---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Floating Licenses in Sun Products SunFLASH Vol 42 #31 June 1992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Reduces costs by allowing customers to pay for maximum concurrent usage of a product, rather than each potential user -- Part-time users have easy access to the software at a lower cost than full-time users -- Allows easy accounting of software usage and cost per user -- Protects customers by helping insure they are licensed for software they are using -- Provides access to accounts that require floating licenses as a prerequisite to doing business There is a trend in the software industry towards a floating license mechanism that allows customers to license software based on maximum concurrent usage of products instead of for every user that may, at some time, run those applications. The additional flexibility and accounting facilities of floating licenses have made them a mandatory item for many software transactions, particularly in the commercial markets. The purpose of this message is to provide awareness of the licensing mechanisms existing in Sun products today, share some of the benefits of the move of Sun software to floating licenses, and focus in on the policies and particulars of the floating license feature announced in the SPARCworks and SPARCompiler SunIntro. HISTORY OF LICENSING AT SUN --------------------------- Unless otherwise noted, the licensing policy for a product has always been that a one-user license was required for each person using software and on each machine where that software was used. In many cases, customers were left to figure out how to enforce this policy at their facilities. With the release of Sun Paint-Write-Draw in 1988, Sun began using node-locking licenses in its software to provide licensing guidelines to customers. This licensing mechanism is currently used with the following products: SunCobol 1.0 SunSimplify 1.x, SunAda/SPARCworks Ada 1.0 DosWindows 1.x NeWSprint 2.0 More recently Sun has been moving towards floating licenses that are not tied to a particular machine or user. Floating licenses are implemented by a pool of tokens that are available to potential users of the software. Each token represents one use of the software. A password is needed to create the tokens for use by the customer. These tokens reside on a license server and are "checked-out" when a customer uses the application. The token is released when the customer no longer needs to use the application. Customers do not need one token for each potential user, though a one-to-one correspondence is recommended for full-time users. The floating licenses scheme is used in the following products: SunPC CG3270 7.1 TE320 7.0 SunAda/SPARCWorks Ada 1.1 SPARCworks 2.0 SPARCompiler C 2.0 SPARCompiler C++ 3.0 SPARComiler FORTRAN 2.0 SPARCompiler Pascal 3.0 NOTE: NEARLY ALL OF SUN'S SOFTWARE PRODUCTS WILL START USING FLOATING LICENSES IN THE NEAR FUTURE. FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF FLOATING LICENSES ------------------------------------------ Floating licenses provide the following benefits: * Reduced costs Customer pays licensing fee based on maximum number of concurrent users of the product, not per the total number of users that may ever invoke the software. This allows licensees to "time-share" products. Sharing a 10-user license among 20 people costs the same as sharing a 10-user license among 500 people; of course, larger groups may wait a lot longer to use the application. * Flexibility New users added to a network may procure tokens from the license server, without the customer having to license additional user tokens, up to the maximum number of tokens available on the server. The customer doesn't need to specifically license each user. Hardware upgrades only affect the license server; hardware modifications to any other machine in no way affects the continual use of the applications. * Entitlement Helps insure that customers are licensed for the software they are using. Auditing of usage causes no surprises and/or fines. * Accounting MIS/purchasing has access to actual resource usage information that can be used to estimate the software per user cost for budgetary planning * Requirement for Many Fortune 500 companies will not buy products doing business lacking a floating licensing mechanism SPARCWORKS AND SPARCOMPILERS LICENSING POLICIES AND PARTICULARS --------------------------------------------------------------- The addition of floating licenses to SPARCworks and the SPARCompilers will probably receive a greater deal of visibility than products previously released with software licensing. While floating licenses brings the aforementioned benefits to these products, it does require our customers to make some procedural changes. To ensure that the new changes and features are perceived positively, we need to focus on the cost savings that are being brought to customers, in most cases by price reductions as well as by license sharing, and explain procedural differences associated with the inclusion of floating licenses. For SPARCworks and the SPARCompiler products, the definition of token usage is one user at one machine. For example, if johnie@sun1, tommie@sun1, and tommie@sun2 are using the compiler at the same time, 3 tokens would be required. For SPARCworks, that token is put back into the pool when SPARCworks is exited. SPARCworks can also be set to give up the token after a certain duration of idle time. For the SPARCompilers, the license is given up after an idle time of 15 minutes (necessary to insure a user does not lose the compiler in the middle of a Make). This time can be made longer if desired. Multiple compiles can be done by one user at a machine under the same token. A token can be reserved for a particular user, so that it will always be available to that person. Users can be specifically included or excluded from the pool of tokens. Verification of a customer's right to license the software is handled by a "Proof of License Certificate." THIS CERTIFICATE IS THE ONLY METHOD USED TO VERIFY PROOF OF PURCHASE. The certificate includes the following information: product name, version, number of tokens purchased (maximum number of simultaneous users), serial number, and authorization code. In the US, to receive a password to enable the software, the customer can do the following: 1) Call 1-800-USA-4SUN. Press 1 at the main voice mail menu for software and hardware technical support, and press 3 to choose the option for passwords. 2) Send email to license@sun.com. 3) Send a fax to (317) 364-7220. The following information needs to be included: serial number, authorization code, product name, number of tokens purchased, hostname and hostid of the designated license server, name, company name, address, and phone number. The above information is included in the SPARCWorks/SPARCompiler installation manual which includes a fax and an email template. CURRENTLY, CERTIFICATES CANNOT BE BROKEN UP. If a customer has purchased a 10-token license, those tokens all need to reside on one license server. It is important to pick the right machine as the license server. The machine should be very stable and not require frequent hardware changes. SunPro allows customers to change the machine acting as a license server once a year. Customers will be required to provide a written assurance that the old license data file will be deleted at the time of the move. Further instructions will be given when the new password is requested. Field personnel upgrading hardware should swap back previous PROM if at all possible, to obviate the need for a new license. If there is only one license server, and it goes down, the application cannot be used. There are two ways of guarding against this: - Designate 3 or more machines as redundant license servers. (There must be an odd number of machines chosen.) As long as a majority of the machines are functioning, their pool of tokens can still be issued. There may be performance implications with using many redundant servers. - Buy 2 or more certificates representing the amount needed to serve a facility and put half of the tokens on each of two individual servers. If one machines goes down, half of the tokens are still available to be shared by the users. Remember that number of tokens on each certificate can only be placed on one license server. Software Support Contract Customers ----------------------------------- Customers who subscribe to a Sun software support offering (Software Update Service, AnswerLine, Personal AnswerLine), should review the products that they have on their support contract as well as the number of licenses purchased for each product. Customers will be eligible for licenses as reflected on their support contract. If your customer requires more/fewer licenses than is currently on their contract, they may contact their local Sun service representative to make the necessary changes. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS --------------------- Q: How do I dertermine the quantity of tokens I will need for my site? A: To ensure adequate license availability during peak development periods, assume each full-time programmer needs a full-time license. Q: How do I get a password to use any of the software products that require one? A: Complete instructions on how to obtain licenses can be found in either the product installation guide or the product notes. Q: What information will I have to supply when I request my license token? A: In addition to your name and your company's name, you should be prepared with the hostid and name for each license server you will be using. For SPARCworks and the SPARCompiler products, you will also be asked for your serialized "Proof of Purchase" number (included in each product kit). For other products refer to the appropriate product announcement. Q: I have an unlimited-user site license. How do I get floating licenses for my site? A: With floating licenses, the number of maximum concurrent users available needs to be defined. Floating licenses need to be converted into a finite number of tokens. The number it is converted to needs to be worked on a case by case basis. It is possible to achieve the effect of a site license by issuing a large number of tokens, ie., 5000-user license. Q: I'm planning on upgrading my hardware soon. Will I need to make any changes to continue using my applications that have floating licenses? A: As long as you keep the same license servers, you will not need to change anything. If license servers or license server's PROM changes, a new password will be needed. Sun will allow 1 license server move per year. Customer will be required to provide a written assurance that the old license data file will be deleted at the time of the move. Further instructions will be given when the new password is requested. Field personnel upgrading hardware should swap back the PROM, if at all possible, to obviate the need for a new license. Q: I installed Fortran 2.0 and now Fortran 2.0.1 is out. Do I need a new license? A: SunPro has announced there will be no upgrade charge to move from SPARCWorks/SPARCompiler 2.0 to 2.0.1. The license server will allow the use of 2.0.1 with no change. At the release of each new product, customers will be informed of any additional licensing charges. Unless stated otherwise, a new password will be needed to upgrade the software. In general, maintainance (bug fix) releases will typically not require a new license, while major feature releases will. The token for Fortran 2.0 and 2.0.1 will also enable the new Solaris 1.x- based Fortran release shipping with Fortran 2.0.1 in October. The same is true for the newly released SPARCworks and SPARCompiler products. Q: If I buy a 10-user certificate, can I split it between 2 machines, ie., have five tokens installed on one machine and five on another? A: No, all 10 tokens must reside on the license server or consensus license servers. You must purchase certificates in denominations less than or equal to the number of tokens desired in a pool. Q: What denominations are available for the SPARCWorks/SPARCompiler product? A: For SPARCWorks/SPARCompiler 2.0 and 3.0, there are 1-, 10-, and 25-user certificates. SunAda will have certificates in the next release. Ada 1.1 is available in 1-, 5-, 10-, and 25-user packages. Q: I have purchased 6 1-user licenses and I want to put them on one machine. Do I have to get 6 separate password? A: No, you can redeem all 6 for one password that will allow one machine to issue 6 tokens. Q: How many license servers do I need? A: License servers can be used across subnets. Sun recommends that you distribute your tokens over one or more license servers servers per subnet to allow continued usage of the software if one of the license servers goes down and to reduce network load. Q: What happens if the license server goes down. A: If there is only one license server, the users will be unable to run the application. There are two ways to guard against this happening with SPARCworks and the SPARCompilers and one way for the other Sun products that currently have floating licenses: - SPARCWORKS AND SPARCOMPILERS ONLY: You can designate an 3 or more machines as redundant license servers. As long as a majority of the machines are functioning, their pool of tokens can still be issued. (The number of machines must be odd.) There may be performance implications with using many redundant servers. - You can buy two or more certificates representing the amount of toekns needed to serve a facility and put half of the tokens on each of two individual servers. If one machines goes down, half of the tokens are still available to be shared by the users. Remember that the number of tokens on each certificate can only be placed on one license server. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu, paris.cs.miami.edu, uunet.uu.net, src.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.adelaide.edu.au All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.