Sometimes you may have a mixture of Red Box™, MLA, Demo and other licenses installed in the same tree. Although this is possible and can function properly, it can produce questions about why certain servers and users are consuming specific license units. You should avoid mixing license types; however, sometimes this is necessary for a short period of time. Two examples of instances where mixed licensing types might coexist would be
NetWare 4 licenses are stored on the sys: volume and are additive without downing the server. Up to eight licenses can be added, thus increasing the user count. To switch between license types, say from Demo to Red Box, requires removal of all existing licenses and installation of the new licenses. Users may remain connected during this process, but may need to reboot once the license changes have been completed. These changes may be performed across an Rconsole connection and licenses may be installed from the workstation across Rconsole. However, connectivity using Rconsole in a distributed environment can prove challenging if SPX connectivity is not available across routers or wan links. In today’s IP environment, the IPX protocol may have been disabled.
NetWare 5 licenses are installed in directory services. These licenses can be deleted and reinstalled without downing the server if the server is running NetWare 5.0 Support Pack 6 or later or NetWare 5.1 Support Pack 3 or later.
Licenses can be installed or removed from any Windows workstation that has access to the tree. The administrator uses NWAdmin to make these changes. Users may remain connected during this change and acquire the changed license (assuming the change provides enough licenses for connected users.) If fewer licenses are available after the change, users retain their connection until they restart their computer. The Novell Licensing service with then permit users to consume licenses only for the available license units. Although this can be administered from a single workstation, any server requiring licenses changes must be accessed.
IMPORTANT:Red Box licensing refers to off-the-shelf purchases of licenses. Because they usually come in the red Novell box, they are referred to as Red Box licenses. Typical license units sold are 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 user, etc.
MLA (Master License Agreement) licensing is unlimited license consumption and is obtained through contract with Novell.
Having an MLA license installed as part of an NetWare purchase does not constitute having an MLA agreement with Novell. Unless you actually have an MLA contract with Novell, you are using Red Box licensing, and the number of user connections you can legally allow is specified in paper licenses issued with your NetWare purchase.
Install the Red Box server certificate in the same context as the Demo server certificate and assign it to the same server.
Install the appropriate number of user license certificates in user contexts where user objects exist.
If the new user licenses reside in contexts along the path to Root from the user objects, then existing connections do eventually acquire the correct licenses when licensing has switched from Demo to Red Box licensing.
After appropriate Red Box licensing is installed, with a server certificate assigned to the same server, delete the Demo server certificate and the Demo User certificate.
Unload polimgr.nlm, then unload nlslsp.nlm. Reload polimgr.nlm (which loads nlslsp.nlm.) If you don’t unload nlslsp.nlm, license policy information remains cached and polimgr.nlm reacquires the deleted Demo server certificate. Unloading nlslsp.nlm does not clear current connections.
Policy Manager sees that it is in an unknown state and switch to its initial startup mode. It begins looking for a server certificate containing strings matching those hard-coded into the current OS. This information comes from pmlodr.nlm, which is bound into server.exe. If matching Publisher, Product and version strings are found, Policy Manager attempts to acquire the discovered server certificate. These certificates are discovered in the order in which they are found within eDirectory. This order, within a single container, is usually the order in which they are installed into eDirectory.
If the discovered certificate is an MLA certificate of the appropriate Publisher, Product and version, it consumes a unit.
If the discovered certificate is a non-MLA certificate, it checks to see if the current server is assigned to this certificate. If so, it consumes a unit from the discovered certificate with the matching string information. If the server is not assigned to this non-MLA certificate, Policy Manager does not consume a license unit from the certificate.
NOTE:Discovery order takes precedence over assignment. Assume I install MYSERVER into OU=SERVERS.O=CORP with an MLA license in OU=SERVERS.O=CORP. If I then install a Red Box server license with server assignment MYSERVER into O=CORP, polimgr.nlm consumes a unit of the MLA server license, not the Red Box server license. Even though a specific server assignment is made to the Red Box license, polimgr.nlm never sees this license because polimgr.nlm stops searching for available server licenses when it finds a suitable license. (In this case, the MLA certificate).
After the server has acquired its server certificate, it determines the type of licensing in force on that server, such as Red Box, Demo, DevNet, Education or MLA, based on the server certificate type. It then begins a check of all current connections. (Upgrade and Red Box licenses are considered the same type.)
If a connection was present before the change in licensing type, such as from Demo to Red Box, polimgr.nlm attempts to find and consume a client unit appropriate for the type of server. Presently, that means that a NetWare 5.1 Support Pack 3 or previous server client connection begins an eDirectory search starting in the server’s context. Polimgr.nlm attempts to consume an SCL (Server Connection License) certificate assigned to the same NetWare 5.1 server.
If the connection is to a NetWare 6 server, polimgr.nlm begins an eDirectory search starting in the user object’s context. It attempts to consume an appropriate type of UAL (User Access License) certificate. UAL certificates are not assigned to individual servers but simply reside in eDirectory.
The process is the same as Section 2.11.2, Changing from Demo to Red Box Licensing. However, you typically install one MLA license in an organization. Numerous servers located within the directory services structure below that organization may be installed and consume that MLA license. If a customer wants to switch back to Red Box, then server licenses must be installed and associated with each server individually. Then you can remove the MLA licenses. Each server must unload nlslsp.nlm, unload polimgr.nlm and reload polimgr.nlm. This assumes that Support NetWare 5.0 with Support Pack 6 or later or NetWare 5.1 Support Pack 3 or later, or NetWare 4 with Support Pack 6a have been installed.
Users can remain connected during this process.