Advanced Server for OpenVMS
Guide to Managing Advanced Server Licenses
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Chapter 5
Configuring Client Software

This chapter describes the licensing software that runs on the client computer and communicates with the licensing software components (License Registrar and license server). The server software components are described in Chapter 1, How to Use Advanced Server License Software.

This section includes the following topics:

5.1 When to Install the Client Licensing Software

To obtain a client-based license from the license server, the client computer must be running the software for license acquisition (the client licensing software). This software enables the client computer to request and store a license key for access to the file server.

Note
If the client will be accessing the server-based license, the software components descried in this chapter are not required. Therefore, you need not follow the procedures described in this chapter.

The client license components include:

The CLR works with the license server to assign licenses to your client system. It also checks with the license server at startup time to see if the license has been revoked by the network administrator. The CLT stores the assigned licenses and presents them to the file server when asked. For a detailed description of the software process, refer to Appendix C, Client Licensing Software Licensing Process.

The following sections describe the implementation of these components on the following types of client computers:

Clients use the same transports to obtain and use their license keys as they do to access their file services. For clients connecting to the server using a dial-up connection, or from a local area network (LAN) other than the server's LAN, extra steps may be required to obtain a license. Procedures for these connections are described in the sections specific to each client type in this chapter.

5.2 How to Install and Start the Client Licensing Software

You can install the licensing software on the client computer as follows:

5.2.1 Installing and Starting the Client License Transponder

The client license transponder (CLT) component resides on the client computer and responds to the License Registrar software running on the license server system, but it never initiates communication. The CLT starts the assigned licenses and presents them to the file server when requested. The CLT is loaded into upper memory, expanded memory, or extended memory, depending on the configuration of the client. Depending on the type of client computer, the CLT software component appears as one of the following:
For this type of client... The CLT program is...
DOS and Windows PWLICLMT.EXE
Windows for Workgroups DECLICL.VXD
Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT PNLT32.EXE

In most cases, the CLT starts and runs automatically when the computer starts and requires no manual procedures.

5.2.2 Installing and Starting the Client License Requester

The client license requester (CLR) runs on the client computer and requests a license from the license server. This component communicates with the license server only. The CLR requests client-based licenses from the license server and writes the license information to the licensing data file and to CLT memory. The licensing data file is PWLICLM.DAT.

If the client computer is running PATHWORKS client software, the CLR may be installed by default as part of the PATHWORKS client software installation. If the client computer is not running PATHWORKS client software, you install the CLR according to the README.TXT file provided with the Client Licensing Software kit.

The CLR may require certain information to complete the licensing process. You supply this information and control the licensing operation by setting licensing software parameters. The method for setting licensing software parameters depends on the type of client computer. The following sections describe how to specify the licensing software parameters on each type of client computer.

Depending on the type of client software, the parameters for the licensing software may be supplied in the following ways:

For details on the way the CLR process determines the license server and product licenses to request, refer to Appendix C, Client Licensing Software Licensing Process.

5.2.3 Specifying Licensing Software Parameters on DOS and Windows Clients

For DOS and Windows clients, the CLR software component is PWLICLM.EXE. The licensing software parameters can be supplied in the following ways:

You can run the client license requester program manually, to troubleshoot or tune the licensing process, or to override default values for the licensing software parameters. This is useful when operating over a WAN (see Section 5.3, Enabling Wide Area Networking (WAN) Operations), and when connecting to the server using a dial-up connection. To run the CLR from DOS, use the following syntax: 


PWLICLM [server_name] [/switches]

The parameters you can supply for the PWLICLM command are described in Table 5-1, Client License Requester Parameters for DOS and Windows Clients.

Table 5-1 Client License Requester Parameters for DOS and Windows Clients
Parameter for DOS and Windows Clients Description
server_name Specifies the license server system name. The named server will be the first server asked for new licenses.

You must supply the license server node name to allow the client to access a license server that is not in the client's local area network (LAN). For more information about how to configure clients for wide area network access, refer to Section 5.3, Enabling Wide Area Networking (WAN) Operations.

/CURRENT: dirpath or /I: dirpath Specifies the directory containing the license data file. This file stores the assigned licenses for the next time the network is started and is located on the client computer. If not specified, the directory where the CLR is running is assumed.
/GROUP: group Specifies the client's license group. If not specified, new licenses will be acquired from the license group named "Default."
/NEEDED: filepath or /FILE: filepath Specifies the license configuration file, which contains a list of required licenses. Refer to Section 5.2.3.1, License Configuration File, for more information.
/NOCONNECTION Loads any previously assigned licenses, but does not attempt to validate them or acquire new licenses. For use with dial-up clients. You must run the CLR again when the network has been connected, to validate the licenses and acquire new licenses.
/NOLOGO Suppresses the copyright banner.
/SHOW Displays all licenses currently assigned to this client. Do not use any other switches with /SHOW.
/SERVERS Displays all available license servers. Do not use any other switches with /SERVERS.
/TIMEOUT:seconds
Default=3 		Specifies the maximum time (in seconds) to wait for a response from the license server when requesting a license
/PWACCESS Sets ERRORLEVEL to 0 if CCS, FPA, or Designated Access licenses are present. Used in a .BAT file to test for successful assignment of a license to access servers. For example: 
PWLICLM /GROUP:LGROUP1

PWLICLM /PWACCESS

IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO SUCCESS
/VERBOSE Displays more messages during startup, including the current license, licenses needed, and licenses released.
/? or /HELP Displays information about the CLR startup command.

5.2.3.1 License Configuration File

The license configuration file lists the licenses that will be requested from the license server.

You can specify a license configuration file at the command line on DOS and Windows clients, to override the default settings and the settings in the license configuration template file. Use the /NEEDED switch or the /FILE switch on the CLR startup command, to specify the name and location of the license configuration file.

For example, enter: 


PWLICLM/NEEDED:LICFILE.TXT

The license configuration file is a text file containing up to 10 entries, where each entry is written in the following format: 


LICENSE0n  = DECproduct-name

Where the value for:

The following is an example of a license configuration file containing two entries. That is, this client requests two separate licenses. The two licenses requested are:

The file licfile.txt would then contain the following entries: 


LICENSE00 = DECPWLMXXXCA06.00 
 
LICENSE01 = DECPWXXXWINAT07.00

5.2.3.2 License Product Name Definition

The product name on the license PAK indicates the license type that the client requests from the file server. The product name is found on the PAK that was loaded into LMF on the license server and is one of the major data components that LMF requires. PAK product names take the following form: 


DECPWaaaaaaabb.cc

Where the portions of the license PAK name are:
Item Meaning
DEC Producer name
PW Prefix for Advanced Server and PATHWORKS Advanced Server
aaaaaaa License type
bb Major version
cc Minor version

Note
Current or newer licenses are backward-compatible.

5.2.3.3 License Configuration Template File

When a client is running PATHWORKS for DOS and Windows software, the PWSETUP program creates the license configuration template file, which you can use to specify the licensing software parameters (group, server, and so forth) as well as the licenses to request.

The client requests a specific license type from the license server based on how the client is configured by the PWSETUP program. You can modify the client configuration so that it requests a different license type, license group, or license server by modifying the license configuration template file (CFGxxxx.TPL). The licensing software configuration parameters that you specify in this template file override the automatic selection by the PWSETUP program. If the user does not specify a configuration file at startup, the client license requester (CLR) looks for a license entry in the configuration template file. If the license configuration template file contains a license entry, licensing is determined by that template entry.

When a user selects the license configuration template, all licensing information is included with it. The CLR reads this file to determine whether it needs to modify its license request list. For more information about the way the licensing software determines what licenses to request, refer to Appendix C, Client Licensing Software Licensing Process.

License configuration parameters are read from the file pointed to by the PWTPL environment variable if the PCSA environment variable is set. To display the value of the PWTPL variable, at the DOS prompt enter the SET command with no parameters.

Table 5-2, License Configuration Template File Parameters, describes the licensing template parameters.

Table 5-2 License Configuration Template File Parameters
Parameter Description
LICCOUNT= n Specifies the number of licenses to be loaded.
LICENSE00=DEC product-name through LICENSE09=DEC product-name Specifies up to ten license PAK names, as described in Section 5.2.3.1, License Configuration File. If more than one license is to be loaded, be sure to set the number of licenses accordingly, using the LICCOUNT parameter.
LICENSEGROUP= groupname Specifies the license group name of the client.
LICENSESERVER= server-name Specifies the value of the server-name command line parameter for the PWLICLM command. This value is the license server name associated with the address provided in LICENSEADDRESS.
LICENSEADDRESS= address Specifies the DECnet or TCP/IP address of the license server named in LICENSESERVER.

When LICENSESERVER and LICENSEADDRESS are both defined in the license configuration template file, the CLR will associate the license server name with the license_address, as follows:

For DECnet clients: 

NCP SET REMOTE-ADAPTER-NAME

PWRK$L{
licenseserver} NODE {
license_address}

where license_address is the DECnet hardware address.

For TCP/IP clients: 

INETNAME PWRK$L{
licenseserver} {
license_address}

where license_address is the TCP/IP address.

LICHINT= n Specifies the value associated with the default product license to request.

This value is used if values are not supplied for, LICENSE00 through LICENSE09, either in the license configuration template file or in the license configuration file.

The value of n may be one of the following:

  • 0 for DECPWLMXXXFP nn.nn
  • 1 for DECPWLMDOSCC nn.nn
  • 2 for DECPWXXXDOSAT nn.nn
DECNETNODENAME= nodename
DECNETNODENUMBER= nodenumber
TCPIPNODENAME= IPnodename
USERNAME= username
SERVERNAME= servername
COMPUTERNAME= clientname
These and the following values are provided to the license server and are used by the license management software to identify the owner of a license.

5.2.4 Specifying Licensing Software Parameters on Windows for Workgroups Clients

For Windows for Workgroups computers, the client license requester program is a protected-mode component (INSTLICL.DLL) that requests client-based licenses from the license server.

To request licenses over dialup lines, run the Windows for Workgroups computer in real mode and use INSTLICL.EXE.

The licensing software parameters are specified in one of the following ways:

Table 5-3 Licensing Parameters for Windows for Workgroups SYSTEM.INI File
Windows for Workgroups Parameter Description
LICENSE00=DEC product-name through
LICENSE09=DEC product-name 		Specifies up to ten license product names. Refer to Section 5.2.3.1, License Configuration File, for information about specifying license product names.
LICENSEGROUP= groupname Specifies the license group name of the client.
LICENSESERVER= servername Specifies the license server name.

This parameter is required for clients requesting licenses over a wide area network (WAN) and in cases where the license server is on a local area network (LAN) outside the client's local LAN. The named server ( servername) will be the first server asked for new licenses.

LICHINT= n Specifies the default product PAK to request.

This value is used if no values are supplied for LICENSE00 through LICENSE09, either in the SYSTEM.INI file or the license configuration template file.

The value of n may be one of the following:

  • 0 for DECPWLMXXXCA nn.nn
  • 1 for DECPWLMDOSCC nn.nn
  • 2 for DECPWXXXDOSAT nn.nn
LICTIMEOUT= seconds Maximum time (in seconds) to allow for connecting to each license server and getting a response for each license server request. The default is 5 seconds.

The license configuration template file parameters for Windows for Workgroups client computers running PATHWORKS for DOS and Windows are described in Table 5-4, License Configuration Template File Parameters for Windows for Workgroups.

Table 5-4 License Configuration Template File Parameters for Windows for Workgroups
Parameter Description
LICENSE00=DEC product-name through LICENSE09=DEC product-name Specifies up to ten license product names. Refer to Section 5.2.3.1, License Configuration File, for information about specifying license product names.
LICENSEGROUP= groupname Specifies the license group name of the client.
LICHINTNW= n Specifies the value associated with the default product name to request, if values are not supplied for LICENSE00 through LICENSE09.

The value of n may be one of the following:

  • 0 for DECPWLMXXXCA nn.nn
  • 1 for DECPWLMDOSCC nn.nn
  • 2 for DECPWXXXDOSAT nn.nn
LICENSESERVER= server-name Specifies the value of the server-name command line parameter for the PWLICLM command.
COMPUTERNAME= clientname
DECNETNODENAME= nodename
DECNETNODENUMBER= nodenumber
SERVERNAME= servername
TCPIPNODENAME= IPnodename
USERNAME= username 		These values are provided to the license server and are used by the license management software to identify the owner of a license.

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