NetWare 5.1 and NetWare 6 with a mixture of DEMO, REDBOX. UPGRADE, DEVNET and MLA licenses.

(Last modified: 07Jul2005)

This document (10065604) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

goal

fact

Novell NetWare 6.0

Novell Licensing Services

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Occassionally customers will intall a mixture of RedBox, MLA, Demo and other licenses into the same tree. Although this is possible and can functin properly. It can produce questions about why certain servers and users are consuming specific license units. Novell recommends you avoid mixing license types; however, sometimes this is necessary for a short period of time. Two examples of instances where mixed licensing types may coexist would be:

- Changing from Demo licensing to RedBox or MLA licensing
-Chaning from RedBox licensing to MLA licensing.

Note: RedBox licensing refers to off-the-shelf purchases of licenses. As they usually come with the red Novell box, they are referred to as RedBox 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.

This document is divided into three sections. Each section deals with this subject in geater depth. The first section should be sufficient for anyone to obtain necessry procedures to switch from Demo to RedBox or MLA licensing or from RedBox to MLA licensing.

The included sections are:
-Changing from Demo to RedBox licensing
-Details of How the NetWare Policy Manager Works
-EXAMPLE USAGE OF NLS TOOLS TO VIEW LICENSING BEHAVIOR
-EXAMPLES OF USING NLS TOOLS TO VIEW LICENSING BEHAVIOR

CHANGING FROM DEMO TO REDBOX LICENSING
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1.) Install the RedBox server certificate in the same context as the Demo server certificate and assign it to the same server.
2.) Install the appropriate number of user license certificates in user contexts where user objects exist.
3.) If the new user licenses reside in contexts along the path to Root from the user objects, then existing connections will eventually acquire the correct licenses once licensing has switched from Demo to RedBox licensing.
4.) Once appropriate RedBox licensing is installed, with a server certificate assigned to the same server, delete the Demo server certificate and the Demo User certificate.
5.) Unload polimgr.nlm, then unload nlslsp.nlm. Reload polimgr.nlm which will reload nlslsp.nlm. If you don't unload nlslsp.nlm, license policy information will remain cached and polimgr.nlm will reacquire the deleted Demo server certificate. Unloading nlslsp.nlm will not clear current connections.
6.) Policy Manager will see that it is in an unknown state and switch to its initial startup mode. It will begin 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 will attempt 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.
7.) If the discovered certificate is an MLA certificate of the appropriate Publisher, Product and version, it will consume a unit.
8.) If the discovered certificate is a non-MLA certificate, it will check to see if the current server is assigned to this certificate. If so, it will consume a unit from the discovered certificate with the matching string information. If the server is not assigned to this non-MLA certificate, Policy Manager will not consume a license unit from the certificate.
9.) 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 RedBox server license with server assignment MYSERVER into O=CORP, Polimgr.nlm will consume a unit of the MLA server license, not the RedBox server license. Even though a specific server assignment is made to the RedBox license, polimgr.nlm will never see this license. The reason: polimgr.nlm will stop searching for available server licenses once it finds a suitable license. (In this case, the MLA certificate).
10.) Once the server has acquired its server certificate, it determines the type of licensing in force on that server: i.e., RedBox, Demo, DevNet, Education or MLA, based on the server certificate type. It will then begin a check of all current connections. (Note, Upgrade and RedBox licenses are considered the same type.)
11.) If a connection was present before the change in licensing type, say from Demo to RedBox, polimgr.nlm will attempt to find and consume a client unit appropriate for the type of server. Presently, that means that a NetWare 5.1 NW51SP3 or previous server client connection will begin an eDirectory search starting in the server's context. Polimgr.nlm will attempt to consume an SCL( Server Connection License) certificate assigned to the same NetWare 5.1 server.
12.) If the connection is to a NetWare 6 server, polimgr.nlm will begin an eDirectory search starting in the user object's context. It will attempt to consume an appropriate type of UAL (User Access License) certificate. UAL certificate are not assigned to individual servers but simply resides in eDirectory.

DETAILS OF HOW THE NETWARE POLICY MANAGER WORKS
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This process should resolve any conflicts between license types. However, if mixed licenses are installed into the same eDirectory tree, there is additional information you may want to consider. You only need read the following if you desire further information about the details of polimgr.nlm function.

1.) As mentioned above, Policy Manager determines the type of licensing in force on a particular server when the server consumes a server license unit. Whatever type of server license is consumed, i.e.: MLA, RedBox, Demo, DevNet, etc., determines the type of user license units user objects will consume. (RedBox and Upgrade are considered the same type).
2.) When user objects authenticate to the tree, they communicate with a server in this tree to gain access to the tree.
3.) If this authentication is to a NetWare 5.x server, no license units are consumed until actual resources such as drive mappings and printer resources are acquired.
4.) If the authentication is to a NetWare 6.0 server, a license unit is consumed during authentication.
5.) When user objects map drives and consume other licensed resources such as printers, license units are consumed for current versions of NetWare 5.1 (NW51SP4, and previous versions). However, in the User Access Model (UAL) introduced with NetWare 6, license units are consumed only when users authenticate to the tree and not when individual resources are consumed throughout the tree.
6.) Thus, every time a user connects to a server, it can potentially consume a license unit for that type of licensing in force on that server. Thus the following scenario is possible.
7.) A user authenticates to a NetWare 6.0 server running the UAL model with a Demo server license and maps a drive. A Demo User license unit will be consumed if a Demo User certificate is found in a path searchable from the user object's context.
8.) If this same user maps a drive on another NetWare 6.0 server installed with a RedBox NetWare 6.0 server license, Policy Manager will attempt to acquire a RedBox User license unit from a RedBox certificate. Even though the User model of NetWare 6.0 would stipulate that no additional resources are consumed for drive mappings and print resources, the user license unit is consumed because the second server is running a different version of NetWare 6.0 licensing (RedBox) the server used for authentication. If the Demo license were replaced with a RedBox license, this user object would not consume multiple user license units.
9.) Assume this user now maps a drive to a NetWare 5.1 server running the SCL model of licensing with RedBox licenses installed. A NetWare 5.1, RedBox connection license will be consumed. Again, even though the first server was running RedBox UAL model, and does not require additional unit consumption for additional NetWare 6.0 resources in the tree, a request is being made for a resource residing on a server using SCL RedBox licensing. Even though the same user object is used, the policy changes are determined by the type of licensing in effect on the server involved in the client request.

Another question may come to mind. What happens when my Demo licensing expires if I have also installed RedBox or MLA licensing?

Demo licenses are valid for 90 days after installation. Note: The NetWare 6 First Customer Ship (FCS) Demo license contains a hard-coded override date of Dec 15, 2001. The versions of the Demo license contained on the International CDs have removed this restriction. The Demo license units on the International CDs may be used with FCS servers.

When the Demo server license expires, Policy Manager will again find itself in an unknown state and switch to its startup mode. It will begin searching for a server license with Publisher, Product and Version strings that match those hard-coded into the OS.   If it finds an appropriate certificate, it will consume a license unit from that server certificate, just as stated in previous sections of this document.

What happens if I have more than one server certificate assigned to the same server?
The first certificate assigned to the server will remain the consumed certificate. Assume the first certificate was a Demo license certificate and the second was RedBox. Assume both server certificates are assigned to server ALPHA and both reside in the same context as the server. No matter how many times, the server is restarted, a Demo license unit will be consumed from the Demo certificate. No RedBox license units will be consumed. If the demo certificate is unassigned from server ALPHA, then the next time the server restarts, it will consume a license unit from the RedBox certificate. If the Demo certificate is reassigned to server ALPHA, then RedBox license units will still be consumed. If the RedBox certificate is unassigned, then Demo license units will be consumed from that point on even if the RedBox certificate is reassigned to server ALPHA again.

It was previously stated that policy changes for license unit consumption occur when the Policy Manager is restarted. In addition, Policy Manager performs periodic "updates". The update period is different for different license types. Typically, the policy associated with MLA licenses is 1440 minutes for the server and 45 minutes for user or connection updates. RedBox updates generally occur every 45 minutes for both server and user in the case of UAL, or server and connection in the case of SCL.

-EXAMPLES OF USING NLS TOOLS TO VIEW LICENSING BEHAVIOR
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This describes the process of how the Policy Manager interacts in a mixed licensing tree. For descriptions of the tools used to examine this behavior, please read the following section describing the use of Novell Licensing Tools to verify these license consumption events.

There are a couple of ways to verify what licenses are being consumed and how.

Using PM STATS to obtain server certificate information:
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At the console, type PM STATS. (Note: this only works on NetWare 5.0, NW5SP4 or later, NetWare 5.1, NW51SP2 or later and NetWare 6.0)

The type of licensing accepted for each version of the NetWare Operating System is hard-coded into the OS. You can see this information by executing PM STATS from the console. PM STATS produces a multiple screen listing, separated by pauses. Press any key to continue to the next page. On the second or third page (depending on the amount of statistics gathered), you will see an entry something like this:

SBL Publisher: Novell, Product: NetWare 6 Server, Version: 600

As stated, this string is hard-coded into each version of NetWare and is provided when PMLODR.NLM is loaded. pmlodr.nlm is a part of server.exe. The server will only consume a license of the type specified by PMLODR.NLM. Thus, for NetWare 6, Demo, RedBox, Education, DeveloperNet, MLA, etc, all licenses contain information indicating the same Publisher, Product and Version.

You can see this assignment for any particular license by going to the policy tab of NWADMN32.EXE and looking at Publisher, Product and Version. You will also be able to see this from "Manage Licensing Properties" in iManage. This will be part of the SP1 update.

Note: PM STATS will also provide information regarding:
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-Frequency within which Polimgr.nlm will check for unlicensed connections
-Frequency of Connection checks (checks for connection licenses in 5.x and User connections in 6.x)
-The Publisher, Product and Version of the Server license
-The update period for server license checks
-The Connection model used on this server (SCL or UAL)
-Additional information related to types of connections made, highest number of connections, type in milliseconds for certain types of transactions, and other information designed more for developer troubleshooting that for support of licensing.

PM TRACE FILE ON|OFF
This start or stops a Policy Manager trace of PM activity. When stopped, the file SYS:SYSTEM\PMTRACE.DBG is written.
SET NLSTRACE = 0,1, 2
Zero turns off this facility. One traces to the console, Two traces to the console and to a file. When this trace facility is turned off, trace info is written to SYS:SYSTEM\NLSTRACE.OLD.

These and other tools are described in the Application Note "How to Optimize Novell Licensing Services" found in the January 2001 Application note at:

http://support.novell.com/techcenter/articles/ana20010102.html

In addition, information regarding the use of iManage to manage licenses using a browser can be found at:

http://www.novell.com/documentation/lg/nw6p/

under "Novell Licensing Services Administration".

An example of using NLSTRACE and obtaining NLS return code descriptions from the "How to Optimize..." article:
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When each server starts, it requests a server license. NLS searches the server's context for a server license. If a license is found which matches the PMLODR.NLM required type of license, it is consumed. If not, NLS performs an upward search through the tree until it finds an appropriate server license. If no license is found, no licensing beyond the two grace logins will be permitted with any licensing activity related to that server. In this condition, if you set NLSTRACE=2 or SET NLSTRACE=1, the NLS TRACE screen will display a message similar to this:

82:SearchProductMoveUp is beginning search at novell
82:DN NLS:Publisher=Novell+NLS:Product=NetWare 6 Demo User+NLS:Version=600.novell not resolved in cache
82:Unable to resolve .NLS:Publisher=Novell+NLS:Product=NetWare 6 Demo User+NLS:Version=600.novell.NLSES1TREE.. DS error is -601. Server receiving request is NLSES1.novell
82:NLSLSP.NLM: NLS error c000400f encountered (..\objects\ndscdb.cpp:6338).
82:NLSLSP.NLM: NLS error c000400f encountered (..\objects\ndscdb.cpp:6717).
82:Moved up to context [Root]
82:SearchSpecifiedUnits found 0 certificates on upward search (searchFlags:110, doDS:2)
82:Request for license units failed. Error C0001002
82:NLSLSP.NLM: NLS error c0001002 encountered (..\objects\handle.cpp:778).
82:NLSLSP.NLM: NLS error c0001002 encountered (..\objects\handle.cpp:1288).
82:NLSLSP.NLM: NLS error c0001002 encountered (..\objects\handle.cpp:193).
82:NLSLSP.NLM: NLS error c0001002 encountered (..\engine\lsapi.cpp:202).
82:LSRequest returned c0001002. Handle is d03e6fcb

The c0001002 error is described in "Appendix 4: NLS Return Codes" of the "How to Optimize Novell Licensing Services" document. It states:

0xC0001002. LS_INSUFFICIENT_UNITS. A license is not available, or no license has been installed at or above the server's NDS context. Depending on the type of license certificate, install a certificate in the server's context or in the requesting user's context. If you have a Server Connection License model, install the certificate in the server's context. If you have a User Access License model, install the certificate in the user's context.

NOTE: No User or Connection licenses installed can be consumed unless at least one server of the appropriate licensing level, is installed in the tree. This server must have consumed a server license unit of the appropriate type. For NetWare 5.x and below, licensing is of the Server Connection License type. Both server and Connection licenses are assigned to specific servers (except for MLA licenses).

An example of using PM STATS to verify the consumed server certificate has changed when changing from Demo to RedBox licensing:
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1.) If the RedBox license was assigned to server ALPHA first, then it will consume a RedBox server license.
You can tell what license the server consumed by typing PM STATS at the console. On the second screen of PM STATS, look for the entry starting with SBL handle. Contained within that line is the statement ID: SN: 999999999    You either need to know what the serial number is of each license or look at the license in the NWADMN32 Policy TAB of license details. NOTE: we will be adding this functionality to NetWare 6 in SP1.)
2.) Unassign the REDBOX license but leave the DEMO license assigned to server ALPHA.
3.) Unload and reload polimgr.nlm. It takes a few seconds to acquire the server license.
4.) Type PM Stats again. You will see that ALPHA has consumed the DEMO license.
5.) Reassign the RedBox license and unload and reload POLIMGR.NLM.
6.) PM Stats will show that ALPHA is still consuming the DEMO license.
7.) Unassigned the DEMO license server assignment and unload and reload polimgr.nlm.
8.) PM STATS will show ALPHA consuming the RedBox server license.

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For additional information on NetWare 6, please see the following solution. TID #10064501 - NetWare 6 Readme Addendum

document

Document Title:	NetWare 5.1 and NetWare 6 with a mixture of DEMO, REDBOX. UPGRADE, DEVNET and MLA licenses.
Document ID:	10065604
Solution ID:	NOVL61686
Creation Date:	24Oct2001
Modified Date:	07Jul2005
Novell Product Class:	NetWare

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