Document revision date: 19 July 1999 | |
Order Number: AA--PVXUE--TK
This manual describes the use of the License Management Facility (LMF), the software license management tool for the OpenVMS operating system.
Revision/Update Information: This is a revised manual. This manual supersedes OpenVMS License Management Utility Manual, OpenVMS AXP Version 6.2 and OpenVMS VAX Version 6.2.
Software Version: OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.1 OpenVMS VAX Version 7.1 The content of this document has not changed since OpenVMS Version 7.1.
Compaq Computer Corporation
Houston, Texas
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Contents | Index |
The License Management Facility (LMF) is the software license management tool for the OpenVMS operating system. To run any software product on OpenVMS systems, its license must be registered and loaded. To perform these tasks, use LMF.
This manual is for managers of licenses for software products that run on the OpenVMS operating system. Typically, the system manager has this responsibility.
This manual consists of the following parts:
The following manuals contain information related to the License Management utility:
For information about installing software, see the following documentation:
For additional information on the Open Systems Software Group (OSSG) products and services, access the following OpenVMS World Wide Web address:
http://www.openvms.digital.com |
Compaq welcomes your comments on this manual.
Print or edit the online form SYS$HELP:OPENVMSDOC_COMMENTS.TXT and send us your comments by:
Internet | openvmsdoc@zko.mts.dec.com |
Fax | 603 884-0120, Attention: OSSG Documentation, ZKO3-4/U08 |
Compaq Computer Corporation
OSSG Documentation Group, ZKO3-4/U08 110 Spit Brook Rd. Nashua, NH 03062-2698 |
Use the following World Wide Web address to order additional documentation:
http://www.openvms.digital.com:81/ |
If you need help deciding which documentation best meets your needs, call 800-344-4825.
The following conventions are used in this manual:
Ctrl/ x | A sequence such as Ctrl/ x indicates that you must hold down the key labeled Ctrl while you press another key or a pointing device button. |
PF1 x or | A sequence such as PF1 x indicates that you must first press and release the key labeled PF1 and then press and release another key or a pointing device button. |
[Return] | In examples, a key name enclosed in a box indicates that you press a key on the keyboard. (In text, a key name is not enclosed in a box.) |
... |
A horizontal ellipsis in examples indicates one of the following
possibilities:
|
.
. . |
A vertical ellipsis indicates the omission of items from a code example or command format; the items are omitted because they are not important to the topic being discussed. |
( ) | In command format descriptions, parentheses indicate that, if you choose more than one option, you must enclose the choices in parentheses. |
[ ] | In command format descriptions, brackets indicate optional elements. You can choose one, none, or all of the options. (Brackets are not optional, however, in the syntax of a directory name in an OpenVMS file specification or in the syntax of a substring specification in an assignment statement.) |
{ } | In command format descriptions, braces indicate a required choice of options; you must choose one of the options listed. |
bold text | This text style represents the introduction of a new term or the name of an argument, an attribute, or a reason. |
italic text | Italic text indicates important information, complete titles of manuals, or variables. Variables include information that varies in system messages (Internal error number), in command lines (/PRODUCER= name), and in command parameters in text (where device-name contains up to five alphanumeric characters). |
UPPERCASE TEXT | Uppercase text indicates a command, the name of a routine, the name of a file, or the abbreviation for a system privilege. |
Monospace text |
Monospace type indicates code examples and interactive screen displays.
In the C programming language, monospace type in text identifies the following elements: keywords, the names of independently compiled external functions and files, syntax summaries, and references to variables or identifiers introduced in an example. |
- | A hyphen in code examples indicates that additional arguments to the request are provided on the line that follows. |
numbers | All numbers in text are assumed to be decimal unless otherwise noted. Nondecimal radixes---binary, octal, or hexadecimal---are explicitly indicated. |
This overview introduces the OpenVMS License Management Facility (LMF) and outlines the tasks required to manage software licenses for software products.
A product license protects the intellectual property of the software vendor and provides customers with access to the product. Product authorization is usually defined in a contract with specific terms and conditions agreed upon by the software license issuer and the software user.
Digital Equipment Corporation and other software vendors provide software to their customers under an agreement called a license. In this document the term license means the authorization you have to run a software product on the OpenVMS operating system.
The terms and conditions of your license agreement determine your legal use of software. LMF is a management tool that can help you comply with your license agreement, but use of LMF does not indemnify you against noncompliance with the terms and conditions of your software license agreements. In other words, LMF offers options for many kinds of license agreements, but using some of these options may not be authorized by your specific license agreement. You must read your license carefully to determine which LMF options you can use legally. This document describes some features of LMF that Digital Equipment Corporation does not currently authorize. Digital may in the future authorize the use of some features described herein but makes no commitment beyond the current Software Business Practices. |
To use a software product that requires a license, you must typically perform the following steps:
LMF provides additional features to modify licenses to satisfy specific requirements of individual sites.
To manage software product licenses for OpenVMS layered software, you need to understand the following information about licenses and the tool to manage them on OpenVMS systems:
The License Management utility (LICENSE) is the command line interface of LMF. LICENSE provides the commands used to manage interactively the licenses of OpenVMS layered software products made by Digital and, in many cases, by third-party vendors.
LICENSE is a system-level tool that you use at the DCL prompt.
Example:
This example shows a LICENSE MODIFY command line at the DCL prompt. The
command modifies the Encryption for OpenVMS license in the License
Database so that users can encrypt files from the node DRAMA.
$ LICENSE MODIFY /ADD /INCLUDE=(DRAMA) - _$ /COMMENT="Modified to add node DRAMA 10/23/96" - _$ ENCRYPTION |
For detailed information about using LICENSE commands, see Chapter 2.
1.2.1 Displaying LICENSE Information
Use the LICENSE LIST command and the DCL command SHOW LICENSE to track
and monitor your system's license information. For information about
these commands, see Section 2.4.6.
1.3 License Database
The License Database is a collection of information stored on a disk that contains information about each license on your system. The default database file is SYS$COMMON:[SYSEXE]LMF$LICENSE.LDB, which is created by LMF when you install the OpenVMS software.
The terms of each license are stored in a collection of data fields in the database. Data is entered by:
The collection of data fields representing a license at any one time is
called a record. When you first register a license,
you create the first record with data specified in your PAK. If you
later modify the license, LMF creates a new record to define the
modified terms of the license, and includes a notation that the license
was modified.
1.3.1 History Records
LMF keeps track of the licensing activity on your system by writing a history record to the License Database every time you modify a PAK. Each history record contains an exact copy of the following:
For information about viewing and purging these records, see
Section 2.2.2.
1.4 License Units and License Unit Requirement Tables
A license unit is a measurement of the authorization granted for use of a product. License units define the size of each license. Each license has a size, specified in license units. Each processor has a series of license unit requirements, also specified in license units.
The license unit requirements of a processor are expressed in a rating. LMF contains ratings (in license units) for all available and appropriate processors in a table called the License Unit Requirement Table (LURT). There is a LURT for each category of software products as identified on the PAK. The PAK contains two fields, the Activity Table Code, and the Availability Table Code, which contain information to identify the category of the software product. Typically, processors that provide more performance have greater license unit requirements, but ratings may be unrelated to performance.
The size of a software product license must be large enough to support the number of users or processes using the product and the processor on which the product is to run. LMF compares the size of a registered license to the rating of the current processor and authorizes product use when a license supplies sufficient license units.
A copy of each LURT is published in either the OpenVMS release notes or installation documentation. Use the following command to determine the license unit requirements of your system:
$ SHOW LICENSE/UNIT_REQUIREMENTS |
LMF compares the size of a registered license to the license unit requirement for the current processor and authorizes product use when a license supplies sufficient license units. Thus, you cannot load a license registered with fewer license units than a processor requires.
To check whether your license has an appropriate license unit value (size) for your processor, LMF performs the following process:
Table 1-1 shows an example of a License Unit Requirement Table. See the OpenVMS release notes or installation documentation for current LURTs.
System Marketing Model | Number of License Units Required |
---|---|
VAX 8800 | 2500 |
VAX 8700 | 1800 |
VAX 8650 | 1500 |
. | . |
. | . |
. | . |
MicroVAX A | 135 |
MicroVAX 2000 | 135 |
The number of license units registered with any license should match or exceed the number of license units required for the specified product to run on the specified processor. For example, when you obtain a license for Digital Pascal to run on a VAXstation 3100 system, that Pascal license must specify at least the same number of license units as the LURT requires for a VAXstation 3100 system. The same Pascal license may not provide enough license units to authorize use of Pascal on a VAX 9000 system. The size of the license to run a software product on an OpenVMS Cluster environment must reflect the total number of concurrent users or processes and the processors on which the product will run.
Not all licenses have a specific number of units. Some licenses specify
zero units, which is equivalent to unlimited units. Adjust the unit
number as needed and as allowed by your license contract.
1.5 VMSLICENSE.COM
LMF provides the command procedure VMSLICENSE.COM to register, manage,
and track software licenses. VMSLICENSE.COM provides a menu-driven
interface that allows you to easily register and load your licenses.
VMSLICENSE.COM executes LICENSE commands, which you can also issue
manually. See Appendix A for a full description of each LICENSE
command.
1.6 Types of Licenses
Different types of software product licenses enable you to allow access to each product in ways that range from access for a specific user on a specific processor to general access for all users on all processors within an OpenVMS Cluster. Table 1-2 describes the licenses that LMF supports.
Type | Identification on PAK | License by | See |
---|---|---|---|
Availability | Availability Table Code has a nonzero value. | Processor type (Requires Key Option ALPHA or VAX_ALPHA to load on Alpha processor.) | Section 1.6.1 |
Activity | Activity Table Code has a nonzero value. | Concurrent uses (not users) | Section 1.6.2 |
User | Activity constant and Key Options: USER. | Concurrent users (not uses) | Section 1.6.4 |
Personal Use | Activity constant and Key Options: RESERVE_UNITS. | Named user | Section 1.6.3 |
The license descriptions that follow provide information to help you understand and manage the product authorization process on VAX or Alpha computers using LMF, rather than to help you order software licenses. Digital provides licenses in many ways that may not always correspond to the examples in this manual. Check with your Digital support representative for ordering information, and check the terms and conditions of your license contracts for restrictions.
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