Document revision date: 19 July 1999

An Availability License makes a product available to all the users of a system. LMF can load a product when the number of license units specified by a license matches or exceeds the rating of the current processor. To authorize full availability on a processor, LMF checks the Availability Table Code on the registered license and interrogates the LURT to determine the rating of the processor. If the registered license provides enough license units, LMF loads the license, making the product available to all users on the named system.

For example, the PAK for fictional layered product ALLSUM provides 1000 license units (Number of Units: 1000) and refers to LURT F, (Availability Table Code: F). When you register and load the license, LMF selects LURT F and checks whether the size of the license is at least as big as the number of license units required by the current processor. If so, LMF authorizes full availability to ALLSUM on the current processor.

In addition to authorizing use on a processor, LMF allocates the required number of units to the processor that loads the license. If a 1000-unit Availability License is registered in a common OpenVMS Cluster environment License Database, LMF can allocate a total of 1000 license units among several processors. For example, LMF can allocate the 1000 units to one processor that requires 500 units, one that requires 300, and a third that needs 200 license units. This is known as license sharing.

With an Availability License, LMF allocates license units to a processor when you load a license. LMF returns the license units when you use the LICENSE UNLOAD command or when the system is shut down.

The license you register in the License Database should provide enough license units to satisfy the requirements specified in the LURT. Before you purchase a license, work with your software representative to assess your software and hardware requirements and ensure that you obtain a license of the correct size.

For standalone systems (including multiprocessors), Digital offers licenses that exactly match the license requirements of a system. That is, there is a license size that matches each LURT entry.

Sometimes, users with multiple standalone systems cannot match their licenses to meet every circumstance. For example, you may manage two standalone processors: VAXBIG, which requires a 700-unit license, and VAXMID, which requires a 400-unit license. If you have one 700-unit license, you can load it on either processor (but not both). If you have one 400-unit license, you can load it only on VAXMID. You can, however, still register the smaller license in the License Database of VAXBIG.

You may need to provide more license units than are currently registered in the License Database for a product. For example, you cannot load a 400-unit license on a processor that requires 700 units. If you need more license units than are currently available, contact your software representative, who may recommend one of the following:

• A new license that provides all the required license units. This may involve deleting the current license (with the LICENSE DELETE command).
• Another license for the same product that provides 300 additional license units. If your license agreement allows it, you can register both licenses. LMF may combine the license units to produce the equivalent of a 700-unit license. For a description of license combination, see Section 1.7.

To provide full availability for a product in a cluster environment with a common License Database, you must register licenses with a total of license units at least as large as the total license unit requirements of all the processors. For example, if the cluster consists of three VAX 8800 processors, each of which requires 1200 license units to run a specific product, you must register at least 3600 license units (1200 times 3) to provide full product availability across the cluster environment.

If you do not need product availability clusterwide, you can register licenses with total license units to authorize use by individual nodes. For example, in a cluster with three processors each requiring 1200 license units, a 1200-unit license allows any one node to run the product, and a 2400-unit license allows any two cluster nodes to run the product concurrently. You can also use the LICENSE MODIFY command to allow or deny access to specific cluster nodes (see Section 2.6.2).

Note that you cannot always manage licenses as previously described. For example, some licenses restrict a product to a certain processor type, and other licenses with the NO_SHARE option cannot share license units. As always, check the terms and conditions of your license contract.

1.6.1.4 Providing More Availability

If you change the configuration of an OpenVMS Cluster by adding a processor, or upgrading a processor to a more powerful one, you may need to increase the number of available license units. You can provide more license units in the following ways:

• Register additional licenses.
  If you choose to register an additional license (sometimes referred to as an additive PAK), you gain flexibility; the new license can be moved to different cluster environments or standalone systems independently. When you register the new license, LMF automatically combines the license size of the new license with the license size of the existing license to establish a new, higher level of license authorization. Management of separate licenses for the same product can be somewhat more complicated, however.
• Replace the current license with a larger one.
  A new license with more license units (sometimes referred to as a replacement PAK), is easier to manage but is not as flexible, because it cannot be split among different cluster environments or standalone systems. You typically delete or disable the older license, then register the new one.

Your software representative can help you choose the option that fits your needs.

1.6.2 Activity License

An Activity License defines the number of concurrent uses allowed for a product at any one time. Each product defines an activity as either an interactive user, a running process, or a job. For example, when you register a 4-Activity License, LMF authorizes four concurrent uses of the product. Each time the product is invoked by an activity, LMF checks whether there are sufficent license units available to use the product on the current processor, and if so, allocates the license units to that activity, reducing the number available to additional activities. When all license units are allocated, no new activity can invoke the product until an activity terminates use of the product (thereby deallocating license units).

As with an Availability License, an Activity License authorizes use through license units and LURTs. A product may require a certain number of license units per activity, regardless of processor. For example, a 4-Activity License for a product that requires 100 license units per activity has a size of 400 license units, and allows up to four activities, whether on a MicroVAX system or a VAX 8800 system. The license unit requirement of the product is designated on the PAK as Activity Table Code: Constant=100.

Other products require a certain number of license units per activity on a particular processor. A 4-Activity License for a product that requires 25 license units per activity on a VAX 8800 system requires 100 license units. The same 100-unit license provides five concurrent uses on a processor that requires only 20 units per activity (of that product).

One primary difference between an Availability License and an Activity License is the time at which LMF checks the number of license units authorized by a license, as follows:

• The Availability License allows unlimited access to the product after you successfully load the license on a processor.
• The Activity License requires allocating available license units each time the product is invoked, and denies access when the activity limit is reached.

As with Availability Licenses, you should try to match processor, product, and license to your user requirements. Software vendors offer a variety of licenses that can match the license requirements of your users and your system. Before you obtain a product license, consult your software representative to define your software and hardware requirements to ensure that you obtain a license of the correct size.

The license you register in the License Database should provide enough license units to allow some predetermined number of actvities access to the product. For example, if a software product requires 25 license units per activity on your processor and PAKs come in 4-Activity increments, your license may provide units in a multiple of 100. Note that a 120-unit license provides no more use than a 100-unit license on such a processor.

Different processors can have different license unit requirements per activity. Therefore, the number of users authorized by a license varies according to the processor used. For example, you may manage the following standalone processors:

• VAXBIG, which requires 25 license units per activity to authorize a product
• VAXMID, which requires 20 license units per activity to authorize a product

If you obtain a 125-unit Activity License for VAXBIG, you can temporarily move that license (with the LICENSE COPY command) to VAXMID when you shut down VAXBIG for maintenance. The 125-unit license, which allows 5 concurrent activities on VAXBIG, provides 6 concurrent activites on VAXMID. Note that you can also move an 80-unit (4-Activity) license originally intended for VAXMID to VAXBIG. However, on VAXBIG, the license provides access to only 3 activities.

As with Availability Licenses, you can register a license in the License Database even if that license cannot be successfully loaded. For example, if you register a 40-unit license that provides product access to two activities on a MicroVAX A processor, the same license does not allow access to any activities on a processor that requires 50 units per activity.

1.6.2.2 Providing More License Units

You may need to provide more license units than are currently registered in the License Database for a product. Each time a user is denied access to a product because of insufficient license units, LMF produces the following message:

-LICENSE-F-EXCEEDED, attempted usage exceeds active license limits

Analyzing the frequency of these messages can help you determine your license needs.

If you need additional Activity License units, contact your Digital support representative, who may recommend one of the following:

• A new license with more license units. This may involve deleting the current license (with the LICENSE DELETE command).
• Another license for the same product that provides additional license units. If the terms of your license contract allow it, you can register the two licenses. This allows LMF to combine the license units, providing more product use. For a description of license combination, see Section 1.7.
• A different type of license. Some products offer Activity, Availability, Personal Use, and User licenses. Changing to different type of license may provide greater access to the product.

Typically, all cluster activities can access a product that has an Activity License registered in the common License Database. If your PAK specifies a constant number of license units per activity regardless of processor size, the cluster always provides access to the same number of activities. A 4-Activity License provides access to 4 activities whether the cluster has 1 node or 12 nodes, 1 MicroVAX system or 12 VAX 9000 systems.

In other cases, an Activity License may not specify a constant number of license units per activity on all processors. Because the Activity License unit requirement can be different on each processor, the number of available activities depends on the processors involved.

For example, a particular Activity License might provide access to any 12 activities for a product on an OpenVMS Cluster with three VAX 8200 processors. If you add a processor to the cluster that has a higher license unit requirement (than a VAX 8200), the number of concurrent uses allowed can decrease, because LMF allocates more license units per activity of the product on the additional processor. You can modify the Activity License (using the LICENSE MODIFY command) to include or exclude specific nodes.

Note also that when the system starts up, LMF, by default, loads any licenses that do not have include or exclude lists. For predictable license loading, limit access with a LICENSE MODIFY/EXCLUDE or LICENSE MODIFY/INCLUDE command for each license that can be combined when licenses are loaded.

1.6.3 Personal Use License

A Personal Use License designates the names of specific users for unlimited use of a product. Before you load the license, you specify the users allowed access. LMF adds these users to a reservation list, which is checked before granting access to each user who tries to invoke the product. A PAK for a Personal Use License specifies RESERVE_UNITS in the Key Options field. This license shares some characteristics with both Availability and Activity Licenses.

Although a personal use PAK includes an Activity Table Code, it does not limit access to concurrent use. While an Availability License authorizes product use by processor, a Personal Use License authorizes product use by user name. LMF processes a list of authorized users when the license is loaded. After the license is loaded, any user on the list can access the product.

To calculate the allowed number of names on the reservation list, LMF divides the number of license units by the constant value listed in the Activity Table Code field of the PAK. If you register a 400-unit Personal Use License with a constant value of 100, LMF authorizes four specifically named users to access the product. If more than four names are associated with the license, LMF rejects extra names from the reservation list and denies access when those users attempt to access the product.

Personal Use Licenses are subject to combination rules that allow long lists of authorized users. See Section 1.7 for information about combining Personal Use Licenses.

Each Personal Use License must have an associated reservation list that specifies the name of each user to be authorized access to the product. You cannot load a Personal Use License that does not have an associated reservation list with at least one user name. See Section 2.6.3 for information about controlling access to licenses with reservation lists using the LICENSE MODIFY command.

1.6.4 User License

The User License shares some characteristics with the Activity and Personal Use Licenses, as follows:

• Each user is counted once towards the total number of concurrent users allowed. The terms of your license determine that total number.
• Each user granted access has unlimited access to the product until exiting the last invocation, but is counted against the authorized limit only once.
• Once the user has exited the last invocation of the product, renewed access will be denied if the total number of users of the product has reached the maximum authorized by the license.

As specified in the terms of your license, users can be people, disks, queues, applications, and others.

1.6.5 Group License

A Group License authorizes access to a group of software products --- usually related --- that are licensed as one product. This enables you to license a group of products by registering only one PAK. A Group License can be any type of license: Availability, Activity, Personal Use, or User License.

All LICENSE commands use the group name for the product-name parameter instead of the individual product names. For example, a Software Group called COMPILER_1 might include Digital Fortran, DEC Pascal, and DEC COBOL. You register the Group License as COMPILER_1 with one PAK and enter all LICENSE commands using COMPILER_1 as well.

Group PAKs do not look different from single product PAKs. For information about the products licensed by a group PAK, see the Software Product Description (SPD) for the group product.

1.7 License Combination

License combination allows LMF to create large licenses by adding together the license units of multiple licenses. For example, two 50-unit Availability Licenses become equal to one 100-unit Availability License. Ten 100-unit Personal Use Licenses become equal to one 1000-unit Personal Use License.

License combination and loading are controlled by both the terms of your PAK and options you set with LICENSE MODIFY/COMBINE and LICENSE MODIFY/NOCOMBINE commands.

LMF Version 1.2 automatically combines some licenses by default.

1.7.1 Licenses That Can Be Combined

When a processor loads a license, LMF scans the License Database for all combinable licenses and makes a pool of license units available for use. Licenses are combinable if they have matching data in each of the following data fields:

• Product name
• Producer
• Availability
• Activity
• Key Options: RESERVE_UNITS, USER, NO_SHARE (assigned node must match), ALPHA, or VAX_ALPHA
• Product Token
• Hardware-ID

VAX Availability, ALPHA Availability, VAX_ALPHA Availability, User, Activity, and Personal Use licenses are different types of licenses. Therefore, they do not combine.

LMF matches any two empty data fields and, in the Availability and Activity fields, also matches the entry CONSTANT=0 with an empty data field. Licenses with the NO_SHARE option can combine, but they must have matching include lists that assign each license to the same node. This is the only time either an include list or an exclude list has an effect on license combination.

By default, LMF does not automatically combine otherwise combinable licenses if any one of the following attributes do not match:

• Termination Date
• Release Date
• Version
• Reservation List

If two or more licenses are combinable except for the above attributes, you can force LMF to combine them with the following command:

LICENSE MODIFY product-name /COMBINE

1.7.2 Include, Exclude, and Reservation Lists

• The entire pool of Availability License units becomes available to the processor that loads the license. LMF allocates the number of license units required for each processor as it loads the license. The appropriate LURT defines this number.
• The entire pool of Activity License units can be available to any user (or activity) that loads the product. LMF allocates the license units as each user accesses the product.

By default, when combining Activity Licenses, LMF combines those without reservation lists into one license without a reservation list, and those with reservations lists into one license with a reservartion list that combines the separate reservation lists.

By default, when combining User Licenses, LMF combines those without reservation lists into one User License without a reservation list, and those with reservations lists into one User License with a reservation list that combines the separate reservation lists.

By default, when combining Personal Use Licenses, LMF combines any reservation lists associated with each license into one large reservation list that applies to all the combined licenses.

1.7.3 Termination Dates and Version Numbers

With forced combination of multiple licenses, LMF sets the termination date, release date, and version number of the combined license to the earliest dates and version numbers that apply to the individual licenses being combined. The following table shows the combined license that results from forced combination of two licenses:

	License 1	License 2	Combined License
Version Number	2.3	2.0	2.0
Release Date	1-JAN-1995	30-NOV-1996	1-JAN-1995
Termination Date	1-JAN-1999	30-SEP-1997	30-SEP-1997

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