Adding or removing licenses

Use the Add or Remove Licenses form to add or remove BMC Helix Innovation Suite application licenses, based on your entitlement.  Licenses are active as soon as they are added to the AR System server.

If you want to increase the number of user licenses available on your server, you can purchase additional licenses. For this, contact your product sales representative or an authorized reseller.

Important

To remain in compliance with your purchased licenses, set the appropriate use limits in the Number of Licenses field for each license so that the number corresponds to the number of licenses that you have purchased. If, during an audit, BMC finds that you set the use limits higher (for example, for handling an emergency) and the license usage exceeded your purchased license count, you will be billed for the additional use.

Related topics

Working-with-AR-System-licenses

An administrator can add or remove the licenses by using the Add or Remove Licenses form:

Add licenses.png

On the Add Remove Licenses form the license is generated by using these parameters: 

  • Current Database ID — indicates the database to which the current host is connected to.
  • Current Host ID—indicates the ID of the computer you are currently using.

Your license is generated by using these parameter. 

Because servers in a server group use the same database, they share licenses. Each AR System server must have its own AR Server license key, but the server group feature shares all other BMC product licenses with all of the servers in the group. So for any product in a server group, when you add the license, since it gets stored in the database shared by all the servers, it only has to be installed one time. This registers it for all servers in the group.

All other license types, such as all types of Fixed and Floating user licenses and application licenses, are stored in the database and are therefore shared by all servers in the server group. You can add these other product licenses at any time. However, for all AR System servers, except the first server, the license must be added prior to installing the server.

Licensing behavior

The following table lists the behavior of licenses:

Component

Behavior

License keys

Only AR System server licenses need keys. Customers can add all non-server licenses without a key.

Server groups

No license qualifiers are required.

Dedicated server licenses

Dedicated server licenses are not used. During upgrade, dedicated server licenses are upgraded to full AR System server licenses at no cost. In addition, licenses for any applications associated with the dedicated server are automatically added to your system.

AR System server, server option, and application licenses

Each instance of an BMC Helix Innovation Suite, server add-on, and applications must be licensed.

Instance

An  instance  is defined as an AR System server or group of servers (that is, server group) sharing a common database.

In addition, each AR System server must have its own AR System server license key, but the server group feature shares all other BMC product licenses with all of the servers in the group.  

User fixed licenses

When you add AR System or application user fixed licenses to a server, you specify the number of such licenses that can be concurrently assigned in the Number of Licenses field. This number is the maximum number of licenses available for assignment. This number does not have to be the same as the number of licenses you purchased. The peak number of user fixed licenses assigned to users in each billing period is tracked and used for auditing purposes, whether the assigned users ever log in.

Fixed user licenses are considered site licenses, where a site is defined as all of the AR System servers licensed under a single Support ID.  Fixed user licenses are assigned to a named user who is entitled to use the same fixed user license anywhere within the site.

If the fixed user license is entitled only as a development fixed user license, it may be used only on development servers.

User floating licenses

When you add AR System or application user floating licenses to a server, you specify the number of such licenses that can be concurrently used in the Number of Licenses field. This number is the maximum number of licenses available for use. This number does not have to be the same as the number of licenses you purchased. The peak number of user floating licenses in use at the same time during each billing period is tracked and used for billing purposes.

A floating user license is associated with a single instance at any given time. While it can be transferred between instances, it cannot be associated with two instances at one time. 

To add licenses by entering them into the Add or Remove licenses form

  1. Log in to Mid Tier. 
  2. Select AR System Administration > AR System Administration Console, 
  3. Select System > General > Add or Remove Licenses.
  4. On the Add or Remove Licenses form, click Add New.

  5.  In the fields under the table, enter the following information:

    Fields in Add or Remove Licenses form

    Field

    Description

    License Type

    From the list, select the type of license to activate. You can also enter a custom license type that is not in the list.

    As a system administrator, you can now configure your system to use bundled licenses, which are used to access the BMC Helix Innovation Suite and applications.

    You can add only one entry for each license type except server licenses (multiple server licenses are distinguished from each other by license keys). To increase or decrease the number of licenses available for other license types, modify the existing entry.

    When you use 

    AR System server

     version 18.05 with an earlier version of 

    Mid Tier

    , after you click on the License Type field, the menu is not displayed. You must upgrade to the latest version of Mid Tier.

    Number of Licenses

    For the specified license type (server, server option, application licenses, and bundled licenses), enter the appropriate number of licenses for applications.

    • 0 indicates the license is inactive.
    • 1 indicates the license is active.

    User licenses

    • 0 indicates the license is inactive.
    • Any number greater than 0 indicates the maximum number of licenses available for use.

    License Qualifier

    Used to further identify license behavior

    Do not modify the contents of this field unless instructed to do so by BMC or a qualified BMC partner.

    Key


    (Server licenses only) Enter the appropriate license key in this field.

    To get a key, see Obtaining license keys in BMC Helix Innovation Suite Deployment documentation.

    Do not enter a 6.0-7.0.x key in this field. Instead, import it from a .lic file. 

    Expiration Date

    For trial licenses, enter the date after which the license is no longer in effect.

    Only trial licenses expire.

    Application Type

    Select the application type by using the following parameters:

    • Classic—For all the Action Request System applications.
    • Smart Apps—For all the BMC Helix Innovation Studio applications.

    The Modified Date column displays the date and time when a particular license is modified.

  6. Click Save.

To remove licenses

  1. Log in to Mid Tier. 
  2. Select AR System Administration > AR System Administration Console, 
  3. Select System > General > Add or Remove Licenses.
  4. On the Add or Remove Licenses form, from the table select the license to remove.
  5. Click Delete, and click OK in the confirmation message.

  6. Set the Number of Licenses field to 0, and click Save.

    Non-server license removals take effect immediately. To remove a server license, however, you must restart the server after removing the license.

To export AR System licenses

  1. In the AR System Administration Console, click System > General > Add or Remove Licenses.
  2. Click Export Licenses to File.
  3. In the Save Attachment dialog box, navigate to the directory in which to save the .lic file.
  4. In the File name field, enter a name for the license file or accept the default (arsystem.lic).
  5. Click Save.


 

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