Rational Software Corp.

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Understanding Rational Suite Licensing

This chapter describes the following topics related to Rational software licensing services:

The Rational Common Licensing Model

Rational Software uses a software-based license management tool from GLOBEtrotter Inc. called FLEXlm. FLEXlm provides users with a powerful and flexible mechanism for managing licensing. This allows vendors such as Rational Software to build a customized licensing model by implementing the FLEXlm features that best meets their business needs.

Products Included in Rational Common Licensing

The following list of Rational software products use Rational Common Licensing:

Products Not Included in Rational Common Licensing

Types of Licenses

Node-Locked Licenses

Node-locked licenses are created only for a specific system. A node-locked license can be a permanent license, a term license agreement (TLA), or it can be an evaluation license.

Note: Because node-locked licenses are uncounted licenses, there is no need to have a license server process running to manage their use.

Floating Licenses

Floating licenses are licenses that can be shared by multiple users on multiple systems. A Rational license server controls use of the floating licenses.

Note: Users need floating license keys from a Web server to run Rational ClearQuest Web and Rational RequisiteWeb on Web clients.

Floating licenses allow anyone on your network to use Rational Suite as long as a license is available. Thus, the number of licenses that you purchase determines the maximum number of users who can use Rational Suite concurrently.

Permanent Licenses and Temporary License Keys

When you register Rational products to specific systems (license server or client) in AccountLink, Rational generates license keys and sends you an e-mail message with these permanent license keys in a license file. The permanent keys let you use the Rational products for an indefinite period of time. However, Rational assigns an expiration date to the license keys if your company has negotiated a Term License Agreement (TLA). Technically, TLA keys are not permanent, but the process of ordering and installing TLA licenses is the same as a permanent license.

To use Rational products for an evaluation period or if you expect a delay in receiving your permanent keys, you can install the temporary license key provided in your Rational License Key Certificate. Because Rational has not generated the temporary key for a specific system, you can use it on any system until the specified expiration date.

Permanent and temporary license keys can be floating or node-locked. The difference is that a temporary key is not generated for a specific system and a permanent key is generated for a specific system.

Emergency and Evaluation Keys

Emergency and evaluation license keys are temporary license keys. They can be floating or node-locked. They are short-term licenses that are not generated for a specific system.

Suite Licenses and Point Product Licenses

A Rational license key indicates whether it is a Rational Suite license, such as Rational Suite DevelopmentStudio, or a point-product license, such as Rational Purify. A Rational license file can contain multiple floating or node-locked Suite and point-product license keys.

Returning License Keys

You may need to replace an old system or decide another system should act as the new Rational license server. Because permanent license keys are tied to a system's host ID, Rational products will not work on another system until you import new license keys that are tied to the new system's host ID.

To get your new license key, you need to "return" the existing license key back to your Rational account and then order a license key for the other system.

When you return a license key, you do not physically give the license key back to Rational. Instead, the return transaction updates Rational's records to indicate that you are no longer using the software on that system. This adjusts the count of registered products in your account and allows you to get the license key for the other system.

In accordance with the Legal Agreement provided on AccountLink, you have 30 days to shut down the license server that corresponds to the server identified in the returned license file. If you have a license file that contains more than one license and you are returning only one of those licenses, remove the entry for the license that you are returning. When you have finished editing the file, use the lmreread command to reread the license file and restart the vendor daemon. For more information about licensing commands, see License Manager Commands.

Upgrading Licenses

If you are upgrading from an earlier version of a Rational Suite or point-product, you can reuse your current Rational Suite and point-product license keys.

Adding Point Products to Licenses

If you are adding a new product to your system, you have to request a new license file that includes the new point-product license key. You cannot use the Suite license for individual point-product installations.

Using Your Rational License Key Certificate

To get your permanent or TLA license keys, you need to supply information from your Rational License Key Certificate. This certificate is enclosed in a large green envelope in your shipment. The information, especially the Rational Account Number, on this certificate verifies that your company has purchased licenses to run Rational products.

License Usage Order

A Rational product, whether it is installed as part of a Rational Suite or installed individually, requests licenses in this order, by default:

1 Node-locked before floating license

2 Suite license before point-product license

A Rational product requests a node-locked license before a floating license, regardless of whether it is a Suite or point-product license. Then, among a group of floating or node-locked licenses, a product requests a Suite license before a point-product license. For example, Rational Purify is sold as part of a Rational Suite and as a stand-alone product. It will request the Rational Suite license before it requests a Rational Purify license.

If you would like to change how your Rational products use Suite and point-product licenses, see Customizing License Usage Order.

Rational RequisiteWeb and ClearQuest Web

Rational RequisiteWeb and ClearQuest Web require floating licenses. Unlike other Rational products, they request the point-product license before the Suite license.

Rational ClearCase LT

Rational ClearCase LT can use either a ClearCase LT (floating) license or a Rational Suite (node-locked or floating) license.

Note: Rational ClearCase LT licenses are managed differently from other point products. Rational ClearCase LT uses a linger feature that requires a user to claim a license for a minimum period of 30 minutes. After 30 minutes has elapsed, the license is returned and made available to other users.

Requesting License Keys

AccountLink (http://www.rational.com/accountlink) is a Web tool that you can use to manage your permanent (or Term License Agreement) license keys. To use AccountLink, you need the License Key Certificate to order and install your license keys. AccountLink's interface offers three license transactions:

With these three transactions, you can order and return permanent license keys for Windows and UNIX products from single or multiple Rational accounts.

Note: AccountLink does not support temporary license key transactions.

AccountLink requires you to register your Rational software to specific systems using the system's host ID or ethernet address. You can register:

The following license key types are supported in Rational Suite:

Component type
License type

Rational Suite DevelopmentStudio (UNIX Components)
Rational Suite DevelopmentStudio RealTime (UNIX Components)

Node-locked and floating

Rational Suite DevelopmentStudio (Windows Components)
Rational Suite DevelopmentStudio RealTime (Windows Components)

Floating

Note: You must request license keys twice if you plan to use any of the Windows Components. You must request a license for the UNIX Components and you must request a license for the Windows Components.

Receiving and Importing License Keys

After you register your Rational products to a specific system with AccountLink, Rational generates a license key file that contains the license key. The file is sent in an e-mail message to the contact e-mail address that you designate in AccountLink's License Contact page.

You need to save the file to a known directory location as you will need to provide this information when you install the Rational software.

Note: If AccountLink is unavailable, see Requesting License Keys by Fax or call Rational Licensing Support. See Contacting Rational Licensing Technical Support for Support phone numbers.

Requesting License Keys by Fax

This section summarizes the steps for getting a node-locked or floating permanent license key when Rational AccountLink is unavailable.

Although this section gives customers instructions for obtaining license keys by fax, Rational recommends that you use Rational AccountLink (www.rational.com/accountlink) to request permanent license keys.

1 Find your License Key Certificate in your Rational product shipment.

2 Print the license request form.

    The documentation browser can be used directly from the CD-ROM and from the installed product area. To view the form directly from the CD-ROM, run the command rs_help from the CD-ROM root directory. The form, is located in the HTML Tool Documentation/Rational Suite DevelopmentStudio/FAX License Request Form.

3 Use the License Key Certificate to fill out the form. Make sure that the contact, Rational account number, product, licensing, and host information are correct. Any errors will cause delays in receiving your license keys.

    Note: If you are requesting a node-locked license, be sure to select NodeLocked and not NodeLocked UNIX. NodeLocked UNIX does not apply to Rational Suite.

4 Fax the request to Rational. See Contacting Rational Licensing Technical Support for fax and phone numbers.

If you request a permanent license key by fax and you have specified an e-mail address in your contact information, you will receive a license key file through e-mail. You can copy the permanent license file from the e-mail enabled system and install it on the system that is not e-mail enabled.

Requesting License Keys by Phone

If you cannot provide an e-mail address, contact Rational Licensing Support by phone. See Contacting Rational Licensing Technical Support for the phone numbers.

Converting a Temporary License to a Permanent License

If you initially used a temporary license (evaluation or startup) to install Rational Suite, you can convert your license to a permanent license by using the license_setup command. The license_setup command allows you to run a subset of the install script, rs_install. The license_setup command allows you to set up license options and run the license check sequence.

You may also do this by running rs_install; however, using license_setup will save you time as there is no need to run through a full product installation or any of the post product installation setup.

You need to have a permanent or TLA license before you start. See Requesting License Keys.

Rational Software Corporation  http://www.rational.com
support@rational.com
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