that are not supposed to be used anymore.

You can't monitor application usage directly through Dongle Monitoring. For application-level usage tracking, use Unmanaged Process Feature along with Workstation Agent.

You can also denylist a specific USB dongle if it's stolen, lost, or returned to a vendor, and set alerts to notify you if it connects again, helping you avoid compliance issues.

Prerequisites​

  • Install and connect Workstation Agent using Agent Activity Manager on all target PCs.
  • You need the Administrator role to manage vendors and denylisted devices. Users with the Viewer role get read-only access to all three views, including the CSV export.

Configuration​

To configure Dongle Monitoring:

  1. Activate Dongle Monitoring in OpenLM Products.
  2. Open Dongle Monitoring and follow the Onboarding Guide to complete your setup. On first launch, a welcome dialog offers a short interface tour — select Start to take it, or Skip Tour to dismiss it (check Don't show me again to stop it from reappearing).

The Dongle Monitoring welcome dialog offering the Onboarding Guide tour

Add USB vendor information​

Dongle Monitoring records a dongle only if its USB vendor is registered in the Vendors view — if the vendor of a dongle isn't added, its information is not recorded. Every change to the vendor list is delivered to your Workstation Agents automatically.

A HASP vendor (Vendor ID 0529, Product ID 0001) is built in for every account, so SafeNet/Sentinel HASP dongle keys are monitored out of the box. Built-in vendors can't be deleted.

The Vendors view listing registered USB vendors with their Product ID, Vendor ID, and Name

To add a vendor:

  1. On a PC with the dongle connected, identify the USB device's hardware ID (VendorID and ProductID), for example: USB\VID_0411&PID_0241.
    • Windows: open Device Manager, right-click the USB device → Properties → Details tab → select Hardware Ids. In USB\VID_0411&PID_0241, the Vendor ID is 0411 and the Product ID is 0241.
    • Linux: run lsusb to list USB devices as ID {VendorID}:{ProductID}, then sudo lsusb -v -d {VID}:{PID} for details — idVendor and idProduct (without the 0x prefix) are the Vendor ID and Product ID.
  2. In Vendors, select Add Vendor and enter the Vendor ID, Product ID, and a display Name (all three are required). Similar instructions are available in the app on this page, under How to get Vendor ID and Product ID?.
  3. Select Save. A vendor with the same Vendor ID and Product ID pair can only be added once.

The Add Vendor form with the Vendor ID, Product ID, and Name fields and the built-in hardware ID instructions

To change a vendor later, select the edit (pencil) icon on its row. To remove vendors, select their rows and then select Delete.

Workstation Agent automatically relays connected USB device information every 10 minutes by default.

Track USB devices (dongle keys)​

In the Dongle Usage view:

  • View detailed records of USB dongle connections. Each row is one connect-to-disconnect session of a device on a workstation, with the device details (Device ID, Name, Serial Number, Manufacturer, Vendor Name), where it was used (Username, Hostname), the Workstation Agent's status (Online/Offline), and the Connected Time, Last Update Time, and Disconnected Time. A device that is currently connected shows Device is still connected instead of a disconnected time.
  • Use filters to refine data: Device Name, Manufacturer, Hostname, Username, Blacklisted, and Agent Status, plus Connected Time and Disconnected Time date ranges. Select Apply to run the filter. Clear resets all filters except the two date ranges. Selected Queries shows how many filter values are active and lets you review them per filter.
  • Use Search to highlight matching text in the table, and the column chooser to show or hide the optional columns.
  • If the table is empty, reconnect the USB device to refresh the data. Also check that the dongle's vendor is registered in Vendors and that the workstation's Agent is online.
  • Export device records by selecting Export to CSV. The export always contains all device records for your organization — the active filters and date ranges are not applied to it.

Denylist USB devices​

If you lose a USB dongle or return it to a vendor, you can denylist it:

  1. In Blacklisted Devices, select Add Blacklisted Device, and enter the Device ID exactly as it appears in the Dongle Usage view — for example USB\VID_0411&PID_0241\1.0.
  2. Set up an alert in the Alerts (Alert setup) to receive notifications if denylisted device reconnects.
  3. Configure email notifications in Notification (Notification setup).
  4. Toggle notifications to On.

The Blacklisted Devices view with the Add blacklisted device dialog open on the Device ID field

From then on, whenever the denylisted device connects or disconnects, the session still appears in Dongle Usage, marked with a red circle-slash icon on its Device ID — use the Blacklisted filter (Blacklisted only) to see these records at a glance.

Last updated on by Maria Gilca