We have an OpenVMS hobbyist license that is set to expire on Dec 31st/2021. We have applied a commercial permanent license and it is showing as active.. Just wondering if it will be okay to remove the hobbyist license and let the permanent one takeover? Or can we leave the hobbyist license in place and when it expires, it seamlessly transitions over to the permanent one?

Any gotchas to removing the hobbyist license in advance?

Regards,

John Tran

On 2021-12-08 18:02:58 +0000, Dymaxion Development said:

> We have an OpenVMS hobbyist license that is set to expire on Dec
> 31st/2021. We have applied a commercial permanent license and it is
> showing as active. Just wondering if it will be okay to remove the
> hobbyist license and let the permanent one takeover? Or can we leave
> the hobbyist license in place and when it expires, it seamlessly
> transitions over to the permanent one?

Presumably there has been an OpenVMS upgrade here, as the HPE licenses
apply to HP versions, and the VSI licenses to VSI versions.

Unless an HPE license was scrounged from somewhere such as HPEFS,
there's an OpenVMS upgrade happening here.

If you want to switch licenses, you'll generally need to manually
register and manually load the incoming licenses and then unload and
disable the outgoing licenses, and usually performing those two steps
in that order.

--
Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC

On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 2:14:47 PM UTC-4, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> On 2021-12-08 18:02:58 +0000, Dymaxion Development said:
>
> > We have an OpenVMS hobbyist license that is set to expire on Dec
> > 31st/2021. We have applied a commercial permanent license and it is
> > showing as active. Just wondering if it will be okay to remove the
> > hobbyist license and let the permanent one takeover? Or can we leave
> > the hobbyist license in place and when it expires, it seamlessly
> > transitions over to the permanent one?
> Presumably there has been an OpenVMS upgrade here, as the HPE licenses
> apply to HP versions, and the VSI licenses to VSI versions.
>
> Unless an HPE license was scrounged from somewhere such as HPEFS,
> there's an OpenVMS upgrade happening here.
>
> If you want to switch licenses, you'll generally need to manually
> register and manually load the incoming licenses and then unload and
> disable the outgoing licenses, and usually performing those two steps
> in that order.
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC

Yes, an upgrade. They have a procedure that reports on expiring licenses and it's nagging that the hobbyist license is expiring. I thought that by removing the hobbyist license would negate the warning as long as the permanent one is in place and enabled/active.

So they have applied the permanent non-expiring license already. You are saying it is safe to disable the hobbyist license in advance? I don't see an option to "unload" in the VMSLICENSE utility.

On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 2:25:24 PM UTC-4, Dymaxion Development wrote:
> On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 2:14:47 PM UTC-4, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> > On 2021-12-08 18:02:58 +0000, Dymaxion Development said:
> >
> > > We have an OpenVMS hobbyist license that is set to expire on Dec
> > > 31st/2021. We have applied a commercial permanent license and it is
> > > showing as active. Just wondering if it will be okay to remove the
> > > hobbyist license and let the permanent one takeover? Or can we leave
> > > the hobbyist license in place and when it expires, it seamlessly
> > > transitions over to the permanent one?
> > Presumably there has been an OpenVMS upgrade here, as the HPE licenses
> > apply to HP versions, and the VSI licenses to VSI versions.
> >
> > Unless an HPE license was scrounged from somewhere such as HPEFS,
> > there's an OpenVMS upgrade happening here.
> >
> > If you want to switch licenses, you'll generally need to manually
> > register and manually load the incoming licenses and then unload and
> > disable the outgoing licenses, and usually performing those two steps
> > in that order.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC
> Yes, an upgrade. They have a procedure that reports on expiring licenses and it's nagging that the hobbyist license is expiring. I thought that by removing the hobbyist license would negate the warning as long as the permanent one is in place and enabled/active.
>
> So they have applied the permanent non-expiring license already. You are saying it is safe to disable the hobbyist license in advance? I don't see an option to "unload" in the VMSLICENSE utility.

Maybe I am overthinking it. If the new license are in place, on Dec 31st when the hobbyist expires, will the new ones automatically take over without having to do anything?

On 2021-12-08 18:25:22 +0000, Dymaxion Development said:

> Yes, an upgrade.

If you are running a VSI OpenVMS release with VSI layered products
installed, then the (expiring) hobbyist licenses are of no use to you.

> They have a procedure that reports on expiring licenses and it's
> nagging that the hobbyist license is expiring. I thought that by
> removing the hobbyist license would negate the warning as long as the
> permanent one is in place and enabled/active.

The HPE hobbyist licenses work only with the HPE products and versions.

The VSI licenses work only with the VSI products and versions.

> So they have applied the permanent non-expiring license already. You
> are saying it is safe to disable the hobbyist license in advance? I
> don't see an option to "unload" in the VMSLICENSE utility.

See HELP LICENSE for details.

Or see the OpenVMS docs.

https://docs.vmssoftware.com/vsi-openvms-license-management-utility-guide/

If you still have the HPE hobbyist license PAK file around (and didn't
use VMSLICENSE to load each of the HPE hobbyist licenses, then look at
that to see how that procedure manages older licenses, too.

--
Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC

John,

you can use $ LICENSE UNLOAD <license-name> to unload the license in the running system. $ LICENSE LOAD will reverse that operation, if there is a problem.

You can also $ LICENSE DISABLE <license-name> to disable the automatic loading of that license from the LMF database during startup. Later on you can $ LICENSE DELETE <license-name> to permanently delete the license from the LMF database file, if it's not needed anymore.

Volker.

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 5:03:00 AM UTC+11, John Tran wrote:

> Any gotchas to removing the hobbyist license in advance?

I'm assume you're talking about HP VAX licenses. For Alpha or Integrity new
VSI licenses you must upgrade to VSI OpenVMS V8.4-xLy, then you can
remove the old hobbyist licenses.

To remove them use the LICENSE DISABLE command (specifying suitable
selection qualifiers - e.g. /PRODUCER=DEC), then enter something like -

$ LICENSE DELETE * /STATUS=DISABLED /LOG

Tony

On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 2:53:15 PM UTC-4, Volker Halle wrote:
> John,
>
> you can use $ LICENSE UNLOAD <license-name> to unload the license in the running system. $ LICENSE LOAD will reverse that operation, if there is a problem.
>
> You can also $ LICENSE DISABLE <license-name> to disable the automatic loading of that license from the LMF database during startup. Later on you can $ LICENSE DELETE <license-name> to permanently delete the license from the LMF database file, if it's not needed anymore.
>
> Volker.

Hi,

I am wondering then on Jan/2022, the old license will expire and the new one just take over? Then I can delete the old one at any time. Or will the system see the old license first and I have to delete the old one before the new one becomes active?

I get the process of enabling/disabling. I am not sure about what is old license enables and if I disable/unload the old one what happens in the meantimei.e. do I have to do something before the new ones become active?

Thanks

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 10:59:17 AM UTC+11, John Tran wrote:
[snip]
> I am wondering then on Jan/2022, the old license will expire and the new one just take over? Then I can delete the old one at any time. Or will the system see the old license first and I have to delete the old one before the new one becomes active?
>
> I get the process of enabling/disabling. I am not sure about what is old license enables and if I disable/unload the old one what happens in the meantimei.e. do I have to do something before the new ones become active?

If you've registered the new license(s), just a do a "LICENSE UNLOAD product"
followed by a "LICENSE DISABLE product/PRODUCER=DEC" for the old PAK,
and finally a "LICENSE LOAD product" to get the new one loaded.

You can confirm the new license is active by doing a "LICENSE LIST product/FULL"
(or the older style "SHOW LICENSE /FULL product") command.

Tony

On 12/8/2021 6:59 PM, Dymaxion Development wrote:
> On Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 2:53:15 PM UTC-4, Volker Halle wrote:
>> John,
>>
>> you can use $ LICENSE UNLOAD <license-name> to unload the license in the running system. $ LICENSE LOAD will reverse that operation, if there is a problem.
>>
>> You can also $ LICENSE DISABLE <license-name> to disable the automatic loading of that license from the LMF database during startup. Later on you can $ LICENSE DELETE <license-name> to permanently delete the license from the LMF database file, if it's not needed anymore.
>>
>> Volker.
>
> Hi,
>
> I am wondering then on Jan/2022, the old license will expire and the new one just take over? Then I can delete the old one at any time. Or will the system see the old license first and I have to delete the old one before the new one becomes active?
>
> I get the process of enabling/disabling. I am not sure about what is old license enables and if I disable/unload the old one what happens in the meantimei.e. do I have to do something before the new ones become active?
>
> Thanks
>

Not an expert, but the way I understand it, if a license is valid, it will load.
If a license is loaded, VMS and layered products will use it.

If there are multiple licenses loaded, I'm guessing VMS will use one of them.
Don't know how it chooses. If one expires, then VMS will use whichever is still
valid, if any.

Not sure you actually have to do anything, as long as a valid license is loaded.

--
David Froble Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc. E-Mail: davef@tsoft-inc.com
DFE Ultralights, Inc.
170 Grimplin Road
Vanderbilt, PA 15486

In article <cac718c1-416e-4130-81a5-483e485482bcn@googlegroups.com>,
Dymaxion Development <dymaxion.info@gmail.com> writes:

> I am wondering then on Jan/2022, the old license will expire and the new on=
> e just take over? Then I can delete the old one at any time. Or will the sy=
> stem see the old license first and I have to delete the old one before the =
> new one becomes active?
>
> I get the process of enabling/disabling. I am not sure about what is old li=
> cense enables and if I disable/unload the old one what happens in the meant=
> imei.e. do I have to do something before the new ones become active?

A license can "take over" only if it has been enabled. You can have
more than one license enabled at a time.

Make sure that the number of units is sufficient. I'm not sure whether
several active licenses add their units.

$ SHOW LICENSE will show you which license is enabled. $ LICENSE can
show all of them and more details.

John,

I'm pretty sure, that OpenVMS does not 're-evaluate' licenses at runtime. Licenses (marked active in the license database) are loaded at startup time or with manual LICENSE LOAD commands.

Try this:

$ SHOW LIC/BR

Does the NEW license have the same attributes shown as the OLD expiring license ? If not, you would need to provide more information.

If so, disable the old expiring license in the license database after first finding it's authoriation number with $ LIC LIS/FULL <license-name>. Then $ LICENSE DISABLE/AUTH=xxx <license-name>

Then do a LIC UNLOAD <license-name> followed by a LICENSE LOAD <license-name>

Volker.

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 5:18:22 AM UTC-4, Volker Halle wrote:
> John,
>
> I'm pretty sure, that OpenVMS does not 're-evaluate' licenses at runtime. Licenses (marked active in the license database) are loaded at startup time or with manual LICENSE LOAD commands.
>
> Try this:
>
> $ SHOW LIC/BR
>
> Does the NEW license have the same attributes shown as the OLD expiring license ? If not, you would need to provide more information.
>
> If so, disable the old expiring license in the license database after first finding it's authoriation number with $ LIC LIS/FULL <license-name>. Then $ LICENSE DISABLE/AUTH=xxx <license-name>
>
> Then do a LIC UNLOAD <license-name> followed by a LICENSE LOAD <license-name>
>
> Volker.

One small different is that the old one is called OPENVMS-HOBBYIST, has 0 units and an expiry date of Jan-2022, the new one is OPENVMS-I64-FOE and 1 unit and no expiry date. Given the other responses, I don't think I have anything to do. If I leave everything as is, they will once a week until the end of Dec get a notice that the HOBBYIST license will expire soon. On Jan 1st/2022, it will be automatically disabled. The new license which is marked as ENABLED will be used automatically is my understanding.

John.

the OPENVMS-HOBBYIST license is just a 'placeholder', it does not have any licensing functions at all. No OpenVMS I64 product will ever check that license name !

I tested this by unloading OPENVMS-HOBBYIST, I can still login. If I then unload the OPENVMS-I64-FOE license, I cannot login anymore over the network, only console login works. Loading the OPENVMS-HOBBYIST license again does NOT change this. Only loading OPENVMS-I64-FOE allows login over the network again.

Did you install the OPENVMS-I64-FOE license yourself ? If not, the person who has entered this license has probably deleted or disabled the old OPENVMS-I64-FOE (with a termination date of 1-JAN-2022), that came with the OpenVMS Hobbyist license kit. You can probably check with LICENSE LIST/HISTORY OPENVMS-I64-FOE

So just disable the OPENVMS-HOBBYIST in the LMF database and issue a LICENSE UNLOAD OPENVMS-HOBBYIST - and you're done. No more warning notices every week and the system will continue to work after 1-JAN-2022.

Volker.

John,

there is a good description of using OpenVMS Licenses in the following support document:

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c00403340

Volker.

On 2021-12-09 15:56:54 +0000, Dymaxion Development said:

> One small different is that the old one is called OPENVMS-HOBBYIST, has
> 0 units and an expiry date of Jan-2022, the new one is OPENVMS-I64-FOE
> and 1 unit and no expiry date. Given the other responses, I don't think
> I have anything to do. If I leave everything as is, they will once a
> week until the end of Dec get a notice that the HOBBYIST license will
> expire soon. On Jan 1st/2022, it will be automatically disabled. The
> new license which is marked as ENABLED will be used automatically is my
> understanding.

You cannot use HPE licenses to authorized VSI products, so whatever you
think you're doing here is probably not working as you seem to think it
does.

If you have upgraded to VSI versions as would be expected, the HPE PAKs
are doing you no service.

Not past some HPE product VSI has not updated.

And access to HPE products via HPE hobbyist licenses ends soon.

--
Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 12:16:50 PM UTC-4, Volker Halle wrote:
> John.
>
> the OPENVMS-HOBBYIST license is just a 'placeholder', it does not have any licensing functions at all. No OpenVMS I64 product will ever check that license name !
>
> I tested this by unloading OPENVMS-HOBBYIST, I can still login. If I then unload the OPENVMS-I64-FOE license, I cannot login anymore over the network, only console login works. Loading the OPENVMS-HOBBYIST license again does NOT change this. Only loading OPENVMS-I64-FOE allows login over the network again.
>
> Did you install the OPENVMS-I64-FOE license yourself ? If not, the person who has entered this license has probably deleted or disabled the old OPENVMS-I64-FOE (with a termination date of 1-JAN-2022), that came with the OpenVMS Hobbyist license kit. You can probably check with LICENSE LIST/HISTORY OPENVMS-I64-FOE
>
> So just disable the OPENVMS-HOBBYIST in the LMF database and issue a LICENSE UNLOAD OPENVMS-HOBBYIST - and you're done. No more warning notices every week and the system will continue to work after 1-JAN-2022.
>
> Volker.

No I did not load the licenses. They were done by someone else who is no longer here. I was asked to look at things. I know nothing about VMS license manage except the manuals tell me. But it didn't say about anything about what happens if licenses expire and what if there were multiple licenses.

I will give your suggestion a try. I do not have access to the system at the moment but will let you know how it went. Thank you.

On 2021-12-10 14:02:50 +0000, Dymaxion Development said:

> No I did not load the licenses. They were done by someone else who is
> no longer here. I was asked to look at things. I know nothing about VMS
> license manage except the manuals tell me. But it didn't say about
> anything about what happens if licenses expire and what if there were
> multiple licenses.
>
> I will give your suggestion a try. I do not have access to the system
> at the moment but will let you know how it went. Thank you.

If you disable the HPE Hobbyist PAKs here and load and switch to VSI
OpenVMS licenses, your server will stop working.

The VSI OpenVMS licenses require an OpenVMS upgrade to a VSI OpenVMS version.

And the HPE hobbyist PAKs do not work with VSI releases.

So you cannot be using a VSI version with those HPE OpenVMS hobbyist licenses.

This unless you acquired HPE OpenVMS licenses from somewhere, such as
from HPE financial services.

And I might then ask why. What's keeping you with HPE OpenVMS releases
that are not getting vendor patches?

--
Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC