Zend Guard

Zend Guard is the most comprehensive solution to protect and distribute PHP applications. It combines excellent code protection with a flexible licensing administration system. Zend Guard allows for safe and confident distribution and management of your PHP applications while protecting your source code, thanks to two basic components: Zend Guards Encoder and Zend Guards Licence Manager.

Software vendors are increasingly writing applications in PHP with the aim of distributing them via download or CD. It is critical that the source code and intellectual property of the applications being distributed is secure, regardless of whether the applications are free, for evaluation purposes or for commercial sale. Zend Guard, with its key components of Encoding, Obfuscating and Licensing, make this distribution worry free. Zend Guard protects your commercial PHP 4 and PHP 5 applications from reverse engineering, unauthorised customisation, unlicenced use and redistribution.

Zend Guard - Features

Product Benefits:

• Enables PHP source code protection (against copyright infringement and reverse-engineering) of commercial
• PHP applications through advanced encoding and obfuscation technologies.
• Provides IT Managers with a solution that prohibits modification of their internal PHP application source code so they can effectively support them.
• Allows ISVs to impose a variety of licensing policies on commercial PHP applications.
• Enables vendors to increase their revenue by choosing from a variety of licensing models such as concurrent users, time limited, segment of network, or server specific.
• Zend Guard is the most widely distributed PHP encryption product on the market. Available for over 7 years,
• Zends dedicated team of developers makes it the most stable and robust encoder on the market.
• Zend Optimizer the most widely distributed PHP run time optimizer on the market.
• Streamlined integration with Zend Studio just one click and your PHP application is encoded.
• Auto-detects and suggests PHP code elements (such as functions and methods) to exclude them from being obfuscated. This significantly reduces development time.

New Features for Version 5

• PHP 5.2 Support
• New User Interface New UI based on Eclipse RCP technology for easy files management and control divided into different tabs of configuration:
• Overview Configure your application general information including optimization level, error handling and source options.
• Security Define encoded files expiration date, licensing configuration and obfuscation options.
• Exclude list Scan the files for suggested encoded files exclude list or select files manually.
• Header information Provide customized header information or user Zend Guard default header.
• XML Editor Customize Zend Guard configuration XML file manually.
• Easy license management New product license wizard with separate private key control and customized license information.
• Wild cards support for exclude list
• Variables support for easy file paths description
• Encoded files lock mechanism
• Line numbers removal option

Protect your PHP with Zend Guard:

• Distribute your PHP applications without revealing source code.
• Provide protection against copyright infringement.
• Protect from reverse engineering - the code is both obfuscated and encoded.
• Obfuscate and encode your entire project in just a few seconds.
• Improve PHP script performance using the most advanced code optimization techniques available.
• Deploy your applications on the most widely used platforms: Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Solaris, AIX.

How Zend Guard Works

Zend Guard's Encoder
Compiles and converts plain-text PHP scripts into a platform-independent binary format known as a 'Zend Intermediate Code' file. These encoded binary files are the ones that are distributed instead of the human-readable PHP files.

Zend Guard's License's Manager
Allows ISVs & PSPs to impose a variety of licensing policies on commercial PHP applications. Licensing both strengthens protection and enhances vendors' revenue generation opportunities.

The license file, deployed along with the encoded PHP, is validated at runtime. Licenses can be easily modified or renewed, without the need to deploy new software. Vendors can pick-and-choose from a variety of flexible licensing models:

• Concurrent Users: Usage is limited by the number of real-time users.
• Time Limited: A time limited license used for evaluation purposes or time dependent terms, with pre-set expiration dates.
• Segment of Network: Usage is limited by IP address range restricting licenses according to network topology.
• Specific Server: License limited to specific hardware, based on Host ID.
• Advanced Options:Specify advanced licensing options by adding custom code.

Zend Optimizer
A free download, is the run-time environment that enables end-users to transparently execute these files as if they were regular PHP scripts. Zend Optimizer not only provides an additional level of increased security against reverse engineering, it also improves performance.

Zend Guard - System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems:

• Linux x86
• Windows x86 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista
• Mac OS X 10.4

Note: PHP 5 files that were encoded or obfuscated by Zend Guard 5.0 require Zend Optimizer 3.3 or higher in order to run. PHP files that were obfuscated by this version of the Zend Guard require the Zend Optimizer 3.0 in order to run.

PHP Compatibility:

Supported PHP Versions:

• 4.2.x through 5.2.x