Security license management with IAMMAIN

The IAMMAIN started task supports the BMC Security License Management process by validating BMC AMI Storage IAM and IAM/PLEX product licenses, reporting the license status before going into a wait mode, running daily license validation post-midnight, and reporting results in SYSLOG and JESYSMSG. IAMMAIN contains the BMCPSWD DD which indicates the presence of a valid license module. For more information about BMC license management, see BMC-Product-Software-Authorization.

Related topic

Activating the IAM VSAM Interface

Activating the IAM VSAM interface

IAMMAIN can start the IAM VSAM interface (VIF) (if it is not already active). It also supports all the parameters supported by IAMSTART.

If the IAMMAIN started task is down, it cannot validate licenses, so IAM assumes that the CPU does not have a license. This is because it is IAMMAIN that uses the BMCPSWD DD to point to a load library that contains the password modules.

When the HARDFAIL license expires, you can still access existing files and data, subject to the following restrictions:

  • You cannot create new IAM files.
  • You cannot start a new IAM/PLEX, but the existing IAM/PLEX sessions continue to work.

If the SOFTFAIL license expires, IAM continues to work without restrictions, but messages are displayed when you run jobs to notify you about the license status. 

To set up IAMMAIN

  1. To set up IAMMAIN, place the sample from the IAM sample library (IAMSAMP) into a system procedure library:

    //IAMMAIN   PROC  LIB='USER.LIB',            <--USER CHANGE--|          
    //             BMCLNK='BMC.LIB'              <--USER CHANGE--|          
    //*                                                                     
    //******                                                                
    //*    THIS PROCEDURE HAS BEEN CREATED FOR IAM.                         
    //*    IT ACTIVATES IAMMAIN STARTED TASK FOR IAM LICENSE MANAGEMENT.    
    //*    THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROCEDURE IS TO PROVIDE A MEMBER THAT CAN    
    //*    BE PLACED IN SYS1.PROCLIB THAT WILL ACTIVATE LICENSE MANAGEMENT  
    //*    WHEN IT IS INVOKED BY A SYSTEM START COMMAND. THIS TASK MUST     
    //*    ALWAYS BE ACTIVE FOR IAM PRODUCT TO FUNCTION PROPERLY.           
    //*    BMCPSWD DD SHOULD POINT TO THE BMC PROVIDED PASSWORD MODULE      
    //*                                                                     
    //*    THROUGH PARMS, USER CAN CONTROL IF THIS PROGRAM SHOULD INVOKE    
    //*    IAMSTART OR NOT. 'NOVIF' PARM GIVEN IN THIS SAMPLE WILL BYPASS   
    //*    IAMSTART CALL. IF USER DECIDES TO CALL IAMSTART THRIOUGH         
    //*    IAMMAIN, A SEPARATE IAMSTART PROCEDURE IS NOT REQUIRED.          
    //*                                                                   
    //*    USER CHANGES:                                                  
    //*    1) CHANGE 'USER.LIB' TO NAME OF IAM LOAD LIBRARY               
    //*       CHANGE 'BMC.LIB' TO NAME OF BMCLINK LIBRARY                 
    //*    2) CHANGE 'IAM.PASSWORD.LOAD' TO NAME OF BMC PASSWORD LIBRARY  
    //*       CONTAINING PASSWORD MODULE FOR IAM AND IAMPLEX.             
    //*    3) REMOVE 'NOVIF' PARM IF IAMMAIN SHOULD INSTALL PROD VERSION  
    //*       VSAM INTERFACE (VIF).                                       
    //*    4) USE PARM AS DESCRIBED IN THE SAMP MEMBER 'IAMSTRTT' IF      
    //*       IAMMAIN SHOULD INSTALL TEST VERSION OF VSAM INTERCACE (VIF).
    //******                                                              
    //******                                                              
    //IAMMAIN   EXEC PGM=IAMMAIN,                                         
    //             PARM='NOVIF'                   <-- USER MAY CHANGE --|
    //STEPLIB   DD DISP=SHR,DSN=&LIB                                      
    //          DD DISP=SHR,DSN=&BMCLNK                                   
    //SYSLIB    DD DISP=SHR,DSN=&LIB                                      
    //BMCPSWD   DD DISP=SHR,DSN=IAM.PASSWORD.LOAD     <-- USER CHANGE --|
    //SYSUDUMP  DD SYSOUT=*  

  2. To start IAMMAIN during the initial program load (IPL), replace the existing IAMSTART procedure. 

    Best practice
    We recommend using IAMMAIN to start the IAM VSAM interface (VIF). As with versions of IAM prior to version 11, the IAM VSAM interface can still be started by the IAMSTART procedure, or by an IAM/RLS or IAM/PLEX STC.  

  3. To activate IAM VSAM Interface (VIF) separately, use the NOVIF parameter in IAMMAIN to avoid starting the VIF with the IAMMAIN library.
  4. Make sure that you concatenate the IAMLINK and BMCLINK (also referred to as BBLINK) libraries in the STEPLIB DD of the IAMMAIN JCL. 

Operator commands

To shut down the IAMMAIN address space or refresh your license module, use the following z/OS MODIFY command:

F IAMMAINaddressSpaceName,command

Valid commands are as follows:

Command

Description

REFRESH

Refreshes the license status after a new license module is loaded into the library referenced by the BMCPSWD DD statement.

The license is validated immediately via the new license module. Daily midnight validation continues with the updated license module.

MESSAGE=

Specifies which messages to print to SYSLOG.

Valid values are as follows:

ALL—(Default) Reports daily license status even if product has an active license for longer periods.

WARN—Indicates that the license is nearing expiry or running in grace period. Messages start appearing 90 days before license expiry. 

ERR—Indicates that the license has expired and product is not usable. Warning messages continue to appear in user jobs that attempt to define a new IAM file and when you start an IAM/PLEX session.

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*